Spanish Match

Alexander Samson is Lecturer in Golden Age Literature in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies at University College London, UK.

• Contents: Introduction: The Spanish match, Alexander Samson; Buying the Renaissance: Prince Charles's art purchases in Madrid, 1623, Jerry Brotton; Dress to impress: Prince Charles plays Madrid, March-September 1623, Lesley Ellis Miller; Entertainments in Madrid for the Prince of Wales: political functions of festivities, David Sánchez Cano; The greatest news story since the Resurrection? Andrés de Almansa y Mendoza's coverage of Prince Charles' Spanish trip, Henry Ettinghausen; 1623 and the politics of translation, Alexander Samson; The Spanish literary response to the visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, Jeremy Robbins; A fairy-tale marriage: Charles and Henrietta Maria's romance, Karen Britland; A French view of the marriage: Abraham Rémy's La Galatée ou les adventures du prince Astiagès, Marie-Claude Canova-Green; 'I am another woman': the Spanish and French matches in Massinger's The Renegado (1624) and The Unnatural Combat (1624-5), Claire Jowitt; The Black Knight's festival book? Thomas Middelton's A Game at Chess, Trudi Darby; 'Honour conceal'd; strangely reveal'd': the fool and the water-poet, Clare Wikeley; Appendix: Diplomatic representatives from the Hapsburg monarchy to the Court of James VI & I, Roberta Anderson; Index.

’... for anyone drawn to these matters, this text remains a real contribution to the field, an essential work to read, ponder, and consult repeatedly as needed.’ Seventeenth-Century News ’This informative collection concludes with a useful appendix containing a brief account of all the diplomats from the emperor, Flanders, and Spain accredited to the court of King James, and a select bibliography.’ Renaissance Quarterly ’Readers coming to this book from varied historical viewpoints will all enjoy a feast, and they will certainly be astonished by its wealth of documentation... This stimulating book, adorned moreover with twenty plates and a valuable bibliography, is a fine advertisement for interdisciplinary scholarship; it should urge us on.’ Literature and History ’This collection addresses an important yet often neglected historical event in a remarkably interdisciplinary way.’ Journal of British Studies ’It represents one of the most important contributions to the events of 1623 since Gardiner’s enormous Prince Charles and the Spanish Marriage (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1869). ... If Charles’ marrying Maria might have altered the course of history in ways we can only imagine, not quite marrying her produced considerable changes in Britain, and in the court in particular, which this book goes a long way to revealing. The illustrations, twenty of them, are excellent.’ Bulletin of Spanish Studies