C.R. Boxer writes that, taken in conjunction, the Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery in the fifteenth century form one of the watersheds of history, comparable to the twentieth-century conquest of space.
For seven-and-a-half centuries, Rome's Santo Spirito has remained an “oasis of security and peace." Its foundation on the site of an Anglo-Saxon hospice, Iris Origo writes, was inspired by the dream that visited an early thirteenth-century pontiff.
Douglas Hilt profiles a statesman, jurist and man of letters who devoted his generous gifts to the service of Bourbon Spain.
The King of Aragon was deeply involved in the religious wars of the thirteenth century in south-western France, writes Jan Read.
Alan Haynes recounts how Essex and Raleigh attacked the Azores, but failed to destroy the Spanish fleet
Stephen Clissold explains how, after twenty years of life as a nun, St Teresa began to experience visions and ecstasies which led her to found a reformed Carmelite convent in Avila.
Anthony Bonner traces the route taken by a Spaniard, from Barcelona, who set out on his long journey throughorth Africa to Mecca with the backing of Manuel Godoy.
Both Don Carlos in 1568 and Don Ferdinand in 1807 were accused by their fathers of conspiracy to usurp the throne of Spain, as Douglas Hilt finds here.
Jan Read describes Al-Mansur, the honorific name for the leader who restored Moorish power in Spain during the late 10th century.
Roger Howell discovers that the Spaniards who conquered the Americas had little real understanding of the civilizations that they overthrew.
