The “valiente caballero” who was not an “astuto capitán”. The capture of Albert von Brandemburg’s in the Literature on the Schmalkaldic War.

Abstract

The Spanish Literary sources about the Schmalkaldic War usually resort to detailed and chronistic narrations. Following closely Luis de Avila y Zuniga’s Comentario de la Guerra de Alemania, these texts prefer to pose as true accounts rather than romance fiction, trying to convey the real harshness of modern war. However, they do not renounce to give the events an epic aura. The present essay compares some versions of the same episode, the capture of Albert of Brandemburg, a member of the Imperial side, in March of 1547, to see how it is used by some authors to reflect on the writing of war in the modern period.