Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II

489 Pages·2014·10.08 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Parker

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Geoffrey Parker
IMPRUDENT
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KING
A New Life of
Philip II
IMPRUDENT KING
i
ii
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GEOFFREY PARKER
IMPRUDENT KING
A NEW LIFE OF PHILIP II
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
iii
Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of Oliver Baty
Cunningham of the Class of 1917, Yale College.
Copyright © 2014 Geoffrey Parker
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact:
U.S. Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com
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Typeset in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parker, Geoffrey, 1943
Imprudent king: a new biography of Philip II/Geoffrey Parker.
pages cm
Including bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-196535
1. Philip II, King of Spain, 1527–1598. 2. Spain—History—Philip II, 1556–1598.
3. Spain—Kings and rulers—Biography. I.Title. II. Title: New biography of Philip II.
DP178.P367 2014
946'.043092—dc23
[B]
2014022292
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
iv
DEDICATED TO SIR JOHN ELLIOTT
v
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
Conventions xiii
Preface xiv
PART I. THE THRESHOLD OF POWER
1 Apprenticeship, 1527–1543 3
2 A Renaissance prince, 1543–1551 26
3 The changing face of empire, 1551–1558 41
PART II. THE KING AND HIS WORLD
4 The king at work 61
5 The king and God 80
6 The king at play 100
PART III. THE FIRST DECADE OF THE REIGN
7 Getting a grip, 1558–1561 121
8 ‘I would rather lose a hundred thousand lives if I had them’:
keeping the faith, 1562–1567 140
9 Family life – and death 156
10 The enigma of Don Carlos 175
PART IV: THE KING VICTORIOUS
11 Years of crusade, 1568–1572 195
12 Years of adversity, 1573–1576 213
13 The crisis of the reign, 1576–1577 228
14 Murder most foul? 247
15 Years of triumph, 1578–1585 264
16 ‘The most potent monarch in Christendom’ 282
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viii CONTENTS
PART V: THE KING VANQUISHED
17 The ‘Enterprise of England’, 1585–1588 305
18 Philip at bay, 1589–1592 324
19 Towards the tomb – and beyond, 1593–1603 341
Epilogue 363
Abbreviations 376
Note on sources 380
Notes 386
Bibliography 414
Acknowledgements 424
Index 428
Illustrations
Plates
1. Proposed frontispiece for Antonio Herrera y Tordesillas, General history
of the world in the age of Philip II, the Prudent, 1599. AHN Consejos
4416/101.
2. Antonio de Honcala, Philip as a baby and as a boy, 1546. Antonio de
Honcala, Pentaplon christianae pietatis (Alcalá de Henares, 1546): Library
of the University of Granada, A-029-170.
3. Jan Vermeyen, Charles V watches ‘a cane game’ with his wife and family,
1539. Jan Cornelius Vermeyen, ‘Carolus Quintus imperator, rex, charis-
sime conjugi Isabella auguste gravide in agro Toletani’. Photographic
Survey, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Private collection.
4. Philip defaces his books, 1540–1. Emblemata et instrumenta bellica and
Crónica del sancto rey don Fernando tercero, Patrimonio Nacional,
Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de el Escorial, Y-II-21 fo 3v. and
29-V-7, fo. V.
5. Philip writes to his aunt, Mary of Hungary, December 1544. HHStA
Belgien P.A. 60 Konvolut 4 fo. 132v, Philip to Mary of Hungary, 12 Dec.
1544.
6. A joust in a city square, c. 1549. Miniature from Les heures de Notre Dame,
Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er, MS II, 158, fol. 6v.
7. Image of Triumphal Arch erected to welcome Philip to Antwerp, 1549.
Cornelius Schryver, Spectaculorum in susceptione Philippi (Antwerp, 1550),
53r, ‘Arcus Publicus, ad Divi Michaelis’.
8. Jacques le Boucq, Charles V, 1555. Bibliothèque Municipale, Arras, France,
Ms 266/72.
9. Anthonis Mor, Philip, victor of St Quentin, c. 1560. Patrimonio Nacional:
Monasterio de San Lorenzo de el Escorial.
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