[en] This present study is part of a line of research which investigates the cultural component of the family, highlighting the close connection between kinship, values and cultural noms, on the one hand, and social organization on the other. More specifically, in one city under the Spanish monarchy (15th - 18th centuries). Murcia, lineage was given a distinguished and prestigious rank, reserved almost exclusively for the most important families. For these families, it was an important source of social capital, originating in late mediaeval times and founded on outstanding feats of batlle; and later, as the modern state became more established, it was formed through service to the monarch. It was important above all because of its social utility: it was an important requirement for those who wished to rise into the ranks of the select minority and enjoy the benefits afforded by their hegemony. Socially, the perpetuation of this situation was strongly linked to that of the lineage itself. It is certainly true that this lineage could be interrupted by negative factors such as biological accidents, the tendency of some members of the kin to disperse, treachery or lack of loyalty to the higer institutions of power with which they came into contact, etc. But as a logical result, there were positive strategies of reproduction, and to this end, kinship was understood as being rather more permeable than strict blood relationships; people preferred to limit their relationships to a small social circle, in an endogamous way which eventually led to inbreeding; they infiltrated networks of power; and they instigated and propagated an extensive set of symbols (such as ancestral background, blood, emblems and mottoes, chaplaincies, entailed estates, positions of honour, representative roles and coats of arms) appropriate to their status.

[es] El presente estudio se sitúa dentro de una línea que profundiza en los componentes culturales de la familia, poniendo de relieve la estrecha conexión entre el parentesco, los valores y hábitos culturales y la organización social. En concreto, en una ciudad mediterránea de la Monarquía Hispánica (siglos XV-XVIII), Murcia, se hizo del parentesco de linaje un valor de rango distinguido y prestigioso, reservado casi exclusivamente a las familias principales. Para éstas fue un importante capital, de origen bajomedieval, construido a partir de brillantes acciones guerreras; y más tarde, conforme se afianzaba el Estado Moderno, formado a través del servicio al monarca. Y fue importante, sobre todo, por su utilidad social: era un requisito pertinente para acceder a la minoría de los selectos y a los beneficios que proporcionaba su hegemonía. Socialmente la perpetuación de tal situación quedó fuertemente ligada a la del propio linaje. Bien es verdad que éste se podía ver interrumpido por cuestiones negativas como los accidentes biológicos, las tendencias dispersantes de algunos integrantes del parentesco, la traición o la falta de fidelidad a las instituciones de poder superiores y a sus disposiciones, etc. Ahora bien, lo más lógico fueron estrategias positivas de reproducción, y para tal fin entendieron el parentesco como algo más permeable que los estrictos lazos de sangre; prefirieron limitar sus relaciones a un círculo social estrecho, de corte endogámico y homogámico; se insertaron dentro de redes de poder; y manifestaron y activaron un amplio conjunto de símbolos (solar, sangre, emblemas y lemas, capellanías, mayorazgos, sitiales, oficios representativos, escudos de armas....) adecuados a su rango.