In the Devil's Snare Book Report

Elliot, J.H., Imperial Spain: 1469-1716. London: Penguin Books, 1963. 423pgs. In Imperial Spain, J.H. Elliot examines the history of early modern Spain from the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, to the reformation of the Spanish government by the first member of the Bourbon dynasty. According to the author, at the start of the 15th century, Spain was internally weak, hopelessly divided and isolated from the continent by the Pyrenees. Yet, by 1492, Spanish society experienced a tremendous transformation which allowed Isabella and Ferdinand to unify the country, secure the largest transoceanic empire the world has ever known, and for a few decades become the strongest nation in all of Europe. Unfortunately, Elliot asserts, whatever dynamism animated this miraculous ascendancy did not last very long and Spain became once again a second or third-rate nation. The personal rule of the Catholic Monarchs, Elliot argues, is what made Spain a dominant world power; when the Habsburg dynasty ascended to the throne, their cosmopolitan imperialism led them to neglect the nation that Isabella and Ferdinand had begun to create and led to the decline of Spanish power at home and abroad.
The book presents the information chronologically and topically. The first four chapters deal with the geographical, social and political changes that took place during the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand. Chapters five through ten analyze the Habsburg dynasty 's role in the undermining of the Spanish Empire. The extensive bibliography includes a topical section and several bibliographical essays. Six maps and five tables round out the work. In Chapter One entitled “The Union of Crowns” Elliot contends that the marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon on 19 October 1469 made the idea of Spain an established fact. Even though there were still large sections of