Philip V of Spain

Philip V, who reluctantly assumed the Spanish throne in 1700, was the first of the Bourbon dynasty which continues to reign today. Philip’s forty-six-year reign, briefly curtailed in 1724 when he abdicated in favor of his short-lived son, Louis I, was one of the most important in the country’s history. This highly readable account is the first biography of Philip V in English.

Previous writing on Philip has been largely negative, dismissing him as comic, stupid, and indolent. Henry Kamen dem...