Territories left as heritage in Europe by Charles I

CLASSIFICATION

As we can observe, this is a situation and political map. The map doesn’t include any date but we can know that it corresponds to the 16^th century because it is about the territories Charles I left as heritage in Europe.

There are some mistakes in the map: the Duchy of Milan didn’t belong to Aragón and Tunis didn’t belong to Castile. They were territories added to the Monarchy, but not to any specific kingdom.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

In this map, we can see some territories in colour: 

- The territories in purple correspond to the Crown of Castile (most of the Iberian Peninsula, including Navarre, which was added to Castile in 1512 with the condition of preserving the fueros, and the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, conquered in 1492. Also in purple there are some territories in the North of Africa: Melilla, Orán and Tunis. Charles I  also left as heritage from Castile the Canary Islands, the territories in America and Veléz de la Gomera, Bugía and Argel Rock in the North of Africa too.

-  the territories in red form the Crown of Aragón (Aragón, Catalonia, Valencia, Mallorca, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and the  Duchy of Milan. Mallorca, Sicily and Sardinia belonged to the Crown of Aragón since the 13^th century, Naples since the end of a war with France in 1504 and Milan since 1535),

-          the area in light yellow is the Holy Roman Empire,
- the territories in orange correspond to the House of Burgundy (they included seventeen provinces known as the Low Countries (that included territories like Artois, Bravant, Flanders, Hainaut, Holland, Limburg, Luxemburg, Zeeland…) and the Franche Comté (Free County of Burgundy))
- and, finally, the area in yellow is the one controlled by the House of Austria (Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Tyrol, and the possibility of becoming Emperor).

Charles I had inherited the Crown of Castile from his grandmother Isabella, the Crown of Aragón from his grandfather Ferdinand II, the territories of the House of Burgundy from his grandmother Mary of Burgundy and the territories of the House of Austria from his grandfather Maximilian of Austria. This big heritage was the consequence of the marriage alliances established by the Catholic Monarchs and the deaths in their family. The marriage alliances were the following ones:

• Isabella, the first born, was married to Alphonse, Portugal’s heir, but when he died, she married the Fortunate, the king of Portugal. When Isabella died, her sister Mary married King Manuel. This way they kept the alliance with Portugal.
• John married Margaret of Austria and Joanna married Philip of Burgundy. Margaret and Philip were the children of Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy. This double marriage assured the alliance with the Holy Roman Empire.
• Catherine married Arthur of England, Prince of Wales. When he died, she married Arthur’s brother Henry, future Henry VIII. This way, the alliance with England was kept.

With respect to the deaths in the Catholic Monarchs’ family, those destined to be the heirs died, like Charles I’s uncle, prince John of Castile and Aragón, his cousin infant Miguel of Portugal, his father Philip the Handsome and the mental instability of his mother, Joanna the Mad.

During his reign, Charles I added some territories to the ones he had inherited: he conquered Milan, fighting against France, in 1535 and Tunis, fighting against the Muslims, in 1535 too. France and the Muslims were Charles I’s main enemies, together with the Lutherans in the Holy Roman Empire.

Charles I decided to abdicate in 1556, after so many wars, and retired to the Monastery of Yuste, in Extremadura, where he died of malaria in 1558. He divided his heritage into two parts:

- the territories of the House of Austria and the title of Emperor were assigned to his brother Ferdinand

- and the rest of his heritage (including the Low Countries) was for his first son Philip, who ruled with the name of Philip II. He separated the Empire from Philip II’s heritage due to all the problems caused by Lutheranism and the war against the Schmalkaldic League, but included the Low Countries (patrimonial heritage from his father, Philip the Handsome).

The big Empire inherited by Philip II provoked problems. In 1557 the expenses created by so many wars led to the first default in the Hispanic Monarchy. The Treasury couldn’t pay the amount of debts created after long years of war. Philip II had to restructure the debt, reducing the interests paid by the crown and converting short term debt titles (juros) into long term debt titles. This default also meant the decline of the Fuggers, a family of German bankers, who had been an important support for Charles I’s foreign policy.

Some of Philip II’s conflicts were inherited from his father’s reign: wars with France and the Muslims.

CONCLUSION

This map is useful to understand the expansion of the Hispanic Monarchy, which reached its maximum during the reign of Philip II. Most of those territories were lost later by the Hispanic Monarchy, but some of them have remained until today: Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Peñón de Veléz de la Gomera and Melilla. We can also say that the power of France, the main enemy of the Hispanic Monarchy, was strongly reduced because Philip II territories were very big and because the Catholic Monarchs had established alliances with many European countries marrying their children with people from the most important dynasties. But this had a high cost. The alliances obliged to help the allies and hegemony had to be kept. Such a big heritage included a big responsibility and keeping hegemony had serious consequences for the finances of the Monarchy.