The Council of Italy, officially the Royal and Supreme Council of Italy (, ), was a ruling body and key part of the government of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, second only to the monarch himself. It was based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and administered the Spanish territories in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

: the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

State of the Presidi The State of the ''Presidi'' (, meaning "state of the garrisons") was a small territory on the Tuscan coast of Italy that existed between 1557 and 1801. It consisted of remnants of the former Republic of Siena—the five towns of Porto Ercole ...

Marquisate of Finale The Marquisate of Finale was an Italian state of the Holy Roman Empire in what is now Liguria, part of the former medieval Aleramici March. It was ruled for some six centuries by the Aleramici branch known as marquesses del Vasto (when they also ...

(until 1713) and other minor territories. Before the 1556 creation of the Council due to the historical rule of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

over most of the territories, Spanish possessions in Italy were administered by the Council of Aragon.

History

By the year 1556, the

had complete dominance over

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

and the

. Local councils and viceroys (in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

) or governors (in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

) controlled the internal affairs of these lands. In an effort to better coordinate Spanish rule in Italy, Philip II decided to separate the Italian states from the Council of Aragon in 1556. Thus, Naples, Sicily and Milan were incorporated into the newly created Council of Italy and were represented by two regents each (one Castilian, one native-born). The

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

remained under the jurisdiction of the Council of Aragon, as demanded and claimed by its own Stamenti on the basis of political, religious, geographical, linguistic and anthropological affinities,Francesco Manconi, Cerdeña. Un reino de la Corona de Aragón bajo los Austria, Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2011, pp. 28-31 until its eventual transfer to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and later to the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

. In 1713, Emperor Charles VI established a "Supreme Council of Spain" with its seat in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, in order to assert his sovereignty over all the formerly Spanish ruled states transferred to the Austrian Habsburgs after the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

. The Council of Italy, left without any territories to govern, was abolished by

Philip V of Spain Philip V (; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was List of Spanish monarchs, King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign (45 years and 16 days) is the longest in the ...

on 1 May 1717.

Structure

The Council of Italy consisted of: * One ''President'', chosen from the Spanish high nobility; * Six ''Regents'', two for the Kingdom of Sicily, two for the Kingdom of Naples, and two for the Duchy of Milan. For each of these territories, one of the regents was Spanish and the other was a ''naturale'', i.e. native of the territory. Both were to be ''leetrados'', that is experts '' in utroque iure'' (

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

and civil law). * Several officials stations in their dependencies, including three secretaries (one for each possession), a ''Fiscal advocate'' who managed the interests of the state, and a ''Conservator General of the Patrimony'' who managed the administration of the crown's patrimony.

Functions

The Council of Italy was responsible for all affairs of state and law concerning the Italian states governed by the Habsburg main line. It nominated the

viceroys of Sicily The Viceroys of Sicily () were the regents of the government of the Kingdom of Sicily in place of the Spanish Kings who acquired the title of King of Sicily from 1412 to 1759. In 1806 Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, having established himself on ...

, viceroys of Naples, and the

Governors of the Duchy of Milan The governor of Milan was a political and military office of the Duchy of Milan, the title of the representatives of the foreign sovereigns who held dominion over the Milanese area, substantially from the 16th century until the Unification of It ...

to the

Spanish Council of State The Council of State (), is the supreme consultative council of the Spanish Government. The current Council of State was established in 1980 according to the article 107 of the Constitution of 1978. The institution of the Council of State, under ...

which was presided over by the king, and it approved the more important civil and military appointments in the individual states. The council's functions were solely consultative. Its opinion was reported in a document (''consulta''), edited by the secretary, which was then submitted to the king, who then annotated it with his own decision. If there was no unanimous decision in the council, the opinions of different members were all reported.

Presidents

see: List of presidents of the Council of Italy (Spanish Empire)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Council of Italia Spanish Empire in Italy Legal history of Italy

History

Structure

Functions

Presidents

See also

References