Philip II of Spain and the Power of Money

This is a study of the financial system that sustained the sixteenth-century empire of Philip II of Spain. Detailing the links between royal revenue sources, trade fairs, credit market, long-term debt, and contracts with Genoese bankers, it reveals how Philip's financial and military strategy complemented each other. Central to the narrative is Philip's struggle with the Cortes, which, under Castile's implicit constitution, imposed limits on public debt, forcing repeated renegotiations as military expenses and debt escalated. In this first analytical study of Philip's financial policies, Carlos Álvarez-Nogal and Christophe Chamley draw on extensive archival research and secondary sources to show that Philip's main challenge was not the bankers but the Cortes. He used temporary payment suspensions and financial crises as tools to pressure the Cortes for additional taxation. The book highlights the interplay between debt, political power, and state formation in early modern Europe.