The Spanish Culture of Charles I's Court

In 1623, Charles I (as heir to the throne) made a secret and hazardous trip to Madrid to win the hand of a Spanish princess. For eight months he was the guest of the Spanish king, Philip IV, living in the Alcazar of Madrid. The opportunities to study art, architecture and court ceremonial made a profound impact on the 23-year-old Charles, and it influenced his own taste when two years later he inherited the thrones of England and Scotland.
A lecture by Simon Thurley CBE
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-an...
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[@cadburries]

"...it was not a particularly promising location ...it had a meager river, it was boiling hot in summer and it was freezing cold in winter" He nailed it.

[@zameendarabhinay1506]

Nice ears.

[@outlawJosieFox]

@@zameendarabhinay1506 All the better to hear you chatting at the back of the class mate

[@jonrettich4579]

As usual revelatory,succinct and entertaining. Thank you

[@mickymantle3233]

I love these lectures. Thanks so much.

[@BigDaveEnglishTeacher]

Spectacular lecture! Well produced, delivered and recorded!

[@danielleboyd3070]

Thank you so much for such an informative and captivating presentation.

[@pragma5282]

Great presentation, and fair insight in the spanish imperial court and its, sometimes underestated cultural and social influence in northern Europe at the time. Charles I was a bold and smart individual. I always thought that, somehow, Covent Garden resembles a spanish Plaza Mayor, similar to the one in Salamanca. It's cool that I felt it that way, and years later, it gets confirmed by an expert. Thanks!

[@expatexpat6531]

Very interesting and well-presented look at an episode I previously knew nothing about.

[@maxsonthonax1020]

Can't believe this isn't a lecture on finance/economics! 😃

[@XxLIVRAxX]

A fascinating historical episode

[@7177YT]

Brilliant! Thank you!

[@tek5692]

Another fascinating and engaging presentation -- thank you, Simon!

[@waterbaby8360]

Awesome. Thank you!

[@adagietto2523]

Really interesting as always, thank you very much.

[@patavinity1262]

The map at 11:03, while being an accurate depiction of the lands ruled by Charles I (of Spain), it is a completely inaccurate depiction of the lands ruled by Philip IV. Austria and Bohemia had split off, Holland had become independent and Portugal had been added to the empire by Philip II.

[@lesguil4023]

2:39 the admiral Charles Howards who lead the defeat of spanish armada by the hands of a storm

[@lesguil4023]

3:41 Spain's sun scorched landscape !! doing history from cliché to cliché, like stepping stones, obscure myths pave the road for the Lie. Sweet Poison. "le poison s'il vous plait"

[@NathanDudani]

⛈️⛵

[@jesusalvarez-cedron6581]

I imagine that also lead the (failed) attack to the coasts of Spain in 1589. Anyway he didn't say anything about in which terms the peace was made...😝 Anyway, beautiful lecture.

[@johndorilag4129]

I believed the Dunkirkers were also active at the same time, preying on Dutch and English shipping

[@jessicantina]

That was the most unabashedly Anglo pronunciation of Valladolid I've ever heard.

[@rolandscales9380]

I bet he eats choritso and pie-ellah and has visited Eye-beetha.

[@epyjacek]

A wonderful lecture! Though I must say the pronunciation of Alcazar is grating to a Spanish speaker.

[@maxsonthonax1020]

If only the modern Spanish accent wasn't so idiosyncratic by now!

[@epyjacek]

@@maxsonthonax1020 I'm not sure what you mean by that. The placement of emphasis on each word in Spanish isn't dependent upon regional accents. We have the RAE that essentially puts out a global guide on how things are written and spoken in Spanish. This may not be true of other languages, but there is a correct way of saying things in Spanish. I mean, it's ok for him to mess it up as it isn't his native language. It just bothers me a bit haha.

[@BigDaveEnglishTeacher]

Lighten up. Who's the audience? Throw syllable timed intonation at a stessed time intonation audience and receptivity of message breaks down. Ask yourself, who was your favorite teacher, the one who cared about form or function?

[@hogwashmcturnip8930]

What about Vallolodid? I didn't know where he was talking aboutat first as I was not looking at the screen. His English pronunciation isn' great either. lol

[@rmc3749]

@@epyjacek When saying isolated foreign words, it's perfectly acceptable to pronounce them in an English manner. In fact, we also do this when using English words in Spanish.

[@willhovell9019]

Fascinating. Charles Stuart, the Scottish autocrat that understood little of the parliamentary and semi consensual English governance and drove the countries into fratricidal civil war and the death of 10% of his ' subjects' . He ended up as Spanish influenced art appreciator and manipulation. His son Charles later the second ,could be viewed as in the pay of the French and closet Roman Catholic, failing to provide a legitimate heir as did Mary II and sadly Queen Anne. What a disastrous royal family the Stuarts.

[@dambrooks7578]

This is the reason why England lost its love of the politics of Rabalaisian carnival that is still alive across the rest of mainland Europe. The original Brexit mistake.