Imprudent King Audiobook By Geoffrey Parker cover art

Imprudent King

A New Life of Philip II

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Imprudent King

By: Geoffrey Parker
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
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Philip II is not only the most famous king in Spanish history, but one of the most famous monarchs in English history: the man who married Mary Tudor and later launched the Spanish Armada against her sister Elizabeth I. This compelling biography of the most powerful European monarch of his day begins with his conception (1526) and ends with his ascent to Paradise (1603), two occurrences surprisingly well documented by contemporaries. Eminent historian Geoffrey Parker draws on four decades of research on Philip as well as a recent, extraordinary archival discovery - a trove of 3,000 documents in the vaults of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, unread since crossing Philip's own desk more than four centuries ago. Many of them change significantly what we know about the king.

The book examines Philip's long apprenticeship; his three principal interests (work, play, and religion); and the major political, military, and personal challenges he faced during his long reign. Parker offers fresh insights into the causes of Philip's leadership failures: was his empire simply too big to manage, or would a monarch with different talents and temperament have fared better?

©2014 Geoffrey Parker (P)2018 Tantor 16th Century Europe Modern Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty Middle Ages Imperialism Africa War Military Tudor Latin America

Critic reviews

"He is at pains to know Philip through the testimony of his friends, foes, courtiers and his own words and this authoritative, intelligently revisionist biography must stand now as the primary reference." (Iain Finlayson, Times [UK])
Superb Historical Research • Thorough Biographical Details • Excellent Narration • Interesting Historical Perspective
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Good read and interesting I recommend this book to everyone blah blah blah blah blah blah

Good read

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Overall this could be a great book. Good characters and an interesting story. But the author jumps back and forth in time, making it difficult for the listener to remain engages. If you stop to do something as simple as check your text messages and miss 60 seconds of the book, when you return you may find yourself in another decade in a different city, not even recognizing the current character. The main events that make this guy relevant to most readers was his brief and crazy marriage to Queen Mary I of England. I was very interested in learning Phil’s reactions to Bloody Mary’s cessation of her monthly period at age 38 shortly after he entered into a political loveless marriage. Any person who lived past 35 years old was considered an elderly senior citizen back then. Old girl somehow confused perimenopause with being pregnant shortly after the wedding but no kid 11 months later. Even today woman of that age are labeled as "mature" for pregnancy. For Mary, it could only have been menopause with gas when she experienced a SECOND phantom pregnancy at 42. I wanted to know what her hubby was thinking as he tried for an heir for 4 years with a cougar he neither loved nor desired. But, either I missed his reaction in the chronological mish-mash or the author left it out. I finally had to give up and try Wikipedia! Still nothing there either. So I never finished the book.

TOO JUMBLED UP TO FOLLOW

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This is a great book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only complaint I have is one that I saw in another review, which is that the book does jump around a bit. It takes the different areas in his life and goes through each one in chronological order separate from the other parts. For example, you hear about all of his wives before you hear about most of his political life.

It would have been better if it was all knit together in order. That way you could see while one marriage may have been awful, what he was dealing with in his kingdom. How these separate parts may have affected each other is lost by separation.

In all, it is very good, if awkwardly ordered. The narration was superb. I definitely recommend this book.

Great, but I jumbled

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I enjoyed the very thorough description of Philip II. The author covers not only historical details, but delves into who the man was and why he was that way. The 1500s were a time of great change when the Americas and the Philippines were colonized. My only complaint is minor, and that is the narrator pronounces words with the letter Z in them with a TH sound. This is probably because it’s the way they are pronounced in Spanish, but this is an English translation. Words like Cádiz sound like Cardiff, and Perez sound like Pereth. I had to stop a few times to figure out what the narrator was saying. I also wish the monetary unit had been pounds, euros, or even dollars, instead of ducats. I wasn’t able to follow the value of expenditures. Other than that, it is a great book.

Fascinating Man and Era

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For those of us who revel in minute detail, this is the king for us. Geoffrey Parker and his very able narrator Nigel Patterson have blessed us with an articulate version of this Imprudent King.

A revealing portrait of King Philip the Second

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Didn't expect this to be so interesting - I wanted to understand the history of the Americas better by learning more about Spain during the colonial period, but it turns out this is a story about the Reformation, Elizabethan England, and so much more.

Narrator was very capable and I thought fits quite well with the attitude that characterizes the book.

I started with this one for some reason, now I am looking forward to picking up the author's biography of Philip's father Charles.

Enjoyable and Educational

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I enjoyed the thorough research of this book, but it jumps back and forth so much it's hard to remember it all. It doesn't follow a straight chronology; for example: it tells of his marriage to Mary Tudor, then jumps back to when he was a child, talks of the Armada, then about the Escobedo/Perez scandal, then how he was a loving father, then back to Escobedo/Perez, etc. It would be fine if you had the hard copy to refer back to, but difficult as an audiobook.

Informative but disjointed

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I would give this book between 4 and a 5 star and not because of its contents but mainly due to the order of which it is told. For those who have a better understanding of Phillips background I think the time line would not be as much of an issue. But for someone getting to know this era better, Post Charles V, I sometimes got confused on what date was related to what event because the author would go back-and-forth telling stories by theme versus chronological order. As there are a few extensive books on Philip II, would highly recommend it regardless of some ordering issues. It contains all the major battles facts and political situations both in Europe and in the Americas.

Full History of Phillip I

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The best modern biography, the fruit of decades of research by a brilliant historian. Its combination of chronological and thematic organization make the chapters useful as standalone discussions. Its great length, though, may make it a better shelf book then audiobook.

Most biographers seem to be captured by their subject, and British historians of Spain go out of their way to purge any traces of a black legend perspective, so Parker‘s deep sympathy for Philip is to be expected. Unsympathetic biographies Seldom teach us much. That said, I wish Parker showed more skepticism and balance. His thesis of Philip’s “imprudence“ is not criticism but roundabout admiration for a statesman who was not Machiavellian but deeply principled and disarmingly self reflective. Parker occasionally acknowledges Philip’s cruelty and deceit, but tends to avert his eyes from the uglier parts of the story.

The text is as full of Philip’s own voice as any modern figure’s biography would be. Listeners who don’t know the sources may not realize how hard that was to achieve: Parker‘s quotations come from deciphering difficult paleography in far-flung archival documents, on scraps of paper or in the margins of reports.

Nigel Patterson‘s narration is excellent, above all his Castillion pronunciation. Foreign language pronunciation is the weak link in most well read audiobooks, but Patterson’s is a pleasure to listen to.

The best modern biography

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Superb history of an incredibly important historical figure. Great performance too. Gives you a great insight into inquisition, Armada, relations with England, Netherlands and HRE, Valuable depiction of his religious beliefs. So much valuable info! Not a bit boring.

Excellent history, Super interesting.

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