Madrid and the Spanish Habsburgs- Copyright Robert Fullarton 2019 Part 1 and Part 2

Madrid and the Spanish Habsburgs- Copyright Robert Fullarton 2019Part 1

I went on a holiday to Madrid for several reasons. One of the foremost reasons was to trace the history of the Habsburg empire in Spain back to the days of Charles V (the Holy Roman emperor) and Phillip II, as the man whose armada disastrously failed to invade Elizabeth's England.

In those days, Charles V inherited an empire which stretched from the newly discovered Indian territories of Peru and Mexico, across Spain, the Low countries, Milan, Naples to the Austrian territories. Charles V was in 1519 voted by various electors and princes to be Holy Roman Emperor- in the line of emperors since Charlemagne in 800AD- to be Christ's official hand on earth, king of the princes of the German states and defender of the central Christian states. It was a mysterious and sacred tradition to the common folk of the time, having been seen as the supreme secular authority in corroboration with the sacred authority of the Pope in Rome. For almost a hundred years before, and for another 500 years after, that title and authority, that power and prestige would rest in the hands of a Swiss family of nobles who rose in rank and power, to become the first archdukes of Austria.

Through the dynastic ambitions of Charles' grandfather Maximilian I, Charles became sole inheritor of many Kingdoms and thrones, with his younger brother Ferdinand I inheriting the junior position- and one of subservience to his elder brother. Maximilian's ambitions ran into the spheres of myth and legend. Here was a man who forged his own family tree and genealogy so that his family and name would be connected to Noah from the Old testament, the mythical figure of Hector from the Illiad, and as a direct descendant of Emperor Augustus. Here to was a man who used the power of art for political means, and who hired such artists as Albrecht Durer to portray him and his future dynasty in a glowing new prestige. Art presented the King as a mythical figure, a man whose cenotaph (and empty tomb in Innsbruck) is guarded by life size statues including the King's personal hero, King Arthur.

Maximilian became Holy Roman emperor in 1508 to rise above the dukes of Austria by forging a new title, that of Archduke, and he solidified his power in the blood of his family through a marriage with the daughter of the duke of Burgundy and the Low countries, (Charles the Bold) Margaret of Burgundy. His son Phillip "the Handsome"married Juana of Castile, the daughter of Isabella I and Ferdinand of Aragon. Phillip would become King Phillip I of Castile, but would not reign for long, as he died prematurely (though it was suspected that he died of poisoning from his own father in law Ferdinand of Aragon).

At age 6 Charles would rise to inherit and reap the rewards of the dynastic ambitions of his grandfather Maximilian, as the apogee and zenith of Habsburg Power was approaching and the dawn of the Spanish empire or Habsburg domination of Europe was rising, with the emptying of Incan treasures, great fleets were being built and new lands were explored in the name of King Carlos I of Spain.




Part 2

As i walk by the window of the Hotel restaurant, I spot the name Cajamarca, it invokes back to me a memory, of a book I have been reading on the Spanish conquistadors, and  on the episode of Francisco Pizarro and the conquest of the Inca empire. At Cajamarca, Atahualpa the Inca emperor had only just defeated his own brother Huascar in a civil war of succession, and on that very day in the central square, Pizarro and his men set a trap to capture Atahualpa with Arquebuses and cavalry concealed through each passage and entrance of the square. The sound of cannons and smoke brought down the kings guard sending men in chaos in all directions, as the charge of "Santiago" was shouted and the Spanish fired in all directions unto the crowd of Inca warriors. Atahualpa was captured and a large sum of Gold and silver was offered by the Inca emperor in ransom for his life.

Names, episodes and incidents from history are abound on the calles and plazas of the city. Madrid itself was once a small town, a backwater, of dirt, sewerage and poverty. Toledo was the majestic old medieval capital of the Spanish Empire, and was only downgraded during Phillip II's subsequent desire to decentralize the power of Toledo. A new Capital was sought and the Moorish alcazar became the Habsburg palace of reigning emperors.

Today Madrid is a city of hustle and bustle, of wide avenues, teaming with life, with loud boisterous parties spilling out from the Plazas unto the side streets.  Tapas bars and old cevezerias can be found on the Plaza Santa Anna, some of which I found to be quaint, atmospheric and friendly. Hot chocolate is a must in this city, a thick dark variety, similar to the old Peruvian equivalent, it is an acquired taste, and often eaten with deep fried donuts called Churros. There are wide avenues in Madrid, huge roads converge on the Plaza de Cibeles, (named after a pagan prophetess of ancient Greece) beside the white neo-classical, marble, resplendent town hall. This is an intersection between the calle de Alcala and the Paseo del Prado. From the north of the city, at across from the City hall, this is our point of entry and our point of embarking from the autobus to the hotel on the Calle de Alcala.

The sight of roadworks, of the Sevilla metro line all dug up along the Calle Alcala are a dismal sight, with buildings covered up for renovation and much of the sidewalk fenced off, crowds of people of all walks of life, crowd past as human traffic huddles and congests this city, which at times could remind you of some of the big and imposing buildings in Manhattan. This is indeed a cosmopolitan city. Much of the old Habsburg buildings have been replaced or dwarfed by the sheer construction and expansion of the city that has happened under the subsequent Bourbon, Socialist and Francoist regimes. However the heart of old Habsburg city, traced back to the time of Phillip II and Phillip III can be seen in the impressive red bricked facade of the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Villa. Classical and renaissance architecture speaks of the old  colonial empire, with arches and cobbled streets to match the modern changes to the city, as indeed the old back street waste and its clientele indeed live well at night. A city has one face by day and another for the night, a city has one character by light and another in the darkness!