Abstract

The essay examines the "papeles de los servicios" of some officers of the Spanish army serving in Naples in the central decades of the seventeenth century. They were found among the papers of the Spanish Carmelites of the convent of "Nostra Signora del Buon Successo". These sources are known for the characteristics of the documentary typology, but they constitute an unprecedented source for the Neapolitan context. In fact, the series "Patenti hispanorum" was destroyed with others in the fire of the Great Archive of Naples in 1943. The study aims to clarify the assignment of important military positions in Naples, and the reasons that related the soldiers and the Spanish religious of the Carmelite convent of "Nostra Signora del Buon Successo", where the real military history was carried out.