Geometry, Frans Floris (1557)

Estudios sobre Europa,
el mundo mediterráneo
y su difusión atlántica
(HUM 680)

Introduction

The research group PAIDI HUM 680 has a strong international presence, as well as numerous publications in high quality journals and publishing houses such as Routledge, Brill, Fondo de Cultura Económica or Garnier Classique. In line with the internationalization of the group, its members are in close contact and often collaborate with European and American scientific networks through the joint organisation of events or stays in prestigious centres such as Harvard University, Warwick University, Leiden University, l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, l’École Normale Supérieure of Lyon, the European University Institute of Florence or the Leibniz-Institut für Europaische Geschichte in Maguncia.

The number of young doctorates and researchers who take part in the group is due to its capacity to attract scholarships destined to the training of university faculty (FPU or Formación de Profesorado Universitario) and research personnel (FPI or Formación del Personal Investigador), plus other scholarships such as Marie Curie, Ramón y Cajal and Juan de la Cierva. It is also worth noting that the group is recipient of funding via the state plan for scientific research, development, and innovation of Spain (Plan Nacional de I+D+i) for its own projects, in addition to external, international projects and research groups in which PAIDI HUM 680 takes part. This ongoing collaboration translates into a strong transfer of knowledge through prolific scientific production and the frequent organization of scientific events as a part of the aforementioned competitive research projects.

Most group members work in the project PGC 2018-095424-B-100 Res Pública Monárquica. La Monarquía Hispánica, una estructura policéntrica de repúblicas urbanas, heir of the now concluded project MINECO HAR 2013-45357-P El Modelo Policéntrico de Soberanía Compartida (siglos XVI-XVIII), as well as different previous projects led by the Principal Investigator, such as the following: MINECO HAR 2010-19686 El papel de las repúblicas europeas en la conformación del Estado moderno. ¿Alternativa modernizadora o motor del sistema? Siglos XVI-XVIII, HUM 2006-10206 Una república mercantil en una Europa de príncipes. Naturaleza y transformaciones del agregado imperial hispano-genovés (1528-1700), and PIEF-GA-2011-299469 Merchant Networks. Trade between Spain and Habsburg Monarchy (1725-1815). Merchant Networks in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The unifying thread for this trajectory is the analysis of polycentric government systems —far from Jean Bodin’s concept of full sovereignty— which were in force in XVI-XVIIIth century Europe and its overseas territories, and which persevered against other government systems based on centralization and homogenization. Apart from publications in first-category publishing houses such as Routledge or Fondo de Cultura Económica, the group has celebrated exemplary scientific events to expound the results of its research, such as the colloquium titled Les modèles polycentriques de souveraineté multiples et partagées (siècles XVI-XVIII), hosted in the Institute Historique Allemand of París in December of 2016; and Revueltas Urbanas y modelos de soberanía en la época moderna, hosted in Pablo de Olavide University and the Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos (EEHA) of Seville in February of 2018. Member Natalia Maillard Álvarez is Principal Investigator of the project HAR 2017-82362-P Las redes internacionales del comercio de libros en la Monarquía Hispánica. 1501-1648.

PAIDI HUM 680 has a very close relationship with the Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos of CISC in Seville, as proven by its director, Salvador Bernabéu Albert, joining the group. Member José María García Redondo, currently a Juan de la Cierva scholarship researcher, has joined Pablo de Olavide University in the area of Early-Modern History, is responsible for the project titled FEDER-Andalucía 2014-2020 CARTOPOLIC. Cartografías en movimiento. Circulación y construcción de los saberes geográficos en las monarquías policéntricas ibéricas (UPO-1260972) and has been awarded the title of permanent investigator (Científico Titular) in the EEHA.

Concerning the Principal Investigator’s research career, he is Full Professor in Early-Modern History and has not only directed but also taken part in both aforementioned projects, along with other international projects hosted in Canada, Portugal and France. He has four six-year periods of research activity (sexenios de investigación), the last one was received in 2017, and five complementos autonómicos. During his research trajectory, he has organised numerous international seminars and conferences, in addition to the international conference cycle which has reached its seventeenth edition and has become a benchmark in European study of Modern History. Graduate from the Complutense University of Madrid, he undertook a seven-year long period of training in centres of renowned prestige such as the European University Institute of Florence (where he earned his PhD under the direction of Kirti Chaudhuri), the Istituto Benedetto Croce de Nápoles, the universities of Liège y Leiden, and the CSIC. He has recently stayed as visiting professor in Harvard University, l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Leibniz-Institut für Europaische Geschichte in Maguncia. The results of his research have been expounded in Spanish universities and international institutions such as the universities of Vienna, Duke, Harvard, Vanderbilt (Nashville), British Columbia (Vancouver), Caen, Rennes, The Andes and Javeriana (Bogotá), Fluminense (Río de Janeiro), Mar de Plata, Bar-Ilán (Tel Aviv), Roma III, Bielefeld, Ca Foscari (Venecia), Leiden, Louvain, Sorbonne-Paris IV, Andrés Bello de Viña de Mar (Chile), Colegio de México, Casa de Velázquez (Madrid) or Museo del Prado.

Lines of research

  • Political models and imperial structures: in between full sovereignty and the survival of polycentric structures of fragmented sovereignty.

  • International relations in the Atlantic space, XVI-XVIII centuries.

  • Processes and uses of diplomatic communication in Early-Modern History.

  • Court and government in the kingdoms of early-modern Spanish monarchy.

  • The confessional politics of early-modern Spanish monarchy.

  • Merchant and financial networks and connectors as articulators of early-modern Spanish monarchy. Merchant communities in Iberian empires.

  • Maritime history, naval construction, and colonial commerce.

  • The Netherlands in the political articulation of early-modern Spanish monarchy during the XVI-XVII centuries.

  • Republics and republicanism in Early-Modern History with the special mention of Genoa and the Dutch Republic.

  • Communication and the circulation of information. The role of postal communication in empires overseas.

  • Connexions and trade in the Atlantic world during Early-Modern History.

  • Power/domination strategies in the reformist plans of the Borbonic Monarchy.

  • Processes of integration of the diverse local governments at the top of the imperial Spanish businesses.

  • Comunication, management and discourse about natural disasters in early-modern Spanish monarchy.

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