PHILIP II OF SPAIN.

£4,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

Philip II of Spain (also known as Philip the prudent ) reigned from 1556 to 1598, also serving as .jure uxoris ruler of England from his marriage to Mary Tudor in 1554, until her death in November 1558 a few weeks after this royal grant of privileges was issued. He was the son of Emperor Charles V, completed the building the palace of El Escorial and his reign saw the conquest of the Incas and the Philippines, bringing territories in every continent then known to Europeans under his direct control and ushering in the Spanish Golden Age of power and influence. The rule of Ferdinand and Isabella and Charles V are often seen as the very heights of European empire building in the Renaissance, but Philip II pushed this further, holding back the Ottoman advances into Eastern Europe and the Italian coastline, while also extending Spain s hold over the Americas and annexing Portugal and thus their wide ranging overseas colonies and maritime empire. In fact, the presence of the stylised sun and moon, and inscription sol lucet in his armorial device in the right-hand of the bas-de-page of the frontispiece here alludes to the observation of his contemporaries, that only he could truly say sol mihi semper lucet ( the sun always shines on me ). Unlike the common Spanish royal grants of arms, this is a grant of extensive royal privileges including autonomous legal and juridical authority (.Carta de Privilegio Real), for the town of Heute, Castile-la-Mancha, and its inhabitants. Its style o

• Binding: Hardcover

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