Reviewed by: Emperor: A New Life of Charles V by Geoffrey Parker Susan Broomhall Parker, Geoffrey, Emperor: A New Life of Charles V, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2019; hardback; pp. xix, 737; 39 colour images, 5 maps, 3 figures; R.R.P. US$35.00; ISBN 9780300196528. Who is Charles V? Was he a great monarch or remarkable man, both, or neither? These questions are woven throughout Parker's biography, and implied in its structure of four chronological parts detailing stages of his development and wielding of power, separated by four 'portraits' of the individual at successive life stages. At the beginning of his work, Parker establishes his intent to examine how Charles took major decisions, whether his successes and failures are attributable to the man or the structure he was part of, and what it was like to be Charles. Bringing Charles's own writings into the narrative, this produces a fascinating, highly readable account, which will entertain and surprise readers along the journey. Ambiguity of argument and counterargument, balancing contemporary views and those of own time, prevails in Parker's answer to the question of who Charles was, and—just as importantly—what we should make of him as twenty-first-century readers of a new biography. The sheer extent of his empire and his ability to shape lives across the world make Charles a noteworthy ruler in his own time and since. His continual movement across the expanse of Western Europe and the massive amount of information about his everyday life are unusual. His dedication to learn new languages despite seemingly being a poor scholar and his determination to maintain control over a vast administration and level of correspondence are impressive. Parker's choice of adjectives often avoids direct judgement, as seen in his ultimate conclusion: '[a]lthough by twenty-first century standards his personal defects and shortcomings tarnish his image, the emperor's contemporaries were surely correct to deem him an extraordinary man who achieved extraordinary things' (p. 533). Towards the end of the work, Parker suggests that Charles's imperial repertoire consisted of four key drivers for his actions: dynasty, chivalry, reputation, and faith. These are certainly important, but how did they operate in relation to each other? As Parker particularly emphasizes, his interpersonal relations, especially with [End Page 255] his family and his aunt, mother, wife, lovers, sisters, daughters, and nieces, were regularly cruel and selfish, and appeared to display little capacity for empathy with them. Dynasty was, it seems, a purely patriarchal prerogative to which subordinate family members were sacrificed. The illegitimate son or the women in his circle had little or no recourse to other forms of assistance beyond him, unlike Ferdinand or Philip, emerging patriarchs in their turn. Parker's point of comparison here appears more modern than comparative to other contemporary dynasties, which, from my research, display similar patterns of over-arching behaviour to protect the bloodline, without quite Charles's persistent (and un-Christian?) pattern of callousness. Chivalry did not outweigh dynasty. By contrast, Parker contextualizes Charles's intervention in the Americas principally in terms of contemporary views about non-Christian lands and peoples. We do read of Charles's misgivings and moral qualms about the treatment of Indigenous peoples, which remain to us as reflections not extant for others in his position of power, but they appear to have done little to change the course of his key objective in expanding the empire over which he ruled and bringing back to Europe the means to progress interminable wars. Chief among his interests, Parker makes clear, is the lure of gold, with missionizing a distinct and intermittent second. Faith did not outweigh reputation (as a warrior king) or (the expansion of territories for his) dynasty. So too it was in his interactions with the growing band of Lutherans in his German territories. Charles seemed prepared to tolerate and accommodate reforming views throughout most of his rule, where that sacrifice might benefit a greater good: that is, control by the Habsburg dynasty both in these territories and in the eastern empire against Suleiman's forces. His documentary formulation 'for the sake of God's service and mine' could be...
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Jan 9, 2024
Mariana O Silva + 2
Open Access