Philip I of Castile (1478-1506), called “the Handsome”, has so far not received the attention he undoubtedly deserves from historians. Indeed, the brevity of his reign and the concentration of interest on the unfortunate life of his wife Joanna, particularly in Spain, have contributed, among other factors, to making him a somewhat vague figure, almost unknown even.

This extensively illustrated book containing much previously unpublished material sets out to provide a more complete and truthful vision of Philip’s life and reign. Prominent specialists study the monarch and his age from various viewpoints: the situation of Europe around 1500; Philip’s political biography; the structure and functioning of his court; his death and the endless journey on which his corpse was taken from Burgos to Granada; music and arms; and painting and tapestries.

Miguel Ángel Zalama is professor of the Department of Art History at the University of Valladolid, and his specialty is the History and Theory of Art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He has published important essays on Joan I and her husband, such as Vida cotidiana y arte en el palacio de la reina Juana I en Tordesillas (2000; 2nd ed. enlarged and revised, 2003). He currently directs the research group at the University of Valladolid Art, power and society in the Modern Age and the Tordesillas Center for Relations with Latin America.

Paul Vandenbroeck is a professor at the University of Louvain and a researcher at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. He has written important papers on Joan I and Philip the Handsome, and focuses his studies on Bosch.