Charles Quint face aux Réformes: Colloques international organisé par le Centre d'histoire des Réformes et du protestantisme (11e colloque Jean Boisset), Montpellier, 8-9 juin 2001, Université Paul Valéry —Montpellier III, and: The World of Emperor Charles V (review)

The subject of both collections is the incredible career of Charles V, whose improbable and incoherent dynastic inheritance drew him into every possible political and religious situation between 1520 and 1556. The twenty-four essays show the expanding nature of the scholarship focused on the period, revealing considerable new research and also advancing innovative theories in economic, artistic, and literary interpretation.

Charles Quint face aux Réformes presents papers from a colloquium organized by the Centre d'histoire des Réformes et du protestantisme in 2001. The ten papers that follow Alain Tallon's comprehensive introduction reveal a wide range of research into religious belief, politics, and repression in the sixteenth century. "Guissepe Galasso, Valdés et Naples" relates the career of a Spanish mystic who took refuge in Naples after attracting the attention of the Inquisition in his native land. His followers, called spirituali, adhered to a humanist tradition that made them virtual Protestants. After his death, a storm of denunciation swept the movement away. Jean Carlos d'Amico examines the place of Charles V in Italian literature. As his position in Italy strengthened, the emperor ceased to be the vision of a barbaric Antichrist, and became instead a warrior against infidels and heretics. His failure to crush Luther and the lingering memory of the sack of Rome by the imperial army in 1527 kept hostility alive, but imperial success and the power of patronage quickly eroded it. D'Amico explores Charles's efforts to portray himself as the savior of Christendom and, thus, as a hero of saintly proportions in Italian letters. Gérard Chaix's article examines the image of the emperor in the empire as statism and humanism collided first with medieval tradition and then with the ardent followers of religious confessions. Symbols and political identities became confused as Charles tried to blend his self-proclaimed leadership of Christendom with his hopes for universal monarchy. The Titian portrait of 1547 captured that moment, and Chaix asks whether Charles wanted to be a medieval knight on crusade or a powerful monarch of more modern times.

Raphael Carrasco's essay investigates the relationship between Charles and the Spanish Inquisition that achieved its enduring form during his reign. Charles was attached to the advantages the institution had for his monarchy, for it alone cut across all traditional divisions and judicial standards. Carrasco furnishes tables and graphs to demonstrate the steady increase in power enjoyed by the Inquisition. In a related article, Vincent Parello discusses the fate of the Jewish converts under Charles V, for they too continued to be victims of the Inquisition during his reign. Parello argues that this attack had social and economic purposes, keeping Jewish converts from displaying wealth or holding public office.

Alexander Koller's article is based on close examination of the papers of the papal nuncios in the empire. It is interesting in demonstrating the divergent policies of pope, emperor, and imperial powers, and in suggesting how these effected permanent changes in the operations of public powers. Olivier Poncet's investigation of Charles and the episcopacy is also firmly based on documents that reveal how questions of appointment and investiture continued to plague relations with the papacy. His findings, which are supported by...