Alba: General and Servant to the Crown: 3 (Protagonists of History in International Perspective) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9490258083 ISBN 13: 9789490258085

Publisher: Karwansaray Publishers, 2013

Synopsis

Fernando Įlvarez de Toledo, Third Duke of Alba, is one of the most formidable and controversial figures of the sixteenth century. He has been depicted as a great hero, an indefatigable defender of the Catholic faith and a true buttress of the Spanish monarchy, but also as a terrifying man, the dark suppressor of the revolt in the Low Countries.

During his long and fascinating life Alba revealed wide-ranging skills and interests. A successful soldier, he was also a distinguished courtier and an influential diplomat serving his monarchs, Charles V and Philip II, without fail. Moreover, he was a maecenas and an avid art collector. Using a variety of sources, including previously unexamined data, sixteen leading historians from eight countries present newly developed insights and offer a nuanced image of the Grand Duque. Adopting different perspectives, they shed new light on this intriguing and influential leader, thus showing that Alba continues to be deserving of study and discussion.

About this title

About the Author

Maurits Ebben (1955) studied history at Leiden University and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. In his doctoral dissertation he explored the financing of the Spanish effort by Portugese bankers during the Eighty Years' War. Sinc 1992 he has been a lecturer at the Institute for History of Leiden University, where he teaches Dutch early modern history.

Margriet Lacy-Bruijn (1943) is a native of the Netherlands but has spent most of her adult life in the United States. After studying at the Sorbonne and the University of Strasbourg and after earning degrees in French literature and lingustics at the University of Amsterdam, she completed her PhD in French literature at the university of Kansas in 1972. In addition to her work on the 18th-century French novel, she has published widely on Belle van Zuylen/Madame de Charričre. She was professor of French, dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, and associate vice president for instruction at North Dakota State University before holding similar positions at Butler University, where she retired in 2004.

Rolof earned a LLM degree and a MA degree from the University of Leiden. He also received a degree in comparative law (MCL) from Columbia University. He has spent the last forty years practicing law in The Netherlands Antilles, Rotterdam and Jakarta. Driven by his life-long passion for history, he founded Karwansaray Publishers in 2007, a company dedicated to promoting and sharing a multi-faceted view of history that corsses cultural and political boundries.

From the Back Cover

Fernando Įlvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, is one of the most formidable and controversial figures of the sixteenth century. He has long been depicted as an evil genius: the gruesome face of Spanish imperialism and dark suppressor of the revolt in the Low Countries.

During his long and fascinating life Alba revealed wide-ranging skills and interests. A successful soldier, he was also a distinguished courtier and an influential diplomat, serving his monarchs, Charles V and Philip II, without fail. Moreover, he was an avid art collector.
Previously unexamined data from various international archives and newly developed insights have now collectively formed a more nuanced image of the Grand Duke. In this book, sixteen leading historians from eight countries present their differing views on Alba's life and career, shedding new light on this intriguing and influential leader who had strong political and religious convictions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Karwansaray Publishers
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9490258083
• ISBN 13: 9789490258085
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Ebben Maurits, Lacy-Bruijn Margriet, Van Hövell Tot Westerflier Rolof