"Será obra pía cualquier socorro de que vuestra Majestad les haga merced". Granting admitistrative procedure and recipient profiles to the local public offices of the military order´´ s lands durin reign of Felipe III, 1598-1621

Abstract

In this paper I analyze the phases of the administrative procedure of military
order´s local office concession. The main objective is to offer an overview of this
bureaucratic procedure in its first stage at the Council of the military orders. This first
stage began with the formal submission of the applicant´s request document and
service-merits account and then finalized with the King´s grant concession. Further, I
analyze the institutional chain to unravel the administration´s functioning through its
involved actors, its phases of instruction, its documentary records, and, ultimately, the
monarch´s final decision. This paper also includes an approach to the recipient´s socioprofessional
profiles, their narratives and arguments to achieve the grant, and the
meaning that the Crown gave to these grants. The results illuminate the functioning of
the Council of the Military Orders as well as the political and institutional dynamics
during the reign of Felipe III, 1598-1621.