The Golden Age of Spain: 1474-1598

Course Overview

Imperial Spain is one of the most intriguing of historical periods for an Early Modern historian. In a relatively short time, a disunited and isolated peninsula became perhaps the most important centre of Early Modern Europe and many of the processes which would come to define European history (such as the early-modern state, overseas colonisation, and the Reformation) are thus irreparably tied to Spain. Yet no polity has ever been so paradoxical. A conservative and often stagnant society became a seminal influence in changing Europe's future social and cultural structure. It was a pan-Iberian dynastic federation of late medieval states which teetered into chaos and yet became the prototype for the Early Modern state. An empire which fell prey to its own inefficiencies still supplied the models for future imperial projects. Spain was, on the one hand, a Pan-European hegemon and superpower, and on the other a disunited body subjected to a near-constant drain of rebellion and warfare. On this course, not only will the basics of the Golden Age of Spain be taught, but students will also be introduced to much of the most recent and authoritative scholarship and original historical documents, which make this such a vibrant and fascinating field.