COMO SER REY: INSTRUCCIONES DEL EMPERADOR CARLOS V A SU HIJO FELIPE

In 1872, the eminent Belgian historian Louis-Prosper Gachard praised the secret Instructions written in Palamos on 4 and 6 May 1543 by Emperor Charles V for his son, the future Philip II, as “monuments of wisdom and foresight, born of a mature experience in the art of government, and a profound knowledge of men and affairs. These alone suffice to place Charles V in the first rank of the statesmen of his day.” Strangely enough, virtually no one has seen the originals of either document, acquired for the Hispanic Society of America in 1906 by its founder, Archer M. Huntington. Instead, Gachard and other historians have had to work from various copies, each one containing alternative readings. The holograph originals of each document, reproduced here together with a full transcription as well as a version in modern Spanish and an English translation, reveal for the first time exactly what the emperor wrote on the eve of his departure from Spain to fight the French, leaving his 15-year-old son Philip as regent. The heavily corrected texts prove beyond all doubt that Charles composed and revised both documents – by far the longest he ever wrote – entirely alone and in secret. With all the interpolations and corrections, they represent the emperor’s unvarnished thoughts. The task must have absorbed several days of the emperor’s time, just as he had to oversee arrangements for his departure and for the regency as well as planning military and naval operations against his enemies. However, Charles knew that he must leave detailed guidance for the son he might never see again, should he die or be captured on his dangerous mission. His two Instructions therefore form, just as the emperor intended, a masterclass in Cómo ser rey.