THE SPANISH BRIDEGROOM

by Jean Plaidy ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Romantic historical fiction in an elegiac portrait of the tragic Philip Spain -- and his successive marriages. The version of his childhood and youth is dened by early apprehensions of the heavy duties of his father, Charles V, and his awareness that the time would come when they would be his. A refreshing warmth enters his life with his teen-age marriage to charming Maria Manocia of Portugal; heartbreak follows when she dies in childbirth, leaving a crippled heir, Don Carlos. Philip tries to fight off his excessive melancholy; he combines a talent for concentration on duty of office with emotion-relieving affairs. His second marriage to Mary Tudor was a miserable failure, not even forwarding his claim to the English throne with her death. War and religious troubles, the peak of violence of the Inquisition, brutal measures against the Moors, conquests, defeat at the hand of the British and the crowding of the duties of his office, in the dismal oppression of the court at Escorial -- all combined to overburden him. His third marriage to a childbride added family troubles as his son Carlos became obsessed with her and Philip murdered him. Small space is given to the actual contributions Philip made; or to the scope of his power. Rather is this a portrait of a tragic figure, who happened to wear a crown. Another slant on the period and the personalities from the DeWohl book (p. 647).

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macrae Smith

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION