13.1.11 to 13.1.16

The Golden Age of Spain (1521-1643) The 16th and 17th centuries are sometimes called "the Golden Age of Spain". It was said that in his domains, the sun never set. The unwieldy empire of the Siglo de Oro was controlled, not from distant inland Madrid, but from Seville. The Empire of Charles and his successors was not only Spaniard or Castilian. According to Henry Kamen, the Spanish Empire was a multiethnic enterprise, with: Armaments from Milan. Genoese and German bankers, as the Fuggers. Genoese (Andrea Doria), Portuguese (Magallanes, Quirós, Torres) and Venetian sailors. German and Italian soldiers, e. g. Ambrosio Spinola. English (in America and Triangular Trade) and Chinese (in the Philippines) merchants, and Native American allies (as in the Conquest of Mexico) The Habsburg dynasty squandered the American and Castilian riches in pointless wars across Europe, defaulted on their debt several times, and left the Spanish people generally bankrupt. His political goals were several: Access to American (gold, silver, sugar) and Asian products (porcelain, spices, silk) Undermining the power of France and containing it in its Eastern borders. Maintaining Catholic Habsburg hegemony in Germany, defending Catholicism against the Reformation. Defending Europe against Islam, notably the Ottoman Empire. As a result of the marriage politics of the Reyes Católicos, their grandson Charles inherited the Castilian empire in America, the Aragonese Empire in the Mediterranean (including a large portion of modern Italy), as well as the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Low Countries and Franche-Comté. This Empire was constituted by inherited territories, not conquered. After defeating Castilian rebels in the Castilian War of the Communities, Charles was the most powerful man in Europe, his rule stretching over an empire not to be rivaled in size until Napoleon. Charles attempted to quell the Protestant Reformation at the Diet of Worms but Luther refused to recant his "heresy." However, Charles's piety could not stop his mutinied troops from plundering the Holy See in the Sacco di Roma .