82 BHS, LVIII (l981) REVIEWS OF BOOKS

this appraisal that Perifian advises against a distribution of this corpus ofliterature into major
and minor genres, preferring to adduce an immanent poetics underlying all works consisting as
these do of verbal brio-a-brae. Her classification therefore accords with the degree ofsaturation
ofany text by nonsense. (Sincethe appearance of Poeta ludens an attempt at a poetics ofnonsense
has in fact appeared. Susan Stewart in her Nonsense. Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and
Literature [Baltimore 1980] proposes five constants: [i) reversals and inversions; [ii] play with
boundaries; [iii] play with infinity; [iv] play with simultaneity; [v] arrangement and
rearrangement within a closed field. Applications of these five methods by which a poet
elaborates nonsense from sense seem to be identifiable in the texts Perifian studies.)
Here we find a preliminary census of all three types, and one might draw attention here to
the omission of disparates occurring in plays (perhaps, for instance, the 'caiman' song in La dama
boba) and of ludic poems which frequently serve to fill out the final pages of pliegos suelios.
Perifian provides an estimable bibliography and an anthology, including 15 disparates arranged
according to the previously mentioned degree ofsaturation. One might quarrel with the choice
for inclusion here of the long ]uyzio hallado y trobado when one considers that the Norton and
Wilson edition (1969) is so easily accessible.
Perifian, finally, is to be applauded when she sets as desiderata (i) a comprehensive account.
of the Spanish literature, and culture in general, of 'deleitoso entretenimiento', and (ii) an
establishment ofthe relation between these ludic poems and the literature offolly, the literature
of absurd lying (which she views as having clerical, 'goliardic' origins) and the perennial topos
of the World Upside Down.
Certain small errors have crept into the typography: 'casas' (44) should be 'caos'; the Italian
'ivi' (75, n. 5) should become 'ibidem' as elsewhere; and M. R. Lida (200) should be R. Lida.
ALAN SOONS
SUNY at Buffalo.

J. A. MARAVALL, Poder, honory elites en el siglo XVII. Siglo Veintiuno Editores, Madrid. 1979.
31'0 pp.
Jose Antonio Maravall is at once the least empirical and most knowledgeable ofhistorians of
the Golden Age. He is also, arguably, the most prolific. As he approaches the Biblical span, his
intellectual energy is undiminished, and stimulating work continues to pour from him. This
latest book seems to me potentially his most important to have appeared since that on seven-
teenth-century political ideas (I shall return to the rider). 1t is argued with characteristic rigour
and vigour. Maravall's concern is very much los poderosos de fa tierra-the evolution of the
heterogeneous feudal nobility of Castile into the homogeneous aristocracy of the Ancien Regime.
His thesis is that this process produced a new power-elite which dominated Spanish society and
politics until well into the industrial age. The crucial conflicts which marked it took place in the
first half of the seventeenth century, and the vital breakthrough was the failure of Olivares'
attempt to stem the tide: .
The author draws on a wide range ofwriters-both contemporary and modern, in History,
Philosophy, Politics and Sociology-to develop his arguments. Post-Darwinian assumptions are
(at least metaphorically) present in demonstrating how the giant lizards of the fifteenth century
became the birds of paradise of the Ilustracidn, shedding useless characteristics and adapting to
new conditions. He leans on the post-Marxian heritage to demonstrate the aristocracy
becoming a class, through the development of self-consciousness and the pursuit of collective
in terests, Ofparticular interest are his sallies against the residual (and subliminal) influence of la
leyenda negra in the works of non-Spanish writers-e-certainlyno windmill, this. Maravall is
sensitive to any accusation ofSpanish social distinctiveness; thus he takes R. Mousnier's model

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 'REVIEWS OF BOOKS 83
of 'the society of orders' (sociedad estamental) as' fully 'valid for Habsburg Spain, and L. Stone's
pattern of aristocratic survival in England as paradigmatic. The significance of the code of
honour he thinks exaggerated by recent work-it was not a monolithic mediator 'of social
position nor behaviour, any more than in other western European countries. Here, Maravall
takes covert issue with B. Bennassar's recent L'Homme espagnol: Attitudes et mentalius du XVI' au
XiXs siecles (1975; the title of the 1979 translation for the University of California Press-' The
Spanish Character-is revealingly anachronistic). At the same time, he attacks prevailing
assumptions about classic Castilian social taboos. The aristocracy, he points out, acknowledged
the power of work and money--G.aballero poderoso es Don Dinero-being involved in, as well as
associated with, commercial undertakings. They derived new blood and wealth from the clase
intermedin of professionals and merchan ts.
The second part of the book describes the methods which produced the new elite de poder.
Fundamental was the nobility's adjustment to the reality of strong (more-or-less) centralized
monarchy~ accep ting the creation ofa sta te-systern and working to con trol it. 'Desde los castillos
no se forman elites; desde las estructuras administrativas del estado modemo, sf'. The vast
expansion of the responsibilities of government made rule by one man impossible. Thus
'Absolute Monarchy' gradually became 'Monarchical Absolutism', an organic collaboration
between royal and seiiorial interests. The latter became more exclusive, developing a collective
identity-'se apoyan entre sf para mantenerse con el poder de que gozan', as Lopez Bravo put it
in 1620. They abandoned their unique role as warriors, adapting to one as administrators in
central and local government. This smaller and more cohesive elite ruthlessly distanced itself
from the hiJosdalgo, inspiring the propaganda campaign in literature against the pretensions of
these uselessdrones, one thoroughly supported by the non-noble populace. To assist the control
of the whole political establishment, they built up alliances with selected wealthy individuals
and concentrated their own economic power (respectively through advantageous marriages and
use of the mayorazgo).
Maravall's pragmatic logic is impressive, and one is happy to accept his premisses about
social organization in general, and that of early-modem Europe in particular. But not all his
conclusions seem watertight. Despite his breathtaking range of reference from secondary
sources, he has a magisterial disdain for evidential data. Partly as a consequence, some sections
of the book are prolix and repetitive. It is difficult to see, in the myriad vendettas of noble
families, which radiated violence and disorder in town and country, and often was elevated into
overt political faction in central .government, the stable and united class which Maravall
describes. In two recent articles, C.Jago has illustrated the weaknesses of the ruling class, both
in legal and economic terms, to the influence of royal government on the one hand, and their
own rural vassals on the other} precisely in the reign of Philip IV. Maravall does not explain
how the triumph of the movement of conseroacuin was succeeded by the most unstable period in
Spanish-Habsburg history, beginning in the immediate post-Olivares years and culminating in
the 1690s, nor the renewed successes of anti-noble absolutism under the Bourbons. Moreover,
there is a contradiction between the author's insistence on descent and limpiez« as productive of
status and honour ('Honor tengo ... porque caballero soy', as DonJuan Tenorio puts it) and
his equally maverick view ofa class which incorporated the wealth and mores ofmere capi talists
and professionals.
Maravall's overall thesis is thus attractive and thought-provoking, but it must be tested by
the more mundane and painstaking work of the documentary research scholar to gain
acceptance. In any case, as Hugh Trevor-Roper maintains, a fertile error is often more valuable
than a sterile truth; more than any other historian of the period outside France, Maravall
deserves to be called maitre apenser.

R. A. STRADLING
Uniuersity College, Cardiff.

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