The Courtier and the King Ruy Gómez de Silva, Philip II, and the Court of Spain PDF
Preview The Courtier and the King Ruy Gómez de Silva, Philip II, and the Court of Spain
OURTieR Ruy Gomez de Silva, Philip II, and the Court ofSpain AMES BOYDEN 4* M. Tloe COUKTieR The kiw C> luy GdmezdeSilva, PhilipII, andtheCourtofSpain RuyG6mezdeSilva,bestknowntohistoryasthe princeofEboli,wasoneofthecentralfiguresatthe courtofSpaininthesixteenthcentury.Bornin Portugueseobscurity,hecametoCastileasaboyand rosetobecomethefavoriteandbrieflythechiefmin- isterofPhilipII.Thisascentwastheproductofan oilyaffability,socialgrace,andanuncannyknackfor anticipatingandcateringtothedesiresofhisprince. RuyG6mezwasamasterofthecourtlyarts,andhis — — career recountedhereforthefirsttime beauti- fullyillustratesthetechniques,aspirations,and mentalityofarealcourtierintheageofCastiglione. Duringthe1550sand1560stheSpanishcourt waspolarizedbyEboli'sbitterrivalrywiththeinfa- mousDukeofAlba,whichhaslongbeenunderstood astheresultofprofoundideologicaldifferences. JamesBoydenreinterpretsthisrivalryasastruggle forsocialandpoliticalstaturebetweentheupstart RuyGomezandtheentrenchedCastilianaristocracy ledbyAlba.Theoutcomeofthisstrugglewaspor- tentousforthefuturedevelopmentoftheSpanish THE COURTIER AND THE KING This THE COURTIER AND THE KING RUY GOMEZ DE SILVA, PHILIP II, AND THE COURT OF SPAIN James M. Boyden UniversityofCaliforniaPress Berkeley LosAngeles London Copyrightedmaterial — ThepublishergratefullyacknowledgesagrantfromtheProgramforCultural CooperationbetweenSpain'sMinistryofCultureandUnitedStatesUniversities. UniversityofCaliforniaPress BerkeleyandLosAngeles,California UniversityofCaliforniaPress,Ltd. London,England ©1995by TheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Boyden,JamesM.,1954- ThecourtierandtheKing:RuyGomezdeSilva,PhilipII,andthecourtof Spain/JamesM.Boyden. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. I1.SGBoNm0e-5z20d-e08S6il2v2a-,8R(uayl,k.pprai—pnecri)pedeEboli,1516-1573.2.Spain—History PhilipII,1556-1598.3.—Spain—Courtandcourtiers.4.Philip,II,KingofSpain, 1527-1598.5.Nobility Spain Biography.I.Title. DP181.G65B—61995 946'.043'092 dc20 [B] 93-41011 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 987654321 Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetsth—eminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciences PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLi- braryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1984. Copyrighiedmalaria! ForSally, thebravestsoulIknow Copyrightedmaterial Contents Acknowledgments ix Prologue 1 PART ONE THE RTSF OF RIJY GOMFZ OF SII.VA 1. FromLaChamuscatotheCourtofSpain 7 2. AMarriageContract 24 3. TheKing'sMan 39 4. ThePrivado 63 PART TWO CHALLENGE AMD RF.SPONSF IntroductiontoPartTwo 91 5. RivalryandRetreat 93 6. SafelyintoPort 116 Conclusion:RuyGomezdeSilvaandPhilipII 151 Notes 159 Glossary 215 Bibliography 217 Index 231 Copyrightedmaterial Acknowledgments Withoutthegraciousaidofseveralinstitutionsandmanyindividu- als,Icouldneverhavecompletedthisbook.TheUniversityofTexas atAustinandTulaneUniversitybothprovidedfinancialsupportfor researchandwriting.InSpainIwasaffordedgenerousaccesstothe holdingsoftheArchivoHistoricoNacional(AHN)andtheArchivo GeneraldeSimancas.Iamgratefultotheprofessionalstaffofboth archives, and especiallyto DonJoseAntonio EstebanattheAHN andDonaIsabelAguirreLandaatSimancas.EileenMcWilliamhas beenashrewdeditorandstaunchadvocateforthisbookattheUni- versity ofCalifornia Press, and I thank herfor allofher efforts. I amindebted aswellto Laura Driussi forher skilland patiencein overseeing the productionofthebook, and to Sarah K. Myers for adeptcopyediting. CarolynP. Boyd directed the dissertation thatwas thebasis for thiswork. Sheisanexemplarymentorandfriend,andIcannever repayherfortheconcern, kindnessand patiencethatsheinvested in this work and its author. My other teachers, among themJose Ferrer,MyronGutmann,NancyN.BarkerandStandishMeacham, arealsoduealargemeasureofgratitude. Ingraduateschoolandsince,Ihavebeenluckyinmycolleagues. IparticularlywishtothankmyfellowmembersoftheTulaneUni- versity DepartmentofHistoryfor theirwarmpersonal and schol- arly support during some difficult times. My sincere thanks for a widerangeofassistance,encouragement,criticismandadvicegoto PaulBushkovitch,PaulCharney,ValerieHansen,BruceHunt,Maija Jansson,WilliamJordan,RichardKagan,DavidLagomarsino,Colin MacLachlan,WilliamMaltby,EdwardMuir,HelenNader,Geoffrey Parker,CharlesRoyster,PeterSahlins,thelateAdrianVanOss,and LeePalmerWandelandtothereadersfortheUniversityofCalifor- niaPress.IextendaspecialabrazotoPaulHiltpoldforfifteenyears offriendshipandunquestioningaid. Sucherrorsoffactand inter- ix Copyrightedmalarial x Acknowledgments pretation as remain in thisbook are, of course, my sole responsi- bility. Myremainingdebtsarepersonalandimmeasurable.ToCharles and MarieBoyden, toSallyHunterGraham, and toJamesWiefer- man, I offer this book in scant recompense for their love, under- standingandsacrifice. Copyrightedmaterial
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