The Theory and Practice of Golden Age Kingship
Alexander Samson
This course focuses on both political dimensions of the comedia and the explosion of mirror for princes writing in the first forty years of the 17th century, in the light of the perceived sense of crisis and controversial notion of desengaño. It will trace the notion of kingship from Erasmus, through the imperial chancellor Gattinara's idea of universal monarchy, the sack of Rome, through the controversies surrounding the ius gentium that arose in relation to Spanish America, and which stand at the outset of our ideas about international law, through the beginnings of the Black Legend in Philip II's reign, to the controversial privanzas of Philip III and IV. The influence of neo-Stoic and Machiavellian ideas on political philosophy in early modern Spain with particular reference to Gracián, as well as the growth of the press and a public sphere, will all be used to assess the impact of the Habsburg monarchy on the production of literature, architecture and the plastic arts in Spain and Latin America. In addition to Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca and Tirso de Molina, the representation of kingship in the Golden Age will also be traced through painting, political writing, prophecy, dream narratives, festival texts and royal entries.