On the 17th of September Charles sailed from the harbor of Flushing for Spain with a fleet
of fifty-six sails, his two sisters (Mary, formerly queen of Hungary, and regent of the Low Countries,
and Eleanor, the widow of King Francis of France), and a hundred and fifty select persons of the
imperial household.
After a boisterous voyage, and a tedious land-journey, he arrived, Feb. 3, 1557, at the
Convent of St. Gerome in Yuste, which he had previously selected for his retreat.
The resolution to exchange the splendors of the world for monastic seclusion was not
uncommon among the rulers and nobles of Spain; and the rich convents of Montserrat and Poblet
(now in ruins) had special accommodations for royal and princely guests. Charles had formed it
during the lifetime of the Empress Isabella, and agreed with her that they would spend the rest of
their days in neighboring convents, and be buried under the same altar. In 1542 he announced his
intention to Francisco de Borgia; but the current of events involved him in a new and vain attempt
to restore once more the Holy Roman Empire in the fullness of its power. Now his work was done,
and he longed for rest. His resolution was strengthened by the desire to atone for sins of unchastity
committed after the death of his wife.^317
Yuste is situated in the mountainous province of Estremadura, about eight leagues from
Plasencia and fifty leagues from Valladolid (then the capital of Spain), in a well-watered valley
and a salubrious climate, and was in every way well fitted for the wishes of the Emperor.^318
Here he spent about eighteen months till his death,—a remarkable instance of the old adage,
Sie transit gloria mundi.
His Cloister Life.
There is something grand and romantic, as well as sad and solemn, in the voluntary retirement
of a monarch who had swayed a scepter of unlimited power over two hemispheres, and taken a
leading part in the greatest events of an eventful century. There is also an idyllic charm in the
combination of the innocent amusements of country life with the exercises of piety.
The cloister life of Charles even more than his public life reveals his personal and religious
character. It was represented by former historians as the life of a devout and philosophic recluse,
dead to the world and absorbed in preparation for the awful day of judgment;^319 but the authentic
documents of Simancas, made known since 1844, correct and supplement this view.
He lived not in the convent with the monks, but in a special house with eight rooms built
for him three years before. It opened into gardens alive with aromatic plants, flowers, orange, citron,
and fig trees, and protected by high walls against intruders. From the window of his bedroom he
could look into the chapel, and listen to the music and prayers of the friars, when unable to attend.
He retained over fifty servants, mostly Flemings, including a major-domo (who was a Spaniard),
(^317) He regretted that, from regard to his son, he had not married again. Ranke, V. 297.
(^318) It is often miscalled Saint Yuste, or St. Justus, even by Robertson in Book XII., Eng. ed. III. 294; Amer. ed. III. 226, etc.; and more
recently by Dr. Stoughton, Spanish Reformers, Lond., 1883, p. 168. Yuste is not named after a saint, but after a little stream. The convent
was founded in 1404, and its proper name is El monasterio de San Geronimo de Yuste. It lies on the route from Madrid to Lisbon, but is
somewhat difficult of access. It was sacked and almost destroyed by the French soldiers under Soult, 1809. The bedroom of Charles, and
an overgrown walnut-tree under whose shade he used to sit and muse, are still shown. Yuste is now in possession of the Duke of Montpensier.
See descriptions in the works of Stirling, Mignet, and Prescott, above quoted, and by Ford in Murray’s Handbook of Spain, I. 294 (sixth
edition).
(^319) By Sandoval, Strada, and by his most elaborate historian, Dr. Robertson, who says: "There he buried, in solitude and silence, his
grandeur, his ambition, together with those projects which, during almost half a century, had alarmed and agitated Europe, filling every
kingdom in it, by turns, with the terror of his arms, and the dread of being subdued by his power." Sepulveda, who visited Charles in his
retreat, seems to be the only early historian who was aware of his deep interest in public affairs, so fully confirmed by the documents.