LOS FONSECA. LINAJE Y PATRONATO ARTÍSTICO

Different members of the Fonseca lineage were part, according to Spanish historiographic tradition, of the select group of nobles and clerics who promoted the introduction of the Renaissance in Castile. This controversial statement – ​​debatable in view of the varied aesthetic inclinations of the different protagonists – is even more so in the case of the family branch under study. The lords of Coca and Alaejos, the subject of this work, became the main lineage of the lineage from the relevant figure of the archbishop of Seville, Alonso de Fonseca the Elder. They lived permanently besieged by powerful enemies, whom they defeated because of their proximity to the kings. The harassment to which they were subjected united them as a group and encouraged them to assert themselves before others through patronages and artistic promotions, according to a strategy developed mainly by Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca. The book is divided into two parts. In the first, the biographies of each of the protagonists are reviewed: the aforementioned archbishop, his nephew of the same name, Antonio de Fonseca, Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca and Mayor de Fonseca, in the belief that the prosopographic study will help to understand the role played by each one in the consolidation of the group. The second analyzes the patronage activity deployed, the universe of objects with which they surrounded themselves, as well as the regional tasks entrusted to them.