This volume contains essays on key aspects of cultural, religious, and intellectual life in early modern Spain. Some of the contributions address predominantly historical issues: the reform of the Mercedarian Order; Europe and the Turks in Spanish literature; and the subtleties and intrigues of a propaganda campaign against the Imperial ambassador to the Vatican, Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Others focus on the relationship between art and society: the nature of Spanish Tacitism; the choices made by the Jeronymite friars charged with buying books for the Escorial Library and planning its decoration; reformist politics under the Olivares régime as portrayed in works by Ruiz de Alarcón; and the development of Sceptical philosophy in Spain. In addition, there are studies of Lazarillo de Tormes, Sá de Miranda, Gracián, and Calderón, and two essays on the dissemination of Spanish culture in Oxford, one on the earliest copies of Don Quixote purchased for the Bodleian Library, and the other on the first teacher of Spanish in the University. Contributors: BRUCE TAYLOR, JEREMY LAWRANCE, THOMAS F. EARLE, D.G. PATTISON, JOHN RUTHERFORD, CHARLES J. DAVIS, COLIN THOMPSON, IAN MICHAEL, JULES WHICKER, JEREMY ROBBINS, ROBERT PRING-MILL, M.J. WOODS, JOHN EDWARDS.