The primogeniture of Vaca-Sotomayor. Family strategies in nobility of Alcaraz

Abstract

The article below tries to unravel the strategies that had been carried out by the family Vaca Sotomayor from Alcaraz (Castille) since the time of their ancestors in the fourteenth century to the lawsuit brought in the early eighteenth century by the possession of the entailed estate. It mainly focuses on the figure of Diego Vaca, the family estate founder, who was involved in a murder related to the control of the notary offices. The studied family easily knew how to hide the drawbacks that might arise for its integration and consolidation in the nobility, such as their Jewish origin, their illegitimacy and crime.