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Brandi's Monument to The Emperor Charles V
No small wonder this biography was the result of a life times dedicated work: Packed with scholarship and human understanding, Brandi reveals the imperial Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V, to have been more constant in his convictions than many other prominent monarchs that stepped upon the fickle stage of the renaissance.

A brief perusal of his reign usually brings in all the negative verdicts: He failed to prevent the Protestant split from the Catholic Church; he failed to check Turkish advances into Europe; the sack of Rome in 1527 by imperial troops occurred during his watch; he allowed the inquisition to carry on its work and endorsed the rebellious, barbaric behaviour of Cortez in the New World.

Yet it becomes clear that the Popes in Rome and Kings of France and England deserve more the stigma of the first two of those failings.

To further French expansion at the expense of the Hapsburg's Francois 1st, "The most Christian King," was in open allegiance with the Turks and took what opportunities that came to breathe life into the Protestant resistance in Germany: While Henry VIII challenged the supremacy of Rome not out of any acts of conscience but because the Popes could impede the flow of his revolving marital door by refusing a divorce.

The Papacy's refusal to excommunicate Francois 1st for his unholy alliance with the Turk drew scathing criticism from German Protestants and momentarily brought them closer to their Catholic Emperor. Charles himself strove repeatedly for conciliar agreement both in political as well as ecclesiastical matters, calling council after council throughout the different kingdoms of his European empire. Loathe to shed Christian blood, force of arms became the last resort. Yet his personal example to lash out at the Turks (he succeeded in dealing a temporary blow to the piracy of the Sultan's admiral, Barbarossa, in Tunis) was never given continued impetus by others.

Again, unlike his power hungry contemporaries, Charles formally retired from his position of Emperor to live the last years of his life quietly in Spain. His vast inheritance bequeathed intact to his son, Phillip II.

This superhuman achievement could not be done by Charles alone and Brandi brings into the narrative the Emperor's able advisors, and the resilience of other family members that helped hold together such a sprawling conglomerate of European lands. Why no full length biography exists in English of Margaret, regent of the Netherlands and Queen Mary, her successor (Charles' aunt and sister), is a mystery. Particularly when the Antonia Fraser School of female historians exult any heroine they can find; a dual biography of those two remarkable women whose back to back reigns covered many years is long over due!

C.V. Wedgwood's translation from German into English makes reading such a substantial biography nothing but smooth sailing: Highly recommended!
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