Charles V was born on the 24th of February 1500 in the Prinsenhof of Ghent, a Flemish city that would become the cradle of a global empire. At the moment of his birth, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours, celebrating the arrival of a child destined to unite the most powerful dynasties of Europe. His father, Philip the Handsome, was the firstborn son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his mother, Joanna of Castile, was the younger daughter of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. This union was not merely a marriage but a calculated geopolitical strategy to create an Austro-Spanish alliance against the Kingdom of France. The political marriage of Philip and Joanna was first conceived in a letter sent by Maximilian to Ferdinand, part of the establishment of an Austro-Spanish alliance opposed to the Kingdom of France in the context of the Italian Wars. The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was already Duke of Burgundy, given Mary's death in 1482, and also heir apparent of Austria as honorific archduke. Joanna, in contrast, was only third in the Spanish line of succession, preceded by her older brother John, Prince of Asturias, and older sister Isabella of Aragon. Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498. The Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandson Miguel da Paz as heir presumptive of Spain by naming him Prince of Asturias; but he died as a baby in 1500. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
The Emperor Who Never Stopped Moving
The issue of the Reformation was first brought to the imperial attention under Charles V. As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles called Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. After Luther defended the Ninety-five Theses and his writings, the Emperor commented: that monk will never make me a heretic. Charles V relied on religious unity to govern his various realms, otherwise unified only in his person, and perceived Luther's teachings as a disruptive form of heresy. He outlawed Luther and issued the Edict of Worms, declaring: Charles V, however, kept his word, and left Martin Luther free to leave the city. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony and protector of Luther, lamented the outcome of the Diet. On the road back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hidden in a distant castle in Wartburg. There, he began to work on his German translation of the bible. The spread of Lutheranism led to two major revolts: that of the knights in 1522, 1523 and that of the peasants led by Thomas Muntzer in 1524, 1525. While the pro-Imperial Swabian League, in conjunction with Protestant princes afraid of social revolts, restored order, Charles V used the instrument of pardon to maintain peace. Conflict with the pope led Charles' agents to remind the pope of the bad position that the Protestants were putting the Vatican in. Parker, Emperor, 245, 246. Following this, Charles V took a tolerant approach and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutherans. The 1530 Imperial Diet of Augsburg was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: first, the defence of the Empire against the Ottoman threat; second, issues related to policy, currency and public well-being; and, third, disagreements about Christianity, in attempt to reach some compromise and a chance to deal with the German situation. Gottfried G. Krodel, Law, Order, and the Almighty Taler: The Empire in Action at the 1530 Diet of Augsburg. Sixteenth Century Journal 1982: 75, 106 online. The Diet was inaugurated by the emperor on the 20th of June. It produced numerous outcomes, most notably the 1530 declaration of the Lutheran estates known as the Augsburg Confession Confessio Augustana, a central document of Lutheranism. Luther's assistant Philip Melanchthon went even further and presented it to Charles V. The Emperor strongly rejected it, and in 1531 the Schmalkaldic League was formed by Protestant princes. In 1532, Charles V recognized the League and effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with the standstill of Nuremberg. The standstill required the Protestants to continue to take part in the Imperial wars against the Turks and the French, and postponed religious affairs until an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church was called by the Pope to solve the issue. Due to Papal delays in organizing a general council, Charles V decided to organize a German summit and presided over the Colloquy of Regensburg between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was achieved. In 1545, the Council of Trent was finally opened and the Counter-Reformation began. The Catholic initiative was supported by a number of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the Schmalkaldic League refused to recognize the validity of the council and occupied territories of Catholic princes. Christopher W. Close, Estate Solidarity and Empire: Charles V's Failed Attempt to Revive the Swabian League. Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 2013 104#1 pp. 134, 157, in English. Therefore, Charles V outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546. Paula Sutter Fichtner, When Brothers Agree: Bohemia, The Habsburgs, and the Schmalkaldic Wars, 1546, 1547. Austrian History Yearbook 1975, Vol. 11, pp. 67, 78. The next year his forces drove the League's troops out of southern Germany, and defeated John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse at the Battle of Mühlberg, capturing both. At the Augsburg Interim in 1548, he created a solution giving certain allowances to Protestants until the Council of Trent would restore unity. However, members of both sides resented the Interim and some actively opposed it. The council was re-opened in 1550 with the participation of Lutherans, and Charles V set up the Imperial court in Innsbruck, Austria, sufficiently close to Trent for him to follow the evolution of the debates. In 1552 Protestant princes, in alliance with Henry II of France, rebelled again and the Second Schmalkaldic War began. Maurice of Saxony, instrumental for the Imperial victory in the first conflict, switched side to the Protestant cause and bypassed the Imperial army by marching directly into Innsbruck with the goal of capturing the Emperor. Charles V was forced to flee the city during an attack of gout and barely made it alive to Villach in a state of semi-consciousness carried in a litter. After failing to recapture Metz from the French, Charles V returned to the Low Countries for the last years of his emperorship. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the Peace of Augsburg in his name. The agreements led to the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg empire between a senior Spanish line and an Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg. His abdications all occurred at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. First he abdicated the thrones of Sicily and Naples, the latter a Papal fief, and the Imperial Duchy of Milan, in favour of his son Philip on the 25th of July 1554. Philip was secretly invested with Milan already in 1540 and again in 1546, but only in 1554 did the Emperor make it public. Upon the abdications of Naples and Sicily, Philip was invested by Pope Julius III with the Kingdom of Naples on the 2nd of October and with the Kingdom of Sicily on the 18th of November. The most famous and only public abdication took place a year later, on the 25th of October 1555, when Charles announced to the States General of the Netherlands reunited in the great hall where he was emancipated forty years before by Emperor Maximilian his abdication of those territories in favour of his son Philip as well as his intention to step down from all of his positions and retire to a monastery. During the ceremony, the gout-afflicted Emperor Charles V leaned on the shoulder of his advisor William the Silent and, crying, pronounced his resignation speech: He concluded the speech by mentioning his voyages: ten to the Low Countries, nine to Germany, seven to Spain, seven to Italy, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. His last public words were, My life has been one long journey. With no fanfare, in 1556 he finalised his abdications. On the 16th of January 1556, he gave Spain and the Spanish Empire in the Americas to Philip. On the 27th of August 1556, he abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor in favour of his brother Ferdinand, elected King of the Romans in 1531. The succession was recognized by the prince-electors assembled at Frankfurt only in 1558, and by the Pope only in 1559. The Imperial abdication also marked the beginning of Ferdinand's legal and suo jure rule in the Austrian possessions, that he governed in Charles's name since 1521, 1522, and were territorially linked with his rule over Hungary and Bohemia since 1526. According to scholars, Charles decided to abdicate for a variety of reasons: the religious division of Germany sanctioned in 1555; the state of Spanish finances, bankrupted with inflation by the time his reign ended; the revival of Italian Wars with attacks from Henry II of France; the never-ending advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe; and his decliningThe War Machine That Consumed Gold
health, in particular attacks of gout such as the one that forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz where he was later defeated. In September 1556, Charles left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by his sisters, Mary of Hungary and Eleanor of Austria. He arrived at the Monastery of Yuste of Extremadura in 1557. He continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in the situation of the empire, while suffering from severe gout. He lived alone in a secluded monastery, surrounded by paintings by Titian and with clocks lining every wall, which some historians believe were symbols of his reign and his lack of time. In August 1558, Charles was taken seriously ill, with what was diagnosed in the twenty-first century as malaria. He died in the early hours of the morning on the 21st of September 1558, at the age of 58, holding in his hand the cross that his wife Isabella had been holding when she died. Following his death, there were a plethora of commemorations in his empire, including in Mexico and Peru. Some 30,000 masses were arranged for the soul of the Emperor. Some 30,000 gold ducats that he had set aside for the ransom of prisoners, poor virgins, and paupers were distributed. He still owed huge debts from his constant warfare far beyond the funds on hand, which his heirs spent decades paying off. Parker, Emperor, 490, 494. Charles was originally buried in the chapel of the Monastery of Yuste, but he left a codicil in his last will and testament asking for the establishment of a new religious foundation in which he would be reburied with Isabella. Following his return to Spain in 1559, their son Philip undertook the task of fulfilling his father's wish when he founded the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. After the Monastery's Royal Crypt was completed in 1574, the bodies of Charles and Isabella were relocated and re-interred into a small vault directly underneath the altar of the Royal Chapel, in accordance with Charles's wishes to be buried half-body under the altar and half-body under the priest's feet side by side with Isabella. They remained in the Royal Chapel while the famous Basilica of the Monastery and the Royal tombs were still under construction. In 1654, after the Basilica and Royal tombs were finally completed during the reign of their great-grandson Philip IV, the remains of Charles and Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings, which lies directly under the Basilica. On one side of the Basilica are bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella, with effigies of their daughter Maria of Austria and Charles's sisters Eleanor of Austria and Maria of Hungary behind them. Adjacent to them on the opposite side of the Basilica are effigies of their son Philip with three of their wives and their ill-fated grandson Carlos, Prince of Asturias. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
Given the vast dominions of the House of Habsburg, Charles was often on the road and needed deputies to govern his realms for the times he was absent from his territories. His first Governor of the Netherlands was Margaret of Austria, succeeded by his sister Mary of Hungary and Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. His first Regent of Spain was Adrian of Utrecht succeeded by Isabella of Portugal and Philip II of Spain. For the regency and governorship of the Austrian hereditary lands, Charles named his brother Ferdinand archduke in the Austrian lands under his authority at the Diet of Worms 1521. Charles agreed to favor the election of Ferdinand as King of the Romans, which took place in 1531. By virtue of these agreements Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and obtained hereditary rights over Austria at the abdication of Charles in 1556. Charles de Lannoy, Carafa and Antonio Folc de Cardona y Enriquez were viceroys of the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, respectively. Charles V travelled ten times to the Low Countries, nine to Germany, seven to Spain, seven to Italy, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. During all his travels, the Emperor left a documentary trail in almost every place he went, allowing historians to surmise that he spent 10,000 days in the Low Countries, 6,500 days in Spain, 3,000 days in Germany, and 1,000 days in Italy. He spent 195 days in France, 99 in North Africa and 44 days in England. For 260 days his exact location is unrecorded, all of them being days spent at sea travelling between his dominions. As he put it in his last public speech: my life has been one long journey. Charles never traveled to his overseas possessions in the Americas, since a transatlantic crossing to a place not central to his political interests at the time was unthinkable. He did, however, establish strong administrative structures to rule them, including the European-based Council of the Indies in 1524 and the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru when the Aztec and Inca civilizations were conquered in his name. In 1534, Charles accepted a personal audience with Maxixcatzin, a nobleman from Tlaxcala who demanded and received several special privileges for his city and its people. The Tlaxcallans had formed an alliance with Spain and were instrumental in the overthrow of the Aztecs and other conquests in the Americas. Charles' decrees recognized their contributions and promised that Tlaxcala's autonomy would be preserved. His treatment of the Tlaxcallans and other friendly native peoples as important allies rather than conquered subjects ensured strong support from Tlaxcala and other allied native groups for the next three centuries. The Habsburg expansion and consolidation of rule was accompanied by remarkable development of communication, diplomatic and espionage systems. In 1495, Emperor Maximilian and from the Thurn und Taxis family developed the Niederländische Postkurs, a postal system that connected the Low Countries with Innsbruck. The system quickly converged with the European trade system and an emerging market for news, spurring a pan-Europe communication revolution. The system was developed further by Philip the Handsome, who negotiated new standards for the systems with the Taxis, and unified communication between Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain by adding stations in Granada, Toledo, Blois, Paris and Lyon in 1505. After his father's death, Charles, as Duke of Burgundy, continued to develop the system. Behringer notes that, Whereas the status of private mail remains unclear in the treaty of 1506, it is obvious from the contract of 1516 that the Taxis company had the right to carry mail and keep theThe Monk Who Outlawed A Heretic
profit as long as it guaranteed the delivery of court mail at clearly defined speeds, regulated by time sheets to be filled in by the post riders on the way to their destination. In return, imperial privileges guaranteed exemption from local taxes, local jurisdiction, and military service. 21 The terminology of the early modern communications system and the legal status of its participants were invented at these negotiations. He confirmed Jannetto's son Giovanni Battista as Postmaster General chief et maistre general de noz postes par tous noz royaumes, pays, et seigneuries in 1520. By Charles V's time, the Holy Roman Empire had become the centre of the European communication s universe. Charles V inherited efficient multinational diplomatic networks from both the Trastámara and Habsburg-Burgundian dynasties. Following the example of the papal curia, in the late fifteenth century, both dynasties began to employ permanent envoys, earlier than other secular powers. The Habsburg network developed in parallel to their postal system. Charles V combined the Spanish and the Imperial systems into one. His opponents, chiefly France, found a counterweight though, by the alliance with the Ottoman Empire, which Francis I admitted to be the only force that could prevent the Habsburgs from transforming European states into a Europe-wide empire. Charles V's military might frightened other European rulers, thus while he was able to make the pope a reluctant agent like his grandfather Ferdinand had done, no lasting alliance could be achieved. After the Battle of Pavia, the European rulers united to prevent harsh terms from being placed upon France. In the 1530s, in the context of the conflict between the Habsburg empire and their greatest opponent, the Ottomans, an espionage network was built by Charles and Don Alfonso Granai Castriota, the marquis of Atripalda, who conducted its operations. Naples became the main rearguard of the system. Gennaro Varriale writes that, on the eve of the Tunis campaign, Emperor Charles V possessed a network of spies based in the Kingdom of Naples that watched over all the corners of the Ottoman Empire. Several notable men were recognized with patronage by Charles. Noted Spanish poet Garcilaso de la Vega, a nobleman and ambassador in the Imperial court of Charles, was first appointed contino imperial guard of the Emperor in 1520. Alfonso de Valdés, twin brother of the humanist Juan de Valdés and secretary of the Emperor, was a Spanish humanist. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, an Italian historian at the service of Spain, wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called decades. His Decades are of great value in the history of geography and discovery. His De Orbe Novo On the New World, 1530 describes the first contacts of Europeans and Native Americans, Native American civilizations in the Caribbean and North America, as well as Mesoamerica, and includes, for example, the first European reference to India rubber. Martyr was given the post of chronicler cronista in the newly formed Council of the Indies 1524, commissioned by Charles V to describe what was occurring in the explorations of the New World. In 1523 Charles gave him the title of Count Palatine, and in 1524 called him once more into the Council of the Indies. Martyr was invested by Pope Clement VII, as proposed by Charles V, as Abbot of Jamaica. Juan Boscán Almogáver was a poet who participated with Garcilaso de la Vega in giving naval assistance to the Isle of Rhodes during a Turkish invasion. Boscà fought against the Turks again in 1532 with Álvarez de Toledo and Charles in Vienna. During this period.Charles V was born on the 24th of February 1500 in the Prinsenhof of Ghent, a Flemish city that would become the cradle of a global empire. At the moment of his birth, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours, celebrating the arrival of a child destined to unite the most powerful dynasties of Europe. His father, Philip the Handsome, was the firstborn son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his mother, Joanna of Castile, was the younger daughter of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. This union was not merely a marriage but a calculated geopolitical strategy to create an Austro-Spanish alliance against the Kingdom of France. The political marriage of Philip and Joanna was first conceived in a letter sent by Maximilian to Ferdinand, part of the establishment of an Austro-Spanish alliance opposed to the Kingdom of France in the context of the Italian Wars. The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was already Duke of Burgundy, given Mary's death in 1482, and also heir apparent of Austria as honorific archduke. Joanna, in contrast, was only third in the Spanish line of succession, preceded by her older brother John, Prince of Asturias, and older sister Isabella of Aragon. Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498. The Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandson Miguel da Paz as heir presumptive of Spain by naming him Prince of Asturias; but he died as a baby in 1500. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
The Emperor Who Never Stopped Moving
The issue of the Reformation was first brought to the imperial attention under Charles V. As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles called Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. After Luther defended the Ninety-five Theses and his writings, the Emperor commented: that monk will never make me a heretic. Charles V relied on religious unity to govern his various realms, otherwise unified only in his person, and perceived Luther's teachings as a disruptive form of heresy. He outlawed Luther and issued the Edict of Worms, declaring: Charles V, however, kept his word, and left Martin Luther free to leave the city. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony and protector of Luther, lamented the outcome of the Diet. On the road back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hidden in a distant castle in Wartburg. There, he began to work on his German translation of the bible. The spread of Lutheranism led to two major revolts: that of the knights in 1522, 1523 and that of the peasants led by Thomas Muntzer in 1524, 1525. While the pro-Imperial Swabian League, in conjunction with Protestant princes afraid of social revolts, restored order, Charles V used the instrument of pardon to maintain peace. Conflict with the pope led Charles' agents to remind the pope of the bad position that the Protestants were putting the Vatican in. Parker, Emperor, 245, 246. Following this, Charles V took a tolerant approach and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutherans. The 1530 Imperial Diet of Augsburg was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: first, the defence of the Empire against the Ottoman threat; second, issues related to policy, currency and public well-being; and, third, disagreements about Christianity, in attempt to reach some compromise and a chance to deal with the German situation. Gottfried G. Krodel, Law, Order, and the Almighty Taler: The Empire in Action at the 1530 Diet of Augsburg. Sixteenth Century Journal 1982: 75, 106 online. The Diet was inaugurated by the emperor on the 20th of June. It produced numerous outcomes, most notably the 1530 declaration of the Lutheran estates known as the Augsburg Confession Confessio Augustana, a central document of Lutheranism. Luther's assistant Philip Melanchthon went even further and presented it to Charles V. The Emperor strongly rejected it, and in 1531 the Schmalkaldic League was formed by Protestant princes. In 1532, Charles V recognized the League and effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with the standstill of Nuremberg. The standstill required the Protestants to continue to take part in the Imperial wars against the Turks and the French, and postponed religious affairs until an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church was called by the Pope to solve the issue. Due to Papal delays in organizing a general council, Charles V decided to organize a German summit and presided over the Colloquy of Regensburg between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was achieved. In 1545, the Council of Trent was finally opened and the Counter-Reformation began. The Catholic initiative was supported by a number of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the Schmalkaldic League refused to recognize the validity of the council and occupied territories of Catholic princes. Christopher W. Close, Estate Solidarity and Empire: Charles V's Failed Attempt to Revive the Swabian League. Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 2013 104#1 pp. 134, 157, in English. Therefore, Charles V outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546. Paula Sutter Fichtner, When Brothers Agree: Bohemia, The Habsburgs, and the Schmalkaldic Wars, 1546, 1547. Austrian History Yearbook 1975, Vol. 11, pp. 67, 78. The next year his forces drove the League's troops out of southern Germany, and defeated John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse at the Battle of Mühlberg, capturing both. At the Augsburg Interim in 1548, he created a solution giving certain allowances to Protestants until the Council of Trent would restore unity. However, members of both sides resented the Interim and some actively opposed it. The council was re-opened in 1550 with the participation of Lutherans, and Charles V set up the Imperial court in Innsbruck, Austria, sufficiently close to Trent for him to follow the evolution of the debates. In 1552 Protestant princes, in alliance with Henry II of France, rebelled again and the Second Schmalkaldic War began. Maurice of Saxony, instrumental for the Imperial victory in the first conflict, switched side to the Protestant cause and bypassed the Imperial army by marching directly into Innsbruck with the goal of capturing the Emperor. Charles V was forced to flee the city during an attack of gout and barely made it alive to Villach in a state of semi-consciousness carried in a litter. After failing to recapture Metz from the French, Charles V returned to the Low Countries for the last years of his emperorship. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the Peace of Augsburg in his name. The agreements led to the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg empire between a senior Spanish line and an Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg. His abdications all occurred at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. First he abdicated the thrones of Sicily and Naples, the latter a Papal fief, and the Imperial Duchy of Milan, in favour of his son Philip on the 25th of July 1554. Philip was secretly invested with Milan already in 1540 and again in 1546, but only in 1554 did the Emperor make it public. Upon the abdications of Naples and Sicily, Philip was invested by Pope Julius III with the Kingdom of Naples on the 2nd of October and with the Kingdom of Sicily on the 18th of November. The most famous and only public abdication took place a year later, on the 25th of October 1555, when Charles announced to the States General of the Netherlands reunited in the great hall where he was emancipated forty years before by Emperor Maximilian his abdication of those territories in favour of his son Philip as well as his intention to step down from all of his positions and retire to a monastery. During the ceremony, the gout-afflicted Emperor Charles V leaned on the shoulder of his advisor William the Silent and, crying, pronounced his resignation speech: He concluded the speech by mentioning his voyages: ten to the Low Countries, nine to Germany, seven to Spain, seven to Italy, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. His last public words were, My life has been one long journey. With no fanfare, in 1556 he finalised his abdications. On the 16th of January 1556, he gave Spain and the Spanish Empire in the Americas to Philip. On the 27th of August 1556, he abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor in favour of his brother Ferdinand, elected King of the Romans in 1531. The succession was recognized by the prince-electors assembled at Frankfurt only in 1558, and by the Pope only in 1559. The Imperial abdication also marked the beginning of Ferdinand's legal and suo jure rule in the Austrian possessions, that he governed in Charles's name since 1521, 1522, and were territorially linked with his rule over Hungary and Bohemia since 1526. The War Machine That Consumed Gold
According to scholars, Charles decided to abdicate for a variety of reasons: the religious division of Germany sanctioned in 1555; the state of Spanish finances, bankrupted with inflation by the time his reign ended; the revival of Italian Wars with attacks from Henry II of France; the never-ending advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe; and his declining health, in particular attacks of gout such as the one that forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz where he was later defeated. In September 1556, Charles left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by his sisters, Mary of Hungary and Eleanor of Austria. He arrived at the Monastery of Yuste of Extremadura in 1557. He continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in the situation of the empire, while suffering from severe gout. He lived alone in a secluded monastery, surrounded by paintings by Titian and with clocks lining every wall, which some historians believe were symbols of his reign and his lack of time. In August 1558, Charles was taken seriously ill, with what was diagnosed in the twenty-first century as malaria. He died in the early hours of the morning on the 21st of September 1558, at the age of 58, holding in his hand the cross that his wife Isabella had been holding when she died. Following his death, there were a plethora of commemorations in his empire, including in Mexico and Peru. Some 30,000 masses were arranged for the soul of the Emperor. Some 30,000 gold ducats that he had set aside for the ransom of prisoners, poor virgins, and paupers were distributed. He still owed huge debts from his constant warfare far beyond the funds on hand, which his heirs spent decades paying off. Parker, Emperor, 490, 494. Charles was originally buried in the chapel of the Monastery of Yuste, but he left a codicil in his last will and testament asking for the establishment of a new religious foundation in which he would be reburied with Isabella. Following his return to Spain in 1559, their son Philip undertook the task of fulfilling his father's wish when he founded the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. After the Monastery's Royal Crypt was completed in 1574, the bodies of Charles and Isabella were relocated and re-interred into a small vault directly underneath the altar of the Royal Chapel, in accordance with Charles's wishes to be buried half-body under the altar and half-body under the priest's feet side by side with Isabella. They remained in the Royal Chapel while the famous Basilica of the Monastery and the Royal tombs were still under construction. In 1654, after the Basilica and Royal tombs were finally completed during the reign of their great-grandson Philip IV, the remains of Charles and Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings, which lies directly under the Basilica. On one side of the Basilica are bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella, with effigies of their daughter Maria of Austria and Charles's sisters Eleanor of Austria and Maria of Hungary behind them. Adjacent to them on the opposite side of the Basilica are effigies of their son Philip with three of their wives and their ill-fated grandson Carlos, Prince of Asturias. Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Habsburg Netherlands, being given the honorary title Duke of Luxembourg. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as Charles of Ghent. He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai. The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croï and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria, respectively his step-great-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-great grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain. The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias heir presumptive of Castile and honorific Archduke heir apparent of Austria. Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.
Given the vast dominions of the House of Habsburg, Charles was often on the road and needed deputies to govern his realms for the times he was absent from his territories. His first Governor of the Netherlands was Margaret of Austria, succeeded by his sister Mary of Hungary and Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. His first Regent of Spain was Adrian of Utrecht succeeded by Isabella of Portugal and Philip II of Spain. For the regency and governorship of the Austrian hereditary lands, Charles named his brother Ferdinand archduke in the Austrian lands under his authority at the Diet of Worms 1521. Charles agreed to favor the election of Ferdinand as King of the Romans, which took place in 1531. By virtue of these agreements Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and obtained hereditary rights over Austria at the abdication of Charles in 1556. Charles de Lannoy, Carafa and Antonio Folc de Cardona y Enriquez were viceroys of the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, respectively. Charles V travelled ten times to the Low Countries, nine to Germany, seven to Spain, seven to Italy, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. During all his travels, the Emperor left a documentary trail in almost every place he went, allowing historians to surmise that he spent 10,000 days in the Low Countries, 6,500 days in Spain, 3,000 days in Germany, and 1,000 days in Italy. He spent 195 days in France, 99 in North Africa and 44 days in England. For 260 days his exact location is unrecorded, all of them being days spent at sea travelling between his dominions. As he put it in his last public speech: my life has been one long journey. Charles never traveled to his overseas possessions in the Americas, since a transatlantic crossing to a place not central to his political interests at the time was unthinkable. He did, however, establish strong administrative structures to rule them, including the European-based Council of the Indies in 1524 and the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru when the Aztec and Inca civilizations were conquered in his name. In 1534, Charles accepted a personal audience with Maxixcatzin, a nobleman from Tlaxcala who demanded and received several special privileges for his city and its people. The Tlaxcallans had formed an alliance with Spain and were instrumental in the overthrow of the Aztecs and other conquests in the Americas. Charles' decrees recognized their contributions and promised that Tlaxcala's autonomy would be preserved. His treatment of the Tlaxcallans and other friendly native peoples as important allies rather than conquered subjects ensured strong support from Tlaxcala and other allied native groups for the next three centuries. The Habsburg expansion and consolidation of rule was accompanied by remarkable development of communication, diplomatic and espionage systems. In 1495, Emperor Maximilian and from the Thurn und Taxis family developed the Niederländische Postkurs, a postal system that connected the Low Countries with Innsbruck. The system quickly converged with the European trade system and an emerging market for news, spurring a pan-Europe communication revolution. The system was developed further by Philip the Handsome, who negotiated new standards for the systems with the Taxis, and unified communication between Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain by adding stations in Granada, Toledo, Blois, Paris and Lyon in 1505. After his father's death, Charles, as Duke of Burgundy, continued to develop the system. The Monk Who Outlawed A Heretic
Behringer notes that, Whereas the status of private mail remains unclear in the treaty of 1506, it is obvious from the contract of 1516 that the Taxis company had the right to carry mail and keep the profit as long as it guaranteed the delivery of court mail at clearly defined speeds, regulated by time sheets to be filled in by the post riders on the way to their destination. In return, imperial privileges guaranteed exemption from local taxes, local jurisdiction, and military service. 21 The terminology of the early modern communications system and the legal status of its participants were invented at these negotiations. He confirmed Jannetto's son Giovanni Battista as Postmaster General chief et maistre general de noz postes par tous noz royaumes, pays, et seigneuries in 1520. By Charles V's time, the Holy Roman Empire had become the centre of the European communication s universe. Charles V inherited efficient multinational diplomatic networks from both the Trastámara and Habsburg-Burgundian dynasties. Following the example of the papal curia, in the late fifteenth century, both dynasties began to employ permanent envoys, earlier than other secular powers. The Habsburg network developed in parallel to their postal system. Charles V combined the Spanish and the Imperial systems into one. His opponents, chiefly France, found a counterweight though, by the alliance with the Ottoman Empire, which Francis I admitted to be the only force that could prevent the Habsburgs from transforming European states into a Europe-wide empire. Charles V's military might frightened other European rulers, thus while he was able to make the pope a reluctant agent like his grandfather Ferdinand had done, no lasting alliance could be achieved. After the Battle of Pavia, the European rulers united to prevent harsh terms from being placed upon France. In the 1530s, in the context of the conflict between the Habsburg empire and their greatest opponent, the Ottomans, an espionage network was built by Charles and Don Alfonso Granai Castriota, the marquis of Atripalda, who conducted its operations. Naples became the main rearguard of the system. Gennaro Varriale writes that, on the eve of the Tunis campaign, Emperor Charles V possessed a network of spies based in the Kingdom of Naples that watched over all the corners of the Ottoman Empire. Several notable men were recognized with patronage by Charles. Noted Spanish poet Garcilaso de la Vega, a nobleman and ambassador in the Imperial court of Charles, was first appointed contino imperial guard of the Emperor in 1520. Alfonso de Valdés, twin brother of the humanist Juan de Valdés and secretary of the Emperor, was a Spanish humanist. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, an Italian historian at the service of Spain, wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called decades. His Decades are of great value in the history of geography and discovery. His De Orbe Novo On the New World, 1530 describes the first contacts of Europeans and Native Americans, Native American civilizations in the Caribbean and North America, as well as Mesoamerica, and includes, for example, the first European reference to India rubber. Martyr was given the post of chronicler cronista in the newly formed Council of the Indies 1524, commissioned by Charles V to describe what was occurring in the explorations of the New World. In 1523 Charles gave him the title of Count Palatine, and in 1524 called him once more into the Council of the Indies. Martyr was invested by Pope Clement VII, as proposed by Charles V, as Abbot of Jamaica. Juan Boscán Almogáver was a poet who participated with Garcilaso de la Vega in giving naval assistance to the Isle of Rhodes during a Turkish invasion. Boscà fought against the Turks again in 1532 with Álvarez de Toledo and Charles in Vienna. During this period.