Philip of Spain

Description

This book is the first complete biography of Philip II, King of Spain (1527-1598). Philip II is seen as a cruel king, tyrant, ambitious and identified with repression and religious intolerance. Henry Kamen contradicts this official view. Based on documents and unpublished sources, Kamen presents us a new and startling perspective and draws a psychological portrait of the monarch, placing him in the social, cultural and religious context of his time.

Description

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 Drawing on Philip's unpublished correspondence and on many other archival sources, Henry Kamen reveals much about Philip the youth, the man, the husband, the father, the frequently troubled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.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Philip of SpainYale University Press1997-01-01
• Filipe IA Esfera dos Livros2008-01-01