These two biographies cover Spain’s best known monarchs and provide a comprehensive view of the crucial sixteenth century in Spain and of Spain’s role in early modern Europe. They are part of the “Men in Office” series edited by Ragnhild Hatton of London University, published in England by Thames and Hudson, and distributed here by Transatlantic Arts. Both books have the same format, with informative illustrations, maps, genealogies, notes, and bibliographies.
Manuel Fernández Alvarez of the University of Salamanca has already published substantial works on Renaissance Spain. Offering little new to the specialist, his Charles V is arranged in a basically chronological fashion. Fernández Alvarez is at his best in identifying and clarifying the complexity and contradictory urges created by the empire Charles inherited and was determined to preserve.
Philip II of Spain is the first major work of Peter Pierson of the University of Santa Clara in California. Pierson has chosen a more topical arrangement, with sections on the personal life of the king, his monarchical inheritance, his government in Castile, and his imperial interests. Pierson’s high point comes with his careful considerations of Philip’s relations with the Netherlands and the origins of the revolt there. Pierson absolves Philip of religious fanaticism.
Although both authors have a firm command of the social and economic structure of imperial Spain, which constantly shows through, their main emphasis is political. Spain’s American possessions appear almost solely as a source of funds for European ventures. Fernández Alvarez is technically correct but misleading in his references to the wealth of the Indies as gold. For most of Charles V’s reign gold was indeed of greater value, but silver was far more important in the long run. He should have said so. He does report the legal reforms for the Indies which followed Charles’ acceptance of the arguments of Las Casas.
The two books are clear and useful syntheses by authors familiar with the primary sources. By themselves the biographies cannot be recommended to students as an adequate joint introduction to Spain’s sixteenth century. For that purpose, the histories of John Lynch, J. H. Elliott, and Antonio Domínguez Ortiz are better guides. But as biographies they are admirable, bringing together great amounts of scholarship and offering it in attractive and informative packages. Their most important contribution is a clear delineation of Spain’s European entanglements—the source of her reputation and one significant cause of her exhaustion.
