This book concentrates on the political history of the reign of Philip IV, and the role of the king within it. Philip is kept near the forefront, and issues and events are often seen - if sometimes critically - from his viewpoint. It is, therefore, a work of revision and rehabilitation, representing an attempt (against all other extant accounts) to establish Philip IV as a positive figure, with an autonomous character and political identity. A secondary, supportive, intention is to demonstrate that after the fall of Olivares, the king ruled and governed without a favourite (valido). This is the central theme in the most detailed treatment of the second half of the reign available in any language. Reference is made throughout to Philip's own words and actions. At the same time, the Olivares period itself is approached from a new perspective, some issues being examined with the use of new material. Although not intended as a conventional biography, the book retains several characteristics of the form, in that it is a 'career-study', part thematic, part chronological. Philip IV is examined also in relation to the political writing of the age, and to his court and capital in Madrid.

An exploration of the culture of public speaking in the Iberian world, which places the classical rhetorical tradition within the context of Iberian global expansion in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

A book about life in Spain from the succession of Philip II (1556) to the death of Philip IV (1665). The author relies primarily upon careful use of literary works and travel accounts written during this 'golden age'. In addition to delightful descriptions and anecdotes, he has woven into his text important political and economic developments. He provides a general view of Spain, stressing the importance of the Catholic faith and the emphasis upon personal honour, before surveying life and society in urban and rural areas. He then examines in some detail life in the Church, university, military and home; public entertainment; and the picaresque life.

Did Spain fall into decline or flourish in the seventeenth century? This edited collection looks at perceptions and representations of Philip IV, Spain's 'Planet King', and his government against the backdrop of the seventeenth-century General Crisis in Europe, wars, revolutions and a sovereign debt crisis. Scholars often associate Philip's reign (1621-1665) with decline, decadence, crisis, stagnation and adversity (as did many contemporaries); yet the glittering cultural and artistic achievements (enhanced by his patronage) of the period led it to be dubbed 'the' Golden Age. The book analyses these contradictions, examining Philip's own understanding of kingship and how he and his courtiers used art and ceremony to project an image of strength, tradition, culture and prestige, while, at the same time, the empire grappled with revolts in Europe and falling trade with its New World colonies.

Royal Favouritism and the Governing Elite of the Spanish Monarchy, 1640-1665 presents a study of the later years of the reign of Philip IV from the perspective of his favourite (valido), don Luis Mendez de Haro, and of the other ministers who helped govern the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy. It offers a positive vision of a period that is often seen as one of failure and decline. Unlike his predecessors, Haro exercised the favour that he enjoyed in a discreet way, acting as a perfect courtier and honest broker between the king and his aristocratic subjects. Nevertheless, Alistair Malcolm also argues that the presence of a royal favourite at the head of the government of Spain amounted to a major problem. The king's delegation of his authority to a single nobleman was considered by many to have been incompatible with good kingship, and Philip IV was himself very uneasy about failing in his responsibilities as a ruler. Haro was thus in a highly insecure situation, and sought to justify his regime by organizing the management of a prestigious and expensive foreign policy. In this context, the eventual conclusion of the very honourable peace with France in 1659 is shown to have been as much the result of the independent actions of other ministers as it was of a royal favourite very reluctantly brought to the negotiating table at the Pyrenees. By conclusion, the quite sudden collapse of Spanish European hegemony after Haro's death in 1661 is represented as a delayed reaction to the repercussions of a flawed system of government.

This is the first global history of dress regulation and its place in broader debates around how human life and societies should be visualised and materialised. Sumptuary laws were a tool on the part of states to regulate not only manufacturing systems and moral economies via the medium of expenditure and consumption of clothing but also banquets, festivities and funerals. Leading scholars on Asian, Latin American, Ottoman and European history shed new light on how and why items of dress became key aspirational goods across society, how they were lobbied for and marketed, and whether or not sumptuary laws were implemented by cities, states and empires to restrict or channel trade and consumption. Their findings reveal the significance of sumptuary laws in medieval and early modern societies as a site of contestation between individuals and states and how dress as an expression of identity developed as a modern 'human right'.