Rene Vermeir is Professor and head of the Institute of Early Modern History at Ghent University. Dries Raeymaekers is Assistant Professor of Early Modern Politics at Radboud University Nijmegen. Jose Eloy Hortal Munoz is Professor of Modern History at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.

• Courts and households of the Habsburg dynasty: history and historiography The political configuration of the Spanish Monarchy: the court and royal households José Martínez MillánThe court of Madrid and the courts of the viceroys Manuel RiveroThe economic foundations of the royal household of the Spanish Habsburgs, 1556-;1621 Carlos Javier de Carlos MoralesThe household of archduke Albert of Austria from his arrival in Madrid until his election as governor of the Low Countries: 1570-;1595 José Eloy Hortal Muñoz Flemish elites under Philip III's patronage (1598-1621): household, court and territory in the Spanish Habsburg MonarchyAlicia Esteban EstrínganaThe 'Spanish Faction' at the court of the archdukes Albert and Isabella Werner Thomas “Vous estez les premiers vassaux que j'aye et que j'aime le plus.” Burgundians in the Brussels courts of the widowed Isabella and of the Cardinal-Infant don Ferdinand (1621-1641)* Birgit HoubenAnne of Austria, founder of the Val-de-Grâce in Paris Olivier Chaline Some reflections on the ceremonial and image of the kings and queens of the House of Habsburg in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Alejandro López àlvarezFrom Graz to Vienna: structures and careers in the Frauenzimmer between 1570 and 1657 Katrin KellerThe Innsbruck court in the 17th century: identity and ceremonial of a court in flux Astrid von SchlachtaQuo vadis: present and potential approaches to the relations between the courts and households of the Habsburg dynasty in the Early Modern period Appendix: Principal offices of the court of the Spanish Habsburg kings 371 Index

In drawing attention to such deep structures of court life while acknowledging the flurry of politics, diplomacy and ceremonial, this collection makes an important contribution to our advancing understanding of the early modern court.Steven Gunn, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, Volume 129, Number 3, August 2016, pp. 447-500(54)