Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Traditionally, Philip II’s massive relic collection preserved in the palace-monastery of the Escorial has been interpreted as a testimony to the Spanish king’s devotion to the cult of saints, and a proof of his support for the principles of the Tridentine Church. This essay explores some of Philip II’s more political and symbolic uses of relics, and studies their role in the construction of a monarchical, spiritual, and national identity in sixteenth-century Spain.
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the école des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (Paris, May 2001), at the April 2002 meeting of the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies (Athens, Georgia), and at the University of California (Davis, February 2004). I thank the participants at each for their comments and suggestions. I am also indebted to Jodi Bilinkoff, Fernando Bouza, Marcus Burke, Dominique Deslandres, Katie Harris, Kate van Liere, Geoffrey Parker, and Bernard Vincent for their careful reading and always-relevant criticism and advice. Finally, I am particularly grateful to Pierre-Antoine Fabre and Dominique Julia for giving me the opportunity to first work on this project, and to Amanda Wunder for her constant support and encouragement, as well as for her marvelous editing skills. This project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Centre d’Anthropologie Religieuse Européenne (EHESS, Paris), and a grant from the Casa de Velázquez (Madrid). All translations, unless otherwise specified, are my own.