The Council of Italy, officially, the Royal and Supreme Council of Italy ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de Italia, it, Reale e Supremo Consiglio d'Italia) was a ruling body and key part of the government of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, second only to the monarch himself. It was based in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and administered the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

territories in Italy: the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

, the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

, and the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...

. Before the 1556 creation of the Council, Spanish possessions in Italy were administered by the Council of Aragon.

History

By the year 1556, the Crown of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...

had complete dominance over

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

and the

. Local councils and viceroys (in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

) or governors (in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

) controlled the internal affairs of these lands. In an effort to better coordinate Spanish rule in Italy, Philip II decided to separate the Italian states from the Council of Aragon in 1556; thus, Naples,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and Milan were incorporated into the newly created Council of Italy and were represented by two regents each (one Castilian, one native-born). Most of the Spanish viceroys and governors in Italy were Castilian rather than Italian, reflecting the Crown's desire to transform the Empire into a predominantly Castilian one. The island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

remained under the jurisdiction of Council of Aragon until its eventual transfer to Austria and later

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Sa ...

. In 1713, Charles VI established a "Supreme Council of Spain" with its seat in Vienna, in order to assert his sovereignty over all the Spanish states which belonged to the Habsburgs. This council also had jurisdiction over territories in the Council of Italy, until its abolition by Philip V on 1 May 1717.

Structure

The Council of Italy consisted of: * One ''President'', chosen from the Spanish high nobility; * Six ''Regents'', two for the Kingdom of Sicily, two for the Kingdom of Naples, and two for the Duchy of Milan. For each of these territories, one of the regents was Spanish and the other was a ''naturale'', i.e. native of the territory. Both were to be ''leetrados'', that is experts '' in utroque iure'' (

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...

and civil law). * Several officials stations in their dependencies, including three secretaries (one for each possession), a ''Fiscal advocate'' who managed the interests of the state, and a ''Conservator General of the Patrimony'' who managed the administration of the crown's patrimony.

Functions

The Council of Italy was responsible for all affairs of state and law concerning the Italian states governed by the Habsburg main line. It nominated the

viceroys of Sicily This is a list of viceroys of Sicily: Aragonese direct rule 1409–1516 * John of Aragon, Duke of Peñafiel, later king John II of Aragon, 1458–1479, acted 1409–1416. * Domingo Ram y Lanaja, Bishop of Lleida 1416–1419 * Antonio de Cardon ...

, viceroys of Naples, and the Governors of the Duchy of Milan to the

Spanish Council of State The Council of State ( es, Consejo de Estado), is the supreme consultative council of the Spanish Government. The current Council of State was established in 1980 according to the article 107 of the Constitution of 1978. The institution of the C ...

which was presided over by the king, and it approved the more important civil and military appointments in the individual states. The council's functions were solely consultative. Its opinion was reported in a document (''consulta''), edited by the secretary, which was then submitted to the king, who then annotated it with his own decision. If there was no unanimous decision in the council, the opinions of different members were all reported.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Council of Italia Spanish Empire in Europe Legal history of Italy

History

Structure

Functions

See also

References