The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline

Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares (1587-1645), was the principal minister and favourite of Philip IV of Spain, and for two decades he guided the destinies of the country that was still the greatest power in the world. A dominant figure in the Europe of the Thirty Years' War, he struggled to maintain Spanish hegemony at a time when the traditional foundations of Spain's power were being eroded, and Spain itself was increasingly being perceived as a great power in decline. The story of ...