Gobierno borbónico, influencia francesa y comercio indiano durante la guerra de sucesión. La flota de Nueva España que arribó en Guipúzcoa en 1708

The War of the Spanish Succession became a conflict of European dimension in which the most powerful Crowns found a possibility to access, legally and with privileges, the valuable commercial goods of the Indies. This paper investigates these matters through the consultation of the letters, and other documentation, preserved in the National Historical Archive, in Madrid, on the arrival in 1708 of the fleet from New Spain in Guipúzcoa. More specifically, several letters and papers exchanged between Pedro de Navarrete, captain general of this province, and José Grimaldo, recently appointed secretary of the War and Finance Office. Developing a microanalysis approach, the paper begins with the study of the protagonists’ initiatives, as one of the means through which a comprehensive understanding of History can be attained, aiming to reach in this manner the various sides of a very complex and multifaceted reality. This research considers the power exercised by the court of Versailles in the government of the Spanish Monarchy, and analyses how the Consulate of Seville and the Casa de Contratación, which where the bodies that had traditionally controlled Indian trade and transport, were marginalized in favour of other royal agents, chosen among close collaborators who were instrumental to make the wishes of Felipe V effective.