Resumen
RESUMEN
No hay fenómeno asociativo más extendido en la España del Antiguo Régimen que las cofradías y hermandades. En consecuencia, su dimensión social ha merecido el análisis histórico en las últimas décadas, incidiendo en aspectos esenciales de su naturaleza: la solidaridad grupal y el mutualismo que despliegan, y el culto público y la multiplicación de fiestas que fomentan. Todo ello desde un indudable afán de autonomía difícil de mantener. A falta de obras de conjunto, la bibliografía es hoy muy abundante y a la vez dispersa. Esa realidad social y la actuación de la autoridad real y eclesiástica sobre el ámbito cofrade se analizan en este artículo, evidenciando los avances en el conocimiento, así como los aspectos que merecen una mayor actividad investigadora.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Cofradía, Hermandad, Religiosidad, Fiesta, Mutualismo, Iglesia, Regalismo.
TITLE
The Spanish brotherhoods during the Modern Age from a social point of view. Three decades of historiographic progress
ABSTRACT
No associative phenomenon was more extended during the Ancient Regime in Spain than the brotherhoods. As a consequence, its social dimension deserves the historical analysis it has received these last decades, focusing on the essential aspects of their nature: the group solidarity and the mutual support they demonstrated, the public worship and the numerous festivities that these associations promoted. All these, from an unquestionable eagerness for autonomy that was difficult to maintain. Although there is a lack of complete, cohesive works, nowadays the bibliography on confraternities and brotherhoods can be described as abundant and at the same time scattered. This social reality and the intervention from the royal and ecclesiastical authority on the brotherhood sphere, is analyzed during this particular article, evidencing the advances in knowledge as well as the aspects that deserve a greater research activity.
KEY WORDS
Brotherhood, Confraternity, Religiousness, Festivity, Mutuality, Church, Regalism.