Henry IV of Castile, 1425-1474

by Townsend Miller

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0397007981
• ISBN13: 9780397007981
• Release Date: January 1972
• Publisher: Lippincott
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent source for understanding the life of both Henry IV and Isabel of Spain

This very well written biography of Henry IV of Spain builds upon the earlier work of William Prescott, and provides an excellent insight to the life of both Henry and Isabella, his half-sister. He is careful to stay within the bounds of the information provided by his research, yet writes with a skill seldom found in works of history. One of the few works covering the period in English.

Henry the Impotent

Before this book by Townsend Miller, practically nothing of historical value had been written about Henry IV of Castile, the step-brother of the famous Queen Isabella of Castile (who "unified" Spain by her marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon and the Conquest of Muslim Granada). Although this work is of great historical importance since it brings to light a neglected but neglected period of Spanish history before Isabella, Miller's obvious goal is to write a "personal drama" of this hapless individual. This is clear from the very first line: "It had been a difficult delivery, and the foreign Queen of Castile lay gushing blood all that icy afternoon in 1425, her moans drowned out by the storm which beat upon the casements: do not expect, should a midwinter journey take you there to Valladolid, a land of sunshine and mild flowers..." (pg 3) Henry IV himself seems to have been a well-meaning and good person. However, to the horror of Spain, he was obsessed with his menagerie (sometimes to the point of ignoring decision making), he promoted street scum to the level of high ministers (who took outrageous advantage of him), he was unable to produce a male heir despite having two wives, and most of the time absolutely incapable of effective personal rule. The Spain he left was less centralized, the nobility more powerful, and engulfed in a civil war between supporters of his daughter (perhaps his) and the soon to be victorious Queen Isabella. Townsend Miller's treatment of the subject is slightly suspect since he seems to be very interested in making his work as readable and sensationalist as possible, however, since no other works exist of any note this is the best available and worth the purchase. This is definitely for the casual reader who loves a flowing, narrative, vivid history and the even the historian (who like myself might have SOME qualms about the tome's historical veracity).