Philip II, Vindicated

I am making steady progress through an excellent book entitled The Escorial: Art and Power in the Renaissance, by Henry Kamen. Professor Kamen has previously written on sixteenth-century Spain, King Philip in particular, and in the process, he has done much to rehabilitate the historical picture of this intriguing royal.

In "The Escorial", Kamen demolishes centuries old stereotypes and outright lies that have stubbornly dogged King Philip II, a man I have long been fascinated by and have come to admire. It is remarkable how so many of the clichéd misconceptions concerning Philip II have stuck over the years. Most history books present the king as a somewhat creepy misanthrope, who combined a ruthless religious zealotry with a healthy serving of quirky nervous ticks. Kamen's book addresses all of the misconceptions within the context of the magnificent complex of the Escorial, which, under Philip's watchful eye, was constructed as a monastery and residence, not, as many say, as a vainglorious monument to himself and to his supposedly intolerant Church.

The Escorial

Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the allegedly "gloomy" and overly scrupulous king built the enormous building as a way to vanish from the outside world, to hide himself behind its thick walls, the plumes of church incense, and the countless robed, chanting monks roaming the dark corridors. Nothing could be further from the truth. The following excerpt from "The Escorial" gives a good idea of what I am trying to convey:

The legend of the Escorial as a monastic prison is employed in order to present the picture of a king who was timid and nervous, a physical coward, and verging on insane...This presentation, which I (in common with other students of the period) have had reason to analyse on several occasions, was created a century and a half ago by a group of Spanish Liberal historians, and thanks to subsequent political ideologues has enjoyed a long and unmerited lease of life.

One has to read Kamen's book to get the real story behind the Escorial and more importantly, King Philip II, who was in fact a cultured, considerate man, deeply committed to Catholicism (not a fanatic), his realm and yes, even to the arts.