The government of the monarchy under the Spanish Habsburgs was characterised by the integration of a wide variety of social and political actors in its various kingdoms, both in Europe and overseas. Although the viceroys acted as representatives of the absent monarch ––his alter ego––, their authority depended largely on their ability to mediate between the different factions of power. In this context, the viceregal court constituted a political space, with both a topographical and symbolic dimension, in which multiple social and political interests were represented and negotiated. Based on the analysis of a broad corpus of printed and manuscript sources, and from a comparative perspective, this book traces an extensive overview of the political space of the viceregal court in the cities of Valencia, Naples and Mexico. It focuses particularly on the figure of the viceroy, in his role as intermediary between the monarchy, local society and his own household and entourage, as well as on his capacity for patronage and his political performance in the conflictive context of the reforms promoted by the Count-Duke of Olivares.