Luisa de las Llagas. La abadesa de las Descalzas y el proceso de la comunicación política y cultural entre la corte real española y la imperial

Abstract

This article analyses the role of family relations in the development of political and cultural communication between the Spanish Monarchy and the Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries. It focuses on Luisa of Pernstein, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Maria who later became a nun and abbessof the monastery of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Luisa’s private correspondence with her sister Polyxena and her second husband Zdeněk Vojtěch Popel of Lob ko wicz reveals his major role as informant on the political manoeuvres at the Spanish court and as mediator between her Central-European relatives and members of the Spanish royal household and other noble families. It also shows her role as popularizer of Spanish taste and styles by means of the written word and gifts.