The Regulation of Private Spaces: The Codification of the Royal Chamber of the Spanish Monarchy in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

Since the first appearance of monarchies, the presence of the king determined a graded hierarchy of the surrounding space. At the same time, the position of the different courtiers in that ‘created’ space showed their rank in the palatial world and, therefore, in the whole of the court, determining the degree of access to the royal person. The admission to the Royal Household of the monarch, especially to the Royal Chamber, favoured this closeness to the ruler. This contribution aims to study the evolution of the shape of the palatine space that took place in the seventeenth-century Spanish Monarchy, especially the changes related to the Royal Chamber that regulated access to the most private spaces of the king. Indeed, in the daily practice of government during the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV, the validos, or minister-favourites like Lerma and Olivares, confirmed that the royal palaces were political spaces, and they strove to submit these spaces to their control. Within this context, the Instruction of 1637 and other subsequent regulatory documents focused on restricting the access to the royal apartments, with the Chamber at their heart, influencing the relation between private and public at court.