Una visión en panorámica de la hidalguía gallega

Abstract

This is a panoramic study of a european low nobility of the Modern History (in this case the galician -called fidalguía-), with more autochthonous features than the big nobility, more homogeneus at a european level.

A deep study of the sources proved the big importance and danger of them for the analysis of the fidalguía, a social class not very touched by the tradicional galician historiography. With the purpose of ending this problem we began an approach to the House San Fiz de Asma and incorporated Houses, a big institutional whole with a clear strategy of social reproduction: the marriage.

The formation of the fidalguia's estates and its economic activities reveals a basis of incomes founded in a very intense program of purchases done by many individual personalities who founded the Houses of the fidalguia, many of them delevoped in very few generations. Besides, the annexations of stately homes, in a very big number in the XVIII century, provoked an institutional reorganization of the galician low nobility of this elite is based more on the popular opinion that in the documents.

The galician low nobility was a strong and ruling class even in the XIX century, achieving sometimes the big nobility, but with a very conservative activity very different to the typical active attitude of the first periods of this class, during the late XVI century and the first half of the XVII.