Philip V of Spain: The King Who Reigned Twice (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sometimes imagining himself a frog, and repeatedly believing himself to be dead, Philip V, the first Bourbon on the throne of Spain, has been a risible figure for many historians. For others, Philip, who ruled from 1700 to 1746, was a despicable absolutist who too briefly abdicated the throne in 1724, or a weak man easily dominated by his Italian-born second wife, Elizabeth Farnese. But Kamen, a historian of the early modern era with the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona, has made his career destroying established scholarship. In The Spanish Inquisition (1998), he undercut the "Black Legend" of Spanish brutality and intolerance, placing the holy tribunal in a more realistic historical context. Here, he argues that Philip in fact helped ensure the economic, political and cultural revival of his adopted country, that he was entirely uninterested in absolutist power and that the salacious accusations regarding his sexual appetite are without foundation. Although he postures this scholarly work as a personal biography of Philip V and not a historical review of the king's reign, Kamen's rehabilitation is sometimes excessive: for instance, his claim that, under Philip, "Spain awoke to adequate food supplies" is undermined by his own admission that royal policies aggravated the problem of poverty. Moreover, the author admits that the cultural advancements (with a Parisian influence) that the king encouraged had little effect beyond the court and that Philip's manic depression quite clearly had a crippling effect on his capacity to govern. Still, this remains a humane work, as well as a provocative one, notably in its treatment of Elizabeth, whose apparently authoritarian behavior was, Kamen suggests, simply the result of a loyal decision to act decisively on behalf of her beloved but incapacitated husband.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The eighteenth-century reign of Philip V of Spain, the first Spanish king of the French Bourbon dynasty, which still rules in Spain today, was marked by the long conflict called the War of Spanish Succession. But Professor Kamen looks beyond those years of bloodshed and sees that Philip's long reign--of 46 years, in fact--spelled governmental, social, and cultural changes that, in effect, inaugurated Spain as a modern nation. Philip, the grandson of France's great king Louis XIV, came to Spain young and untried, but, as Kamen pictures here, in a scholarly, exacting, but certainly accessible account, he developed the acumen and agility to end his reign as a leader who made a difference. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300087187
• ISBN-13: 978-0300087185
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #549,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spain's First Bourbon, October 27, 2002

By	Matherson (New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Kamen's biography of Philip V, which is the first English-language biography on this troubled soul for a long time, is an attempt at rehabilitation. In Philip's case, rehabilitation has its limits - for instance, the fact that he attended FEWER auto-da-fe's than his Hapsburg predecessors is hardly exculpatory. On the other hand, Kamen shows that Philip was a diligent man who, from the moment he arrived from Paris (he was French-born and indeed a grandson of Louis XIV), took his constitutional and religious roles extremely seriously, and withstood armed insurrection by the Hapsburg pretender, Archduke (later Emperor) Charles. Kamen also refutes the standard caricature of Philip as "dominated by women" and "tormented by desire for his wife." (He was uxorious! So what?) As to Philip's supposed "feeble-mindedness" and "madness," Kamen has the benefit of modern psychiatry, and as he explains, Philip's extravagant mood swings and melancholia are classic symptoms of manic depression. Finally, the title: he ruled "twice" not because of his supposed "madness," but because he abdicated in favor of his first-born son Louis, who then died only months later, leaving Philip to re-take the reins of power. A scholarly and impressive study of Spanish court life in the early eighteenth century.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new biography for a neglected king, May 20, 2002

By	M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Philip V is a king who is more often talked about than subjected to scholarly inquiry. His role in the war of Spanish Succession and his subsequent career on the throne and his second marriage have been the subject of numerous rumors and speculation. Henry Kamen's book rights a great wrong and restores Philip to the modern reader by subjecting his career and mental history to a modern sensibility. Philip's probable bi-polar disorder expalins a great deal about Philip's behavior Kamen's book is not only useful to the reader interested in Spain, but in 17th century European history in general.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Was the King Crazy?, February 22, 2002

By	lvkleydorff (CT. USA) - See all my reviews

Was the King Crazy?

Mr. Kamen's book is not really a biography of the Spanish king. Rather, it is a diatribe against other historians who described Philip V as weak, mentally disturbed and a disaster for this country. The author does not see it that way.

Mr. Kamen explains that Philip suffered from manic depression and bipolar disorder. Could that be another expression for mentally unfit? While the king spent days and weeks in bed, screaming loud and messing up himself and his surroundings, the author claims that he was still of a composed mind and absolutely lucid. Philip's second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, took over the command of the kingdom, saying that she only acted on the instructions of her husband. Do we want to believe her? What we can believe is that, during Philip?s first marriage to Marie Louise of Savoy and even beyond, the affairs of Spain were run by the king's grandfather, King Louis XIV of France. Under Elizabeth Farnese, the French influence lessened and was supplanted by an Italian hegemony.

Given this very strong foreign influence, and the considerable power still exercised by the Spanish grandees, one could question whether or not it really mattered that much if Philip was always lucid or bipolar. Mr. Kamen may have lost the basis for his argument.