Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics.

James Tracy. Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics.

Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. xvi + 344 pp. index. illus. tbls. map. bibl. $70. ISBN: 0-521-81431-6.

Professor Tracy's latest work is by no means easy reading, for it attempts to put together a vast amount of information from all over Europe and in so doing leaves the reader somewhat punch-drunk from the immense quantity of names and data and the extensive footnotes in five or six languages. It was meant to be published as part of the celebrations in the year 2000 to honor the Emperor Charles V, but was delayed. We should congratulate the author on publishing late. He has avoided losing his book in the flood of mediocre publications that came out at the time. His study stands out as one of the few serious contributions made in any language during the past century to the study of Charles V within his European context. It is innovative, profoundly researched, wholly original, and generally reliable. Though not meant for the common reader, it must henceforth be accepted as obligatory reading for scholars.

Though Charles V was ruler of many territories, scholars have limited their efforts to studying him within regional contexts. Brandi's biography, for example, almost completely ignored the fact that Charles also ruled in Italy and Spain. Tracy, by contrast, has decided to look at all the territories of the emperor, in order to examine how they contributed to his resources. He begins by outlining the ingredients--the political and military advisers, the national assets--that helped toward the formulation of policy. He opts for the idea of a "grand strategy of Charles V" (chap. 1), which he analyzes in an excellent discussion. Chapters 3-4 are dedicated to the fundamental problem of state finance. They give us a superb summary, not available in any other book, of the various sources of money available to the emperor in the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. The comparative table of revenues (102), expressed in ducats, shows at a glance the role played in imperial finance by each group of territories. Chapter 5 is dedicated to analyzing the vital role of credit and bankers. It is a pleasure to see the author, who is a known authority on Erasmus, quoting the humanist as saying that "taxation beyond measure is something everyone has to bear" (107). In all this detail the personal role of Charles V is not lost. "The argument of this book," Tracy states, "rests on the observation that by choosing on numerous occasions to risk his own person in defense of his honor and reputation, Charles greatly increased the cost of his wars" (108).

The bulk of the study is not about money but about war and soldiers. The author usefully describes each campaign, always with the help of good maps, and carefully lists the size of armies. This allows him to look at problems of recruitment, equipment, and payment. The exposition in this respect is valuable, pioneering, and sheds an enormous amount of light on the functioning of Charles's supply system. The conclusion drawn is that the money was usually well spent, and tended to bring stability to the Italian peninsula. The wide-ranging perspective adopted by Tracy shines through in, for example, his explanation that the treasure of the Inca emperor Atahualpa paid for the campaign of Tunis in 1535 (155). It is difficult to exaggerate the value of this study. It may undoubtedly contain a few slips, unavoidable in so extensive a treatment, but what it contributes by way of overall perspective, supported always by the most exacting financial data, makes it stand out as the first serious and scholarly study ever done on how the rule of Charles V really functioned. Historians have too easily given in to the view that the emperor was able to do very little in the face of the vast scenario facing him. Now, with this book in our hands, we can agree with Tracy that a great deal was in fact done: "Charles V did make a difference" (314).

HENRY KAMEN

Barcelona, Spain