Royal reassessment

I enjoyed reading John Edwards’ review of Emperor: A New Life of Charles V by Geoffrey Parker in the November issue (Books). However, his mention of the ruthless exploitation of the Americas needs clarification. There is no doubt that Charles was desperate to lay his hands on the riches that flowed into Spain from the Americas – he needed money to pay for his wars against his many enemies in Europe. Nevertheless, he was concerned about the treatment of the indigenous peoples by the colonists, if only for the sake of his own soul.

As Parker points out, Charles’s decrees in relation to the Americas often mentioned his “royal conscience” and the Ordinance of 1528 stated that the mistreatment of the indigenous inhabitants was “an offence against God”. His attempts to moderate the actions of the conquistadores and colonists might not have been very successful, but they were sufficient to cause serious resistance and rebellion by the colonists, especially in Peru.

Charles V was certainly a “flawed individual” and perhaps difficult to “make likeable”. However, he emerges very favourably when compared to his rival monarchs, Henry VIII and Francis I. He had far more complex and diverse territories to rule, was an excellent judge of character, rarely blamed his ministers when things went wrong, was in turn rewarded with loyalty, and showed conspicuous bravery on the field of battle. Richard Heath %CODTKFIG