ABSTRACT
Without losing sight of the religious nature of the ritual of the viaticum, this chapter focuses on the unique political importance it acquired in the capital of the Spanish monarchy during the reigns of Philip II (1559-1598) and his seventeenthcentury successors. The Habsburg kings occasionally participated in public homage to and accompaniment of the viaticum, so that it effectively became one
1 This research was supported by a grant from Spain’s Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, project number HAR2008-00944.
