La autoridad de las subrepticias: Las Camareras oficiosas de Isabel de Farnesio y María Amalia de Sajonia

Abstract

This study raises the importance of analisying in depth the different ways of accessing power by women in different spaces of society and, more specifically, within the framework of the court sphere in the Eighteenth Century. To do this, a theoretical argument is made about the meaning of the concepts of power, authority and influence from a gender perspective; fundamental concepts to understand how an informal power structure based on personal relationships was established and developed through proximity and familiarity with the figures of the queens.

To show our hypothesis we present two hitherto unpublished cases, those of the Princess of Piombino and the Duchess of Castropignano, trusted women of Queens Isabella of Farnese and Maria Amalia of Saxony, respectively. Both Italian nobles who used their close personal ties with the royal consorts to achieve certain levels of influence over them, as well as to achieve certain levels of political intervention within the reigns of Philip V and Charles III.