Philip of Spain

by Henry Kamen

• ISBN13: 9780300078008
• ISBN10: 0300078005
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-02-08
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This book, published four hundred years after Philip's death, is the first full-scale biography of the king. Placing him within the social, cultural, religious and regional context of his times, it presents a startling new picture of his character and reign. Drawing on Philip's unpublished correspondence and on many other archival sources, Henry Kamen reveals much about Philip the youth, the man, the husband, the father, the frequently troubled Christian and the king. Kamen finds that Philip was a cosmopolitan prince whose extensive experience of northern Europe broadened his cultural imagination and tastes, whose staunchly conservative ideas were far from being illiberal and fanatical, whose religious attitudes led him to accept a practical coexistence with Protestants and Jews, and whose support for Las Casas and other defenders of the Indians in America helped determine government policy. Shedding completely new light on most aspects of Philip's private life and, in consequence, on his public actions, this book is the definitive portrayal of Philip II.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps	ix
Preface	xi
The House of Hapsburg in the Sixteenth Century	xvi
The Formative Years 1527--1544	1	(20)
The Renaissance Prince 1545--1551	21	(29)
Soldier and King 1551--1559	50	(29)
The Cross and the Crescent 1559--1565	79	(29)
Towards Total War 1566--1572	108	(35)
Dropping the Pilot 1572--1580	143	(35)
The World of Philip II	178	(33)
The Statesman	211	(31)
War in the West 1580--1586	242	(27)
The Time of Thunder 1587--1593	269	(32)
Last Years 1593--1598	301	(16)
Epilogue	317	(5)
List of Abbreviations	322	(2)
Notes	324	(39)
A Note on Sources	363	(6)
Index	369