David Crane

How ever did the inbred Habsburgs control their vast empire?

For centuries, a line of mentally retarded monarchs managed extraordinary feats of engineering across the world against all odds

Charles II, the last Habsburg emperor of Spain, known as ‘The Bewitched’. [Alamy]
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  • How the Spanish Empire Was Built: A 400 Year History

    Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo

    Reaktion Books, pp. 352, £25

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