Silvia Z. Mitchell

Ph.D. University of Miami, 2013

Specialization

Spanish Empire; early modern Spain and Europe; queenship and women’s political power; dynastic politics and diplomacy.

Silvia Z. Mitchell is Associate Professor of Early Modern European History and a University Faculty Scholar (2022–2027) at Purdue University. Her research and teaching focus on the history of the Spanish Empire, the Spanish Habsburg monarchy, and their European and global relationships. Bringing together imperial history, diplomacy, dynastic politics, and women’s political power, her scholarship examines how royal women shaped the government of Spain in the early modern world.

Her first book, Queen, Mother, and Stateswoman: Mariana of Austria and the Government of Spain (Penn State University Press, 2019; paperback 2020), offers a revisionist interpretation of Mariana’s regency and exile, demonstrating the queen’s role in governing the Spanish monarchy and reshaping its European diplomatic and military alliances. The book has been widely reviewed internationally and has received Highly Commended recognition with the Jury’s Congratulations in the Royal Studies Journal/University of Winchester book-prize competition. An expanded and illustrated Spanish edition, Reina, madre y estadista. Mariana de Austria y el gobierno de España, was published by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica in 2023.

Mitchell’s research on empire and international politics extends through her latest book, Ibero-Dutch Imperial Entanglements in the Long Seventeenth Century: Geopolitical Shifts in Global Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), co-edited with Erica Heinsen-Roach. The volume examines conflict, collaboration, and geopolitical change among the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies and the Dutch Republic, arguing against the decline paradigm that has dominated the historiographies of the three empires, while highlighting the centrality of the Iberian and Dutch empires in global history throughout the century.

Her current book project, The Spanish Habsburgs (1500–1700): The Men and the Women Who Ruled the First Global Empire, under contract with Reaktion Books, develops this research into a broader history of the Spanish monarchy. Drawing on her archival research and expertise in imperial and dynastic politics, Mitchell examines how members of the Habsburg family—including women whose contributions have often been marginalized—governed a monarchy spanning Europe and the wider world. The book brings these interconnected histories into a synthesis that places women fully within the narrative of imperial government and dynastic power.

Professor Mitchell’s scholarly profile is grounded in sustained collaborations with European universities, archives, and cultural institutions. She held a María Zambrano Fellowship at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid from May 2023 through December 2024, has co-convened international congresses in Spain with Purdue sponsorship, and has delivered invited plenary lectures at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She collaborates with museums and cultural institutions such as the Museo del Prado, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Professor Mitchell welcomes inquiries from prospective graduate students interested in early modern Spain, the Spanish Empire, queenship, and dynastic and diplomatic history. Send an email specifying research interests and language skills to mitch131@purdue.edu.