José Calvo Poyato is sincere … Let’s see who Diantres has value to sweeten reality in the heart of the granite colossus that made Philip II shudder with emotion. While traveling one of the 22 courtyard of El Escorial monastery, the historian and writer confesses, with his unmistakable accent of goat (Córdoba), the secret that hides the title of his work: «After incorporating Portugal, the Hispanic monarchy passed to Being present in Europe, Asia, Africa, America … we were going to use what the sun never set, but too many has already been repeated times”. So they preferred to bet on another header: ‘Owners of the world’ (Harpercollins).
The new historical novel of the Andalusian Superventas hides dark dyes, of thriller, but also zambulle in one of the highlights of the Hispanic monarchy: those final decades of the 16th century in which the ‘prudent king’ fought to be proclaimed monarch of Portugal . Because yes, there was a brief period of time in which that idea was materialized by many still sigh today. «The Iberian unit? I think Portugal should look for her, but it is true that we have always looked at them over their shoulders. It is something similar to what happens to the French with us, ”says Calvo Poyato. We had already warned their sincerity.
Convulsive years
What better place to present his new work than El Escorial, the monastery to which the poet of the XIX Teófilo Gautier defined as “the most enormous stone mole” after the pyramids of Egypt. “Much of the novel runs here,” continues the author as we cross the majestic Patio de los Reyes, Center for this monumental construction with four thousands of windows. Since he put his first stone in 1563, Felipe II took money from here, there and beyond to finish it. And that, corroborates the writer, is a lot to say for a monarch “who declared himself in bankruptcy up to three times.”
During the walk, Calvo Poyato gives us an example of the importance of El Escorial: the prudent rested on him when, on August 13, 1578, he received the news of the death in battle of his nephew, the Portuguese monarch Sebastián i. It was here, therefore, where the fight to get an orphan crown of descendant began. «Felipe II was able to opt for the throne because his mother was Princess Isabel, daughter of the Portuguese king Manuel i», Clarifies the writer. But he ran into two more applicants: Catalina, Duchess of Braganza, and the bastard Don Antonio, prior of Crato. Both, grandchildren of Manuel I.
The novel focuses on those convulsive years that Felipe II maneuvered to advance his adversaries. A plan that orchestrated, probability, from the same personal stays that Calvo Poyato shows us today: two small and austere rooms located after the main altar of the basilica that rises in the center of the monastery. «You have to understand it, its main residence was in Madrid. A table and a travel bed earned him to live here, ”he subscribes.
From El Escorial, the prudent also left to give the definitive blow in his struggle for the neighboring throne. And it was in 1580 when Portugal invaded to end the troops of the prior of Crato, nominated as his main enemy. The victory was fast, Calvo Poyato insists, thanks to the fact that he had his Vera with the fearsome thirds and an enviable military leader: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Grand Duke of Alba. «Felipe II was the most powerful monarch of his time. Its military potential is comparable to the one Trump today. It had garrisons everywhere. The problem is that it cost a lot of money. I was always waiting for gold and silver that reached Seville, ”he completes.
Murder in El Escorial
But not all are dynastic troubles in ‘owners of the world’. The novel is vertebra around a mysterious crime perpetrated on the banks of the Manzanares that, Calvo Poyato confesses, belongs to his imagination: «Two fishermen find the body of a apothecary that has a fame of alchemist. Diego de Paz will be in charge of the investigation, a former soldier of the thirds turned into a sheriff ».
Everything is gathered with the prudent, they are not created. “Felipe II needed a lot of money, and it is known that he tried to get it through the transmutation of vile metals into beautiful,” adds the author. A task that was carried out in the same monastery of El Escorial. So far you can tell the good of Calvo Poyato. “Whoever wants to know how the book is bought!” He jokes.
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