FROM BONFIRE TO GRANDEUR: THE SOCIAL PROMOTION OF BERNUY FAMILY (SS. XVI-XIX)

Abstract

The Bernuy family is a paradigmatic case for the study of the ways of social mobility in the Modern Age. It´'s a family from Ávila of Jewish origin who, after the father was condemned by the spanish Inquisition, using their advantageous economic situation, as one of the richest families on the XVI century, they started a process of social promotion, that led them from the urban elite of Burgos to the titled nobility, with the achievement of the title of Lords of Benamejí and, later, Grandeur of Spain.