Gentlemen and Caballeros: a transnational analysis of nineteenth-century masculine honourability

2026-07-22

This pioneering research takes a unique approach to analyse the male gender identity of the upper and middle classes in Spain, Cuba, Ireland, and England during the nineteenth century. The project proposes a comparative study of male honour and its associated practices among the dominant classes in these four countries. The concept of honour was a powerful symbol of respectable masculinity, encompassing moral virtue, social and political precedence, the mandates of self-control for men, patriarchal power in the family, and legitimate use of violence. The analysis of honour thus provides an exceptional means of understanding the normative masculinity of the social elite. This project will investigate a little-explored topic by historiography, the shared and distinguishing aspects that defined the manliness of the self-appointed gentlemen (in England and Ireland) and “caballeros” (in Spain and Cuba) relying on a transnational approach. So far, research has analysed male honour in each nation separately, without considering enough the nuances that defined it in each territory. Moreover, how the gentlemen of these countries mutually aligned themselves as equals in honour and respectability has also yet to be studied. Additionally, the issue of “race” has not been sufficiently considered in previous studies on elite male honour. With its interdisciplinary approach, this project aims to analyse all these crucial aspects to complicate our understanding of middle and upper-class masculinity in the nineteenth century, along with the overall gender relations and the incumbent political and social context. In this way, we will gain a deeper understanding of the structural nature and historical roots of the violent and discriminatory practices based on gender, race, and class that persist nowadays, helping to eradicate them. This work will focus on the ritual of duelling, which was the most emblematic practice of the male code of honour since the Middle Ages.

United Kingdom (UK)

2025-11-01