Golden Century of Spain 1501 1621 Author:Davies Historical research in many lands has recently been attracted by the records of Spain during her Golden Century. Its result has been to modify, and often to overturn, the conclusions of the older historians about matters not a few of which seriously affect the interpretation of Modern European History. Hence arises the need for a book of moderat... more »e size possessing the following qualities: it should be suitable for the reading of those who are not specialists in Spanish history; it should deal with economic, social and cultural issues in preference to "drum and trumpet" narrative of the nineteenth-century kind; it should steer an even, though immensely difficult, course between the Scylla of Protestant, Liberal and Anti-clerical prepossessions and the Charybdis of Roman Catholic partisanship; it should give definite facts and figures instead of the wild surmise that so often supplants them in facile generalisations about Spanish history.
"A splendid account of Spanish society in its great moment." - E. Harris Harbison
"A reader coming new and curious to the great reigns of Charles V and Philip II will find their significant complications, their essential contributions and failures, set out with control and clarity. He will learn a great deal within a very short time, but the combination in his historian of vigour, authority, and disciplined imagination forces a mass of what might merely be sound information to take the shape of convincing, brilliant narrative." - The Spectator (London)« less