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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

King Phillip II, letters, Spain's navel wars, paper king, naval orders

College

Humanities

Department

Spanish and Portuguese

Abstract

This project entitled “Out of Obscurity” required the transcription of twenty letters dictated by King Philip II of Spain in 1592 during Spain’s naval wars against England and France. Most of the documents generated by Philip II, also known as the “paper king” for his prolific output of official documents, are carefully housed in the Archive of Simancas near Valladolid, Spain, making them difficult for U.S. students to access and study. However, through a generous donation made to the Department of Collections and Manuscripts in Harold B. Lee Library of Brigham Young University, professors and students alike have the opportunity to see and touch for themselves a collection of naval orders given by Philip II from 1592 to 1597. These orders deal with a variety of topics from the capture of enemy soldiers and the construction of warships to the appointment of military officers. While inaccessibility is no longer a problem, obstacles still remain, primarily difficulties of reading the scribes’ handwriting and comprehending Old Spanish.

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