Viceroy Good Government in Spanish Naples: The Festival of San Gennaro

This proposed paper examines how the viceroys exploited the concept of good government in early modern Spanish Naples. Using John Marino’s pioneering study on the centrality of good government regarding economic and political issues, I explore this principle to reveal that it was also applied in the cultural realm. I argue that the Spanish viceroys ruled through religious morality, expedient leadership, and social toleration; a governing style that emanated from their adaptation to Spain’s search for political hegemony. Though the concept has been studied primarily in political and financial terms, this paper concentrates on the viceroys’ rule by example through religious benevolence and socio-political compromise. The viceroys used main Catholic celebrations and moral tenets to introduce themselves as protectors against political and spiritual aggressors. In that sense, the paper reevaluates Southern Italy’s contribution to European and Mediterranean history by studying the procession of San Gennaro, the local patron saint, revealing how the viceroys used this local ritual in order to secure a new political order. Arguing that the viceroys conquered from within via spiritual exercises, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of how the viceroys resolved the tension between Christian ideals and Spanish imperialism. The festival of San Gennaro illuminates how the viceroys integrated into important festivals of religious demonstrations, following the exemplary models dictated by their religion in order to ascertain their political vigor. Through an analysis of the liturgy transformed by the viceroys, I outline the interplay between Catholic rituals and Spanish imperial strategy in the Mediterranean.