The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and in the New, Vol. 4: Philip the Prudent (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and in the New, Vol. 4: Philip the Prudent The composition of this final volume of my Rise of the Spanish Empire has been spread over a period of nine years, and has suffered from constant interruptions; but I can truthfully say that I have spent much more time and labor on it than on any of its predecessors, and that it is based to a far greater extent than were they, on manuscript sources. I hope, some day, to be permitted to fortify its conclusions by the publication of a number of documents, which I have collected during the past twenty years in the archives of Spain, France, and England, and prepared for the press. The possibilities of new discoveries in this field are still infinite, and it is as inexplicable as it is unfortunate that more English and American scholars are not tempted to explore them. I trust that the appearance, during the last five years, of four different lives of Philip II (ci. Infra, p. 75) all in rather lighter vein will not deter prospective readers from the perusal of the somewhat solider pages Which follow. The program Which I set myself to carry out When I began more than twenty years ago to write this book, committed me of necessity to painstaking analysis of many topics not in themselves dramatic; and I feel strongly that at the moment better service can be rendered, not only to scholars but also to the general reading public, by careful investi gation of the period as a whole, than by merely concentrating on the picturesque. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.