La Compañía de Jesús y la defensa de la monarquía hispánica

Abstract

Since the foundation of the Society of Jesus in 1540, there was identification between its spiritual aims and the task ascribed to the Spanish Monarchy. The article starts pointing out the traditional concept of the Jesuits as an army and the constant association that empowered them. It establishes how different people of the Society have been related with the government and the different ways of the Jesuits to get involved in politics, as well as the most important Jesuits who have taken part in these interventions. It is explained, later, some of the main political problems where the Society participated: the supposed Spanish identity of the Order, which was questioned after Francisco de Borja´s death in 1572; the conspiratory image associated to the desires of the Catholic Restoration in England; the defence of Catholicism in Europe while the war, during the first half of the XVII century; the Jesuits´ position in the crisis of the Monarchy in 1640, specially, during the independence of Portugal; and finally, the utopias and clashes of interests in the Spanish America, as well as the missionary plans proposed for China. So, the Jesuits weren’t unaware of the political life in the modern Spanish.