RIHA Journal 0012 | 11 November 2010 Charles V and the Habsburgs' Inventories. Changing Patrimony as Dynastic Cult in Early Modern Europe Juan uis !on"#lez !arc$a Peer revie% and editing organized by& Instituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico, Barcelona 'evie%ers& Antoni José itarch, "antia#o Alcolea Blanc! (bstract Apart from a deep respect for the achievements of the Habsburgs, Emperor Maximilian I transmitted to his heirs a practical attitude towards their art collections. Pearls and precious stones were extracted from set pieces to produce new ones; old fashioned !eweller" or silver ob!ects were melted down; and tapestries, paintings and sculptures were publicl" sold to pay off debts. #" stud"ing how some of these goods were reused, recycled, and recirculated among the Habsburg famil" members, I will explain how crown patrimon" changed owners and $ingdoms, and how the cult of their d"nast", activel" promoted b" %harles &, heightened the notion of a collective consciousness which served as a topos for aristocratic collecting in the 'enaissance. Contents Introduction $!e %r#ani&ation o' (arl) Habsbur# Inventories and t!e Hierarchy o' *edia +!an#in# $aste and t!e *anipulation o' t!e %b,ect +!arles -'s Inventories and t!e +reation o' an (mpire /)nastic *arria#es, /)nastic Inventories Introduction ()* +he ro"al inventories of the Habsburgs are documents of extraordinar" importance for the anal"sis of art collecting in the Modern Age. +he" are often the onl" available tools to interpret the value, arrangement, uses and original functions of the ever changing princel" possessions , today !ust partiall" preserved ,, and provide us with references about the best European painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, weavers, or armourers of the time, to name but a few. #esides Emperor %harles &-s inventories .)/00 )//12, those of his closest d"nastic milieu are 3uite significant because of the direct contribution and influence that some of these figures exerted on his intellectual education and the shaping of his tastes. +his applies especiall" to his aunt, Margaret of Austria .)410 )/552, and his sister Mar" of Hungar" .)/0/ )//12 who, through their privileged status among the most outstanding patrons and collectors of the period, furnished %harles with a multicultural background during his formative "ears .Margaret2 and later on from circa )/50 .Mar"2. +heir impact was made manifest in his own inventories, which constitute a basic resource to assess the depth of his stamp on his lineage-s aesthetic !udgment in general and on Philip II's .)/67 )/812 in particular. (6* Most of the records once so carefull" $ept b" the Habsburg bureaucrats fell pre" to fire and poor management in later centuries, so that a reconstruction of the d"nast"-s expenditure on art necessaril" depends on the chance availabilit" of documents. All in all, sixt" three inventories and wor$ing lists scattered over several European archives .#russels, %openhagen, Di!on, :ille, :isbon, Madrid, ;slo, Paris, <imancas, and &ienna) and written in diverse License: $his article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY2NC-ND 3.05 RIHA Journal 0012 | 11 November 2010 languages .<panish, =rench, Portuguese, >erman, Danish, and :atin2 have been identified and transcribed.) +his alone gives a good account of the supranational hori?on of the Habsburgs and their collecting, characterised as a t"pical famil" trait passed down from generation to generation and reflecting distinctive tastes. In order to anal"se these patterns, I will base m" claims not !ust upon %harles &-s own inventories, but also upon those of some major figures of his immediate famil", descendants not included, that is: Aoanna of %astile .)478 )///2, his mother; his siblings =erdinand I .)/05 )/B42, Mar" of Hungar" and %atherine of Austria .)/07 )/712; and his spouse Isabella of Portugal .)/05 )/582. Purposel", I will address onl" fourteen significant inventories dated between )/08 and )//1 and made, for a variet" of reasons to be dul" explained, in <pain, Portugal, Austria and the :ow %ountries. (5* Despite their geographical, chronological and even linguistic spread, and above and be"ond the fact that the" record Habsburg collections, it can be safel" assumed that these inventories constitute a singular group. +hrough time and space the" share the same driving forces, features and , to a certain extent , contents, and were recorded b" the same officials who belonged to the Habsburg courts, all of them regulated b" the strict #urgundian protocol. #" stud"ing these Habsburg inventories as a group we can trace the manipulation of the ob!ects the" possessed and better understand their taste and motivations. Additionall", this stud" will demonstrate a gradual shift from a primar" interest in the value of ob!ects to the promotion of the famil" d"nast" through collecting. (4* +his essa" is organised into two parts, each one consisting of two headings. +he first part explains wh" the Habsburg inventories were made, how the" are organised and how the" differ among them. Here I will t"pif" the importance of the provenance of the ob!ects for the creation of the d"nast" together with the utilitarian value conferred in the documentation to some these belongings, mainl" !ewels and items made of gold and silver. Appreciated above all for their material worth, the" functioned as a genuine treasur" that was dipped into as a source for financing a broad range of famil" re3uirements b" wa" of melting down or recycling. In the second part I will specificall" deal with %harles &-s inventories and discuss their most relevant examples to define the nature of his collections. At first glance, it is difficult to assess to what degree %harles &-s acquisition of wor$s of art was influenced b" the prevailing taste in other ro"al courts in Europe. Definitel", his preferences in armour or tapestr" collections, for instance, cannot be seen in isolation from those of his contemporaries Henr" &III of England .)48) )/472 or =rancis I of =rance .)484 )/472. +his trend was politicall" rather than artisticall" driven@ while %harles visited England in )/60 and )/66 to forge an alliance against =rance and could have seen Henr"-s armours, the rivalr" between the Emperor and the =rench Cing, who sought to outdo each other in magnificence, probabl" provided a powerful impetus to the textile decoration of Habsburg palaces after )/40, when %harles & had been able to see =rancis I's residences for himself on his wa" from <pain to the :ow %ountries in order to suppress the >hent revolt. ) <ee =ernando %heca %remades, dir., and Auan Luis >onzále? >arcEa, ed., The Inventories of Charles V and The Imperial Family, 5 vols., Madrid 60)0. License: $his article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY2NC-ND 3.05 RIHA Journal 0012 | 11 November 2010 (/* If armour and tapestries pla"ed a $e" role in the unification of court st"le throughout Europe in the first half of the sixteenth centur", it was the extensive commissions and purchases of the Habsburgs that left an enduring mar$ on the cities of Augsburg or #russels. +he relationship between the patronage exercised b" the Habsburgs in <outh >erman" and the :ow %ountries and the flourishing of the art of arms and armour and tapestr", respectivel", merits more extensive stud" than is possible within the scope of the present essa". However, it is apparent that this influence would have been much lesser if both centres of production had eluded %harles &-s authorit". Fhen he was unable to exercise it b" himself, the Emperor placed his trust in the women of his famil" to build up a system of government and political networ$ing. He had little reservation about contracting foreign marriages in the interests of the d"nast", and his sisters could easil" be forfeited for reasons of state. Ironicall", it was two Habsburg widows who best promoted the d"nastic interests of %harles &. ;nce Margaret of Austria and Mar" of Hungar" became widowed .Margaret in )487 and )/04, and Mar" in )/6B2 and successfull" re!ected an" further nuptial plans, the" were officiall" made regents of the Getherlands. +his position was especiall" created for them on account of their widowhood , i.e., the" would not share their power with a foreign prince. Go longer wives or candidates for marriage, Margaret and Mar" assumed responsibilities which onl" the" could personall" define. +heir cosmopolitan background resulted in an active interest in literature, music and art, and their palaces at Mechelen and #russels housed their 3uite considerable collections, which included portraits and religious paintings, boo$s, sculptures, decorative ob!ects and exotica. +he" were $nown to their contemporaries as patrons with a discerning taste, who en!o"ed receiving artwor$s as gifts. %harles grew up and lived most of his life in these enlightened surroundings, where =rench was the ever"da" language. He brought together most of his wor$s of art in his Getherlandish residences and, as it could not have been otherwise, the" were minutel" inventoried there. 6top7 )he *rganization o+ Early Habsburg Inventories and the Hierarchy o+ Media (B* >iven that monarchs could amass a considerable number of rich ob!ects, inventories were drawn up periodicall" for different reasons. Most fre3uentl" the" instructed their court officials to prepare a written record of all their moveable items, either with the intention of going somewhere else or to record their posthumous estate or will. +hese were meant, correspondingl", to protect the owner from theft and loss while travelling across Europe, or to guarantee the integrit" of the possessions which had to pass on to their heirs. =or instance, promptl" after Aoanna I arrived in +ordesillas .&alladolid2 in )/08, her collection was inventoried.