Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain
Edited by Silvia Mostaccio, Bernardo J. García García, and Luca Lo Basso
Many of the most significant studies devoted to Ambrogio Spinola have focused on one particular aspect of his life: his successful military career. This volume, through its interdisciplinary and cultural approach, breaks open this all too narrow perspective and expands our understanding of Spinola and his world. As a great military strategist and Catholic knight, entrepreneur in the international finance market, courtier, and diplomat, Spinola was certainly a Genoese, but he was also a member of the transnational Iberian elite, to which he linked his fate and that of his children. His life's journey between Italy, Flanders, and Spain, and the reinterpretations of his life by his contemporaries in art, literature, and the press, give us the opportunity to reflect on the multiple identities and the physical and mental wanderings of many Europeans of the Early Modern Age. Ambrogio Spinola offers an example of humanity that is impossible to capture in a single reading and is much more contemporary than we can imagine.
Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain allows the reader to
better understand not only his military activities, but also (and above all)
the family, social and political foundations of his successful career, as well
as the various forms of art and communication (literature, architecture,
paintings, sculptures, engravings, newspapers, etc.), which were used to
celebrate him both during his life and beyond.
Contributors: Blythe Alice Raviola (University of Milan), Emiliano Beri (University of Genoa), Alicia Esteban Estríngana (University of Alcala), Dries Raeymaekers (Radboud University), Davide Maffi (University of Pavia), Nina Lamal (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), Paul Arblaster (Saint-Louis University Brussels), Enrico Zucchi (University of Padua), Laura Stagno (University of Genoa)
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
Around Ambrogio: The Family Network in Genoa, Milan, and Spain, and Giovanni Botero’s Eulogy
Federico and Ambrogio Spinola between Mediterranean Corsairs, War in Flanders, and the Invasion of England
“Ingrandire la famiglia”: Ambrogio Spinola on Honour, War, and Money in his Flanders Correspondence with the Women of his Family
Part II
A Joab for King David: Ambrogio Spinola, General of Archduke Albert, and the Davidic Imaginary in the Time of Philip III (1598–1605) 97
“The Great Alcandre”: Ambrogio Spinola at Court
The Last Venture: Ambrogio Spinola as Governor of Milan (1629–30)
To Lose One’s Honour: Ambrogio Spinola’s Return to Italy, the Casale Affair, and the End of “Pax Hispanica” (1627–30)
Part III
Spinola’s Fame in the News Press
Contesting the Spanish Myth: Republican Shaping of Ambrogio Spinola’s Image in Genoese Literature (1608–52)
Ambrogio Spinola in Genoese Art
“Tempore et Loco”: Heroic Rhetoric of Spinola’s Fortune, from Military Entrepreneur to Spanish Grandee
Index
Format: Edited volume - paperback
Size: 244 × 170 mm
384 pages
Illustrated b/w & f/c
ISBN: 9789462703421
Publication: September 21, 2022
Series: Avisos de Flandes 20
Languages: English: United States
Stock item number: 150306
Luca Lo Basso is professor of early modern history and maritime history at the University of Genoa, and Director of the Laboratory of Maritime and Naval History in Genoa.
Silvia Mostaccio is professor of early modern history at UCLouvain.
Yasmina Ben Yessef Garfia, University Federico II (Naples)