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Call for papers #37

Redworth, Glyn. The Prince and the Infanta. The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. 200 pp., 19 illus.

In this well-written, lively book, Glyn Redworth succeeds in explaining a bizarre event in early modern English-Spanish relations: the failed match between the Stuart Prince Charles, heir to the English throne, and the Infanta María, sister of Philip IV. Others have studied this match, but Redworth uses manuscripts from archives and libraries not fully employed by other scholars to give a detailed, convincing account of the event.
Negotiations for the Spanish match began as early as 1604 but did not take off in earnest until the early 1620s, reaching a dramatic climax in March 1623 when Charles and the count of Buckingham arrived unannounced and incognito in Madrid. They first claimed to be John and Thomas Smith but quickly revealed their true identity and goal -to conclude marriage negotiations and return to England with the infanta as Charles's bride. Scholars have long tried to understand why Charles and Buckingham should have undertaken such a daring and risky deed, especially since it failed completely, but by detailing the background, Redworth explains why Charles had reason to think his plan feasible. In particular, Redworth discusses James I's friendship with the Spanish ambassador to England, the count of Gondomar, and the crucial role played by Gondomar in persuading James, Charles, and Buckingham of Spain's readiness to agree to the marriage. Redworth gives a fascinating portrait of Gondomar, especially in discussing the three letters Gondomar wrote from Spain to James and Buckingham assuring them that the marriage negotiations were essentially concluded and that the time had come for the Prince of Wales to "mount" Spain (54).
According to Redworth, Charles was infatuated with the infanta and believed he could speed matters along if he went to Spain to woo her. Unfortunately for Charles, the elaborate etiquette of the Spanish court did not allow for any real wooing. He could watch the infanta only from a distance or from behind a curtain as she went to church or joined a religious procession. On the few carefully orchestrated occasions when he was allowed briefly to converse with her, the talk was formulaic and stilted. Redworth does an excellent job of detailing the severe court etiquette that was so foreign to Charles who, impetuous and impatient to spirit the infanta back to England, could never break through her detached and icy veneer. While the Spanish populace was taken with Charles's daring feat and believed he deserved to have the infanta at once, the court was not so easily won over.
Redworth differs from historians who claim that James and Charles saw the Spanish match as a way to win Spanish assistance in restoring the Palatinate to James's son-in-law, Frederick. For Redworth, the episode primarily "revolves around a young man's infatuation, a father's indulgence, and a favourite's determination to carve a position for himself in a new reign" (5). The English king also believed, however, that a Spanish princess's large dowry might lessen his financial dependence on Parliament and that an alliance with Spain might counter the influence of militant Protestants at home. Only after the failure of the trip and only in an effort to mitigate the fiasco did Charles and Buckingham claim that the Palatinate had been their primary reason for pursuing the match. Scholars, especially revisionist historians trying to re-evaluate positively these two Stuart kings and their relationship with Parliament, will probably take issue with Redworth's interpretation.
While Redworth is primarily concerned with placing the Spanish match into English historiography, his book will be of interest to SSPHS readers for his analysis of Spanish court etiquette and his discussion of Olivares's crucial role in the failure of the match. Whereas Charles believed that all that was missing was a papal dispensation, Olivares engineered a scheme whereby he held two letters from the pope - one with easier conditions than the other - allowing Olivares to choose whichever best met his needs. He did not inform the Council of State of all the developments in his dealings with the papacy, and it is questionable whether he even kept Philip IV fully up to date. Readers might prefer a more nuanced examination of Olivares's relationship with other councilors of state and of the inner workings of the Spanish government, but Redworth still does a good job of suggesting some of the tensions. Ultimately, with Olivares's support, Philip IV demanded major religious concessions from James. Charles, denied the right to return to England until Philip IV and Olivares saw fit to let him go, signed the agreement with the firm intention of repudiating it as soon as he left. Redworth suggests that Philip IV (but not Olivares) might have been fooled into believing that Charles was going to live up to his agreement and rejoiced in scoring a victory for Catholicism in England. So pleased was Philip IV that he gave Charles Titian's portrait of Charles V as a parting gift.
The infanta of Redworth's title barely figures in the narrative. The author tells us that as a devout Catholic, she did not want to marry a Protestant and was strongly opposed to the match. We learn also that she was very close to her brother, Philip IV, and that her beauty was renowned, contributing to Charles's infatuation. But the infanta seems to have played only a very minor role in the negotiations which might have sealed her fate. The story of the Spanish match revolves around men negotiating away the infanta's hand (and body) in marriage. That shortly after Charles arrived in Madrid, Olivares (who was then still enthusiastic about the match) could tell the English prince that if the pope refused to grant a dispensation, they (Olivares and Philip IV) would give him the infanta as his "wench" (102) reminds us that early modern statesmen often saw royal women as mere pawns in the diplomatic game of marriage.

Magdalena S. Sánchez
Gettysburg College