ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an account, by the Japanese travellers, of the power of King Philip of Spain, and the oath by which the nobles of the kingdom swore allegiance to his son as his successor, and of the visit which the ambassadors made to both. The early history of Madrid is conjectural. It was settled by Arabs before the end of the first millennium. Philip II moved the capital there in 1561. Most visitors were unimpressed by the city and overwhelmed by the stench in the streets. Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, minister of Philip II in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, was instrumental in securing Philip’s accession to the Portuguese crown in 1580–81. The presents given by the travellers to Philip included a bamboo writing desk and some lacquerware. Philip noted the difference between these Japanese artefacts and those of China.
