Joaquín Ignacio de Barrenechea: Redes sociales y diplomáticas en torno al Congreso de Soissons.

Résumé

Joaquín Ignacio de Barrenechea (1681-1753) came from a trader family from Bilbao, which managed to project its influence into the administrative sphere of the Spanish state. In particular, the change of dynasty in the Hispanic Crown led to an increase in the family insertion and influence within the new Bourbon framework. This process was favoured by the rise of the "Biscayan party", as it is traditionally identified in historiography. With the encouragement of his own kin, Barrenechea was gradually able to build his own career at the court of Philip V. Most notably, he was appointed as Treasury advisor and later the stewardship of the dowager Queen Louise Isabella of Orleans. In 1727, he achieved an even greater promotion when he was chosen as the third Spanish plenipotentiary for the ensuing Congress of Soissons, aimed at settling the differences between the European powers.This paper seeks, through such aforementioned sources, to analyse thedevelopment of Barrenechea's professional and personal networks during the course of his first diplomatic posting. Diving into his correspondence between 1727 and 1731 not only provides a privileged vantage point for the international negotiations of the time but also for his sociability at a wide variety of levels and from different perspectives. Friendships, enmities, collaborations, ambitions and disappointments all serve to exemplify a human and social reality more complex than Barrenechea's portrait to date.