The failure of the success of the Council of Trent in the private forum: rural Galicia in the time of Philip II

Abstract

This article reflects on the limitations of the Church and the monarchy in the times of Philip II to impose the rules on sexual morality. It studies a territory in the northern periphery of the Crown of Castile, Galicia, and its rural population. For this purpose, we use evidence known from demographic studies -mobility, consanguinity, illegitimacy- and judicial processes of the Royal Court of Galicia; in other words, we propose an analysis based on non-ecclesiastical documentation to discuss what the discourse of the clergy and the monarchy affirmed after the Council of Trent.