ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the Spanish nobility's definition of masculinity included an honour-bound obligation to provide for illegitimate children passed down from the father to his legitimate heirs. The presence of nobleman's illegitimate children could create a virtual stepfamily even when a nobleman only legally married once. The support of this kinship network also meant that illegitimate children of the nobility often had contact with and roles within the complex families that varied from pawns in dynastic strategies to valued half-siblings who received legacies and stood as godparents. Sibling conflict was much more likely to occur if the presence of illegitimate children threatened or disrupted the inheritance process in any way, and the clashes are worth comparing to the stepfamilies of half-siblings created by the remarriage of a widowed parent. When Spanish nobles blended illegitimate children into the complicated family structure of the nobility and incorporated illegitimate half-siblings into families that contained multiple spouses and stepsiblings, they created virtual stepfamilies.
