Table of Contents

Preface to the Fourth Edition. List of maps. Glossary. A note on coinage. Prelude. 1. The Catholic Monarchs 1469–1516. 2. The rise of empire: Charles V 1516–1558. 3. A world power: Philip II 1556–1598. 4. The crisis of government 1598–1660. 5. Spain’s people in an age of crisis. The survival of the middle classes. 6. The end of the old empire 1660–1714. Appendix 1. Dynastic table of Spanish rulers, 1474–1700. Appendix 2. Economic and demographic statistics. Maps. Bibliographical Note. Index.

Promotional Information

This book explores the essential factors that distinguished the Spanish experience: the gold and silver of the New World; the role of the Inquisition and the fate of the Muslim and Jewish minorities.

About the Author

Henry Kamen obtained his doctorate at Oxford and has been a professor at universities in Britain, Spain and the United States. He is emeritus of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, Spain, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London. An eminent authority on Spanish history, he has written over twenty studies in the field, including The Spanish Inquisition (new edition, 2014), Philip of Spain (1997), Spain’s Road to Empire (2002), and The Escorial (2010).

Reviews

Of the First Edition:...a highly professional book...which gives a very useful and up-to-date account of the most interesting period in Spanish history.The Times Literary Supplement