LITMIR.BIZ

CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      ABDICATION OF CHARLES THE FIFTH.

      Introductory Remarks.—Spain under Charles the Fifth.—He prepares to resign the Crown.—His Abdication.—His Return to Spain.—His Journey to Yuste.

      1555.

      In a former work, I have endeavored to portray the period when the different provinces of Spain were consolidated into one empire under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella; when, by their wise and beneficent policy, the nation emerged from the obscurity in which it had so long remained behind the Pyrenees, and took its place as one of the great members of the European commonwealth. I now propose to examine a later period in the history of the same nation—the reign of Philip the Second; when, with resources greatly enlarged, and territory extended by a brilliant career of discovery and conquest, it had risen to the zenith of its power; but when, under the mischievous policy of the administration, it had excited the jealousy of its neighbors, and already disclosed those germs of domestic corruption which gradually led to its dismemberment and decay.

      By

Скачать книгу