El mayorazgo Vaca Sotomayor. Estrategias familiares en la nobleza alcaraceña

Abstract

El artículo pretende desentrañar las estrategias llevadas a cabo por parte de la familia alcaraceña Vaca Sotomayor, desde sus antepasados del siglo XIV hasta el pleito entablado a principios del siglo XVIII por la posesión del mayorazgo familiar. Se centra principalmente en la figura de Diego Vaca, fundador del mayorazgo, quien se vio envuelto en un asesinato relacionado con el control de las escribanías. La familia estudiada supo ocultar sin grandes problemas los inconvenientes para conseguir su integración y consolidación en el grupo privilegiado, tales como su origen judaico, la bastardía y el crimen.

The article below tries to unravel the strategies that had been carried out by the family Vaca Sotomayor from Alcaraz (Castille) since the time of their ancestors in the fourteenth century to the lawsuit brought in the early eighteenth century by the possession of the entailed estate. It mainly focuses on the figure of Diego Vaca, the family estate founder, who was involved in a murder related to the control of the notary offices. The studied family easily knew how to hide the drawbacks that might arise for its integration and consolidation in the nobility, such as their Jewish origin, their illegitimacy and crime.