Description
To write the life of Philip of Spain in six volumes would be comparatively easy, but to do so in one necessitates the omission of much that is both of interest and importance. In the present instance an attempt has been made not only to produce a biography that is of moderate length, but also to arrive at the truth, which is the more difficult for an age dominated by religious differences.
The latter part of the sixteenth century, in which the personality and policy of Philip were preminent, is of particular interest to those living at the present time for it was a period when ideologies cut across all other loyalties, and when men felt that they had more in common with foreigners who held their views than with their own fellow-countrymen who did not. It was also an age of outstanding personalities such as Queen Elizabeth I, William the Silent, Catherine de Medici, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Don John of Austria, and many others: the events were as notable as the men and women, for they included the Revolt of the Netherlands, the Massacre of St Bartholomew, the Battle of Lepanto, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Philip was too closely connected with these people and events not to be affected in some way by the view taken of them by posterity.
In a work of this nature, which covers several countries, the transliteration of names both of persons and places presents considerable difficulty, and after much thought I have let myself be guided by usage rather than by uniformity.
ISBN:PHILIPIIOFSPA
