Charles V Note
Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor
- The Imperial election of 151
- The condition of the Holy Roman Empire; Charles V’s commitments outside the Empire;
problems of the role; delegation to Ferdinan
- Attempts to deal with Lutheranism; the Schmalkaldic League, the Peace of Augsbur
- Relations with the Papacy; the Habsburg-Valois rivalry; the Netherlands; relations with
Englan
- Attempts to reform the government, administration and nances of the Empire; the
princes and the citie
The Iberian kingdoms, 1516–56
- Charles I’s accession in 1516; problems; the revolts of the Communeros and Germani
- Charles I’s government of Spain; the Cortes; nance; delegation to Phili
- Charles I’s wider commitments; his commitment to Spain and time spent ther
- Spain and the Valois-Habsburg rivalry; Italian and Mediterranean interest
- Confronting the Ottoman Empir
- The Spanish seaborne Empire; exploration and colonisation; the New World; the
importance of bullio
- The kingdom of Portugal; seaborne exploration and the commercial empire; interests in
North Africa; relations with Spai
Question
1) How successful was Charles I as King of Spain? (2011
2) ‘A period of limited achievement.’ Discuss this view of Charles V’s reign as Holy Roman
Emperor. (2012
3) How well ruled was Spain under Charles I? (2014
4) How well governed was Spain in the years 1516 to 1556? (2015
5) How successfully did Charles V deal with the problems he faced in Germany? (2016
Upbringin
- Very devout - attended frequent confessions
- Constantly reminded of need to reconquer from France the recently lost family possessions in
Burgundy
State of Netherlands when he took it ove
- Very disunited - Charles possessed no single title to give expression to the idea of political unity
(he was just Duke of Brabant, Limburg etc.
- Provinces prided themselves on their liberties and freedoms and had their own parliament, laws
and administration
- Very wealthy: cloth trade, herring shing, entrepôts for trade. Had twenty towns with a population
of 10,000 or more (England had only three)
- Political power remained however with the old nobility, who owned great tracts of land,
especially in the south, and dominated the great of ces of state (merchants were predominant
only in provincial estates)
- The chivalric Order of the Golden Fleece (established 1430) provided a forum within which the
ruler and the mightiest nobles could resolve discords
- There was a coup by francophile nobles (whose land lay near France) in 1514 to remove the
Regent Margaret (who was prepared to anger France to extend Habsburg interests and would
thus endanger their lands) and replace her with Charles. This was short lived, with Margaret
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, continuing to dictate foreign policy with the emperor Maximilian’s help. Thereafter, a joint policy
of peace with France and promoting Charles’ succession to the Spanish throne was pursued
Spai
Proclaimed King of Castile and Aragon in January 1516 (when his grandfather Ferdinand died). His
mother Juana remained Queen in title
The Dutch nobility were enthusiastic about Charles’ succession to the Spanish throne and in the
1516 meeting of the Golden Fleece agreed to admit Spaniards to their number. The French did not
seem to want war, signing a peace treaty at Noyon.
A regency council was set up to govern the Netherlands in Charles’ absence
Internal trouble in Spain when he got there in autumn 1517
- The nobility sought to take advantage of the power vacuum before Charles arrived to re-
estabilsh the control that they had lost under Ferdinand and Isabella, and the towns were
anxious to protect their privileges
- In return for accepting increased royal control in Castile, the nobility had been con rmed in their
possessions and seigneurial rights, meaning that their inheritance was secured by law and their
private armies were allowed to expand
- A blind eye was turned to nobles seizing town lands, impeding merchants and setting up their
own fairs in competition with municipal markets
- By the last years of Ferdinand’s reign, nobles had won appointment as “corregidores” and forced
entry into town councils
- Towns were divided politically and by competing economic interests so had not presented a
united front against the nobles
- Thus at the very time when the discovery of the Americas offered new opportunities for
commercial expansion, aristocratic power was extending that the expense of Spain’s urban
middle class
Towns could voice concern in two ways
- Their membership of the Holy Brotherhood (a Castilian peace-keeping militia) allowed towns to
acquire an awareness of their common problems
- The Cortes allowed the monarch and the foremost towns to meet regularly to discuss legislation
and give their consent to the raising of royal subsidies. The nobility and clergy were generally
absent from these meetings
Burgundians were promoted to key positions, Charles issuing them with letters of naturalisation to
avoid breaking his praise not to give of ces to foreigners. This caused wide-spread resentment
(e.g. a 17 year old Burgundian was appointed Archbishop of Toledo
Castilian Cortes at Valladolid (1518)
- Anger at Charles’ perceived delay in visiting Spain, his appointment of Burgundians to high
of ce in Castile and the diversion of Spanish revenues to the Netherlands led to opposition
- Cortes highlighted the contractual bond between king and subjects. In return for the
exceptionally large sum of 600,000 ducats payable over three years, they asked Charles to
dismiss his Burgundians, learn Castilian, attend to his people’s grievances and stay in Spain
- Charles ignored the Cortes, offering certi cates of naturalisation to his Burgundian followers,
handing the archbishopric of Toledo (the richest see in Spain) to Chièvres’ teenage nephew,
setting straight off to Aragon to raise revenue there and beginning negotiations for his
succession to the imperial throne after January 1519 (when Maximilian died), suggesting that he
planned to quit Spain shortly for Germany
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, The Holy Roman Empir
Backgroun
Princes had obtained signi cant power since the later middle ages
- Their scattered ancestral estates were welded together by conquering, marrying and the
establishment of primogeniture (all lands went to the oldest son)
- Centralisation of government within the principalities took place. In each state, a permanent
council was established to advise the prince and execute policy and tax exemptions were
eroded. Local seigneurial justice (previously autonomous) was tied to the central courts by new
appeal procedures)
As the princes’ power grew, the Emperor’s ability to intervene successfully in affairs diminished
- With the acquisition of rights not to refer their cases to the imperial court, the greater princes
gained control of the legal system in their state
- Their suppression of the imperial towns and cities deprived the Emperor of a previous source of
political in uence
However, the Emperor still possessed substantial resources and could act independently
- The Emperor still possessed many ancient rights (e.g. titles and inheritance, something
important given that the possession of land equated directly to political power)
- The Emperor could distribute his own lands amongst allies
- Despite the imperial reform movement, all disputes involving princes and con icts of jurisdiction
still went to him
- At the Diets, the Emperor xed the agenda and exercised the right of veto
- The consolidation of most princely states was not complete (e.g. in the south and west the petty
dukedom was the norm)
- The Swabian League (founded in 1488 by southern German princes and towns) provided a
useful tool for the Habsburgs to win allies and extend their in uence as their interests matched
up. For example, in 1519 Württemberg was seized by the League and subsequently came under
Habsburg control. Indeed, it is because the League reinforced Habsburg power that Charles
held almost all his early Diets in southern Germany
- The imperial reform movement (aimed at establishing new central institutions of government and
justice staffed by representatives of the estates) led to the establishment of an Imperial
Chamber Court and a Regency Council (to share power with the Emperor and assist with
decision-making). The estates determined the staf ng of these institutions, giving more power to
the Diet. Maximilian abolished the Regency Council and never admitted the judicial claims of the
Chamber Court. In his “capitulation” (1519) Charles promised to revive the Regency Council.
Heinz Angermeier has argued that the new institutions, once their oppositional nature had been
removed, could help extend imperial power. For example, by the early 1520s the Regency
Council was converted into an administrative organ for communicating Habsburg policy.
Charles, by compromising with the Diet, was able to use the Imperial Chamber Court to promote
his most important legislation
Getting electe
Charles had to be chosen by the majority of the seven electors
Maximilian had been hoping to hold the election when his was still alive, but his death in January
1519 ended this scheme. Thus the election became an open contest, not just a mere formality.
Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England competed (although Henry decided too late to make
a difference)
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