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 Historical Background

In the early part of the sixteenth century the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian died and Henry VIII of England, Francis I of France, and Carlos I of Spain (son of Queen Juana and King Philip) competed for the crown.
It was Carlos, the emperor’s grandson who, with financial bribery, prevailed upon the German princes to elect him. But it was a poisoned chalice he had bought; not only had he to deal with an often rebellious confederacy of German states there were many other more serious challenges.
Throughout his years as emperor the eastern countries of Europe were constantly menaced by the infidel intent on pushing the Ottoman Empire’s borders as far west as possible, and he had to prevent France from extending her powers in Italy. Both threats required an armed response which needed money, far more money than even the bountiful New World could supply. Carlos had to borrow hugely from the German bankers, bankrupting Spain.
As the head of the family he also deemed it an unswerving duty to arrange international marriage contracts to ensure the enduring power of the Hapsburg dynasty and to increase its influence wherever possible.
This was also a period of religious unrest across the whole of Europe. Reformation movements, notably the one inspired by Martin Luther, were springing up everywhere threatening the Holy Mother Church and all good Christian souls.
It was little wonder then that Carlos abdicated, at the age of fifty-six, defeated both physically and mentally, choosing his brother Ferdinand to assume the role of emperor and handing the thrones of Spain and Naples to his son Felipe (Philip II).

Reviews
I have just finished Linda Carlino's latest book A Matter of Pride. From the title to the last full stop it is an enthralling read. Although I'm here on my own I give her three cheers - and loud ones at that! Well done! I am very impressed with her use of an all-knowing narrator. From the very start he brings you right into the story with a warm personal welcome, offering a few revealing and intimate details so almost immediately I felt I was one of the characters in the novel. It is a story that at times is sad, at others very funny. I didn t want it to end. It is an accomplished performance and a wonderful follow up to her first historical novel That Other Juana.

Alan R. Tombas

This is a wonderful book; a story successfully combining historical accuracy with masses of fiction.

The generally accepted imposing figure of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor: king, general, lawmaker, and the defender of Christendom is shown here to be a man of faults and failings, of generosity and tenderness, of passions and regrets, all in equal measure and always to excess.

This Charles is revealed through his everyday dealings with those around him and, more interestingly, by the author’s use of a unique and amusing narrator who gossips regularly with us highlighting the emperor’s reactions, usually intolerant and immoderate, both towards his family and to events in the empire.

Even at the story’s moving close this all-seeing, all-knowing, all-telling narrator leaves us still pondering, who really was this ‘greatest emperor since Charlemagne’?

J.M. Sanmarti