OTTOMAN CORSAIRS IN THE WESTERN ... - Bilkent University

the empire. 6 Charles, with his vast resources would be the one and in a time of religious
dissention, the Empire needed a strong Emperor to settle the dispute.
The title of “Emperor” had surely given Charles a huge prestige with which he
was usually proud; but it did not bring as much as it took away. At the time of his
accession, Holy Roman Empire was a decentralized political entity, with a symbolic
crown whose authority relied on his personal capability and resources more than legal
assurances. At the same time, it was also suffering from severe social crisis which
resulted in the religious dissidence and thus Charles and later the Austrian branch of the
Habsburgs not only inherited the problems of a decentralized empire who were suffering
from the threat of a possible Turkish expansion; but also found themselves in the midst
of theological debates.
However, Charles’ rule in other places was not that consolidated either. As
Kamen puts it, Charles’ empire was “the union of various territories under one head” 7 ,
thus lacking unity. As indicated, they were acquired by dynastic rights and this affected
the extent of the authority of Charles. Only in Castile, his authority was absolute thanks
to his grandmother who successfully tamed the Castilian aristocracy. In other kingdoms,
the authority of the crown was curtailed by the traditional institutions and thus the
authority was being shared with the local cliques. In non-Castilian realms, king had to
respect the laws of these realms (fueros). The importance of the local parliaments
(Cortes) could not be neglected either, since the Emperor had to obtain their approval
for the release of the most precious thing to him, taxes. Thus, in Charles’ empire, each
6 Belenguer, El Imperio de Carlos V, p. 42.
7 Henry Kamen, Golden Age Spain (New Jersey, 1988), p. 38.
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