Don Francisco de Quevedo: Drama en Cuatro Actos

Don Francisco de Quevedo: Drama en Cuatro Actos

When Philip IV became king of Spain in 1621 he inherited a kingdom whose resources had been recklessly wasted. His father, Philip III, had been ruled by the most inept of ministers, the Duke of Lerma. Great sums of money, wrung from the productive lower classes, had been spent to carry on a fruitless war in the Netherlands, to provide amusement for an idle, frivolous court, and to fill the pockets of the minister's creatures. Government was in the hands of a bureaucracy of parasites. The collective conscience of the governing class had withered and died. The office-holders in this bureaucracy had come to regard the acquisition of riches at the expense of the state as one of their official privileges. If Spain were to maintain her preminent position as the greatest power in Europe the most radical economic reform was necessary. Stimulus must be given to the productive activity of the country by relief from oppressive taxation, and expenditure must be wisely restrained and administered. The situation demanded a man of exceptional keenness of vision, great energy, and absolute integrity. There were not lacking men who foresaw the disaster that threatened, men who still kept some of that energy and fearlessness that had made America a Spanish dependency, but such individuals were silenced as menaces rather than encouraged as helpers. In Philip himself the mental vigor and physical stamina of the Spanish Hapsburgs had been greatly diminished. The consanguineous marriages of his immediate ancestors had weakened the stock. There can be no doubt that he loved his people in his own pitiful, ineffectual way, but he was hopelessly weak; lacking in the ability and even the will to rule, he delegated government to Don Gaspar de Guzmn, Count of Olivares and soon to be the first Duke of San Lcar. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 19847
Author: Sanz, Eulogio Florentino
Release Date: Nov 17, 2006
Format: eBook
Language: Spanish

Contributors

Editor: Rose, R. Selden (Robert Selden), 1888-1964