Crossing the Atlantic. Diocesan Agents of the Viceroyalty of Peru in Rome (XVI-XVII century)

The proposal aims at conducting a historical investigation of human mobility in local and global contexts through the case study ofreligious agents (the procuradores) that moved across the Atlantic from the ecclesiastic province of Lima to the Holy See to representtheir communities’ political and religious interests.

Atop of a growing body of secondary sources and thanks to a multinational andmulti-archival investigation (Chile, Peru, Spain, Vatican, Rome), the research brings together several disciplines – history, geography,social sciences, and law studies, in dialogue with Atlantic studies and the network analysis, in order to develop three original aims.First, it will offer a new understanding of the relationship among the Spanish Crown, the Holy See and the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Theresearch will investigate who the procuradores of the cathedrals were.

The proposal aims at identifying both the secular and religiousprocuradores who crossed the Atlantic, traveling from the dioceses to Rome. It will identify their social, institutional, political and,eventually, religious belonging and affiliation.

I will study the type of information the procuradores transmitted to the Holy See andhow it was used to build the networks of political and religious relations with the Spanish Monarchy.

Once the procuradores havebeen identified, it will be possible to analyse the information that reached Rome from the Viceroy of Peru (and those that did not), itsprocessing in the Curia, its use in the government of the Church, and its use in political and diplomatic relations with the SpanishMonarchy.

I will study how the procuradores interacted with the city of Rome.The project will be implemented in 3 different institutions: Pontificia Universidad Cattolica de Chile (outgoing phase), Universidad deBarcelona (5-month secondment) and Ca'Foscari Venice (incoming phase).