an almoner, a keeper of the wardrobe, a keeper of the jewels, chamberlains, secretaries, physician,
confessor, two watchmakers, besides cooks, confectioners, bakers, brewers, game-keepers, and
numerous valets.^320 Some of them lived in a neighboring village, and would have preferred the gay
society of Brussels to the dull monotony of solitude. He was provided with canopies, Turkish
carpets, velvet-lined arm-chairs, six cushions and a footstool for his gouty limbs, twenty-five suits
of tapestry, sixteen robes of silk and velvet lined with ermine or eider-down, twelve hangings of
the finest black cloth, four large clocks of elaborate workmanship, and a number of pocket-watches.
The silver furniture for his table and kitchen amounted to fourteen thousand ounces in weight. The
walls of his room were adorned with choice pictures, nine from the pencil of Titian (including four
portraits of himself and one of the Empress). He had also a small library, mostly of devotional
books.^321
He took exercise in his gardens, carried on a litter. He constructed, with the aid of a skilled
artisan, a little handmill for grinding wheat, puppet soldiers, clocks and watches, and endeavored
in vain to make an two of them run exactly alike. The fresh mountain air and exercise invigorated
his health, and he never felt better than in 1557.
He continued to take a lively interest in public affairs, and the events of the times. He greeted
with joy the victory of St. Quentin; with partial dissatisfaction, the conclusion of peace with the
Pope (whom he would have treated more severely); with regret, the loss of Calais; with alarm, the
advance of the Turkish fleet to Spain, and the progress of the Lutheran heresy. He received regular
dispatches and messengers, was constantly consulted by his son, and freely gave advice in the new
complications with France, and especially also in financial matters. He received visits from his two
sisters,—the dowager queens of Hungary and France, who had accompanied him to Spain,—and
from the nobles of the surrounding country; he kept up a constant correspondence with his daughter
Joanna, regent of Castile, and with his sister, the regent of Portugal.
He maintained the stately Castilian etiquette of dining alone, though usually in the presence
of his physician, secretary, and confessor, who entertained him on natural history or other topics
of interest. Only once he condescended to partake of a scanty meal with the friars. He could not
control, even in these last years, his appetite for spiced capons, pickled sausages, and eel-pies,
although his stomach refused to do duty, and caused him much suffering.
But he tried to atone for this besetting sin by self-flagellation, which he applied to his body
so severely during Lent that the scourge was found stained with his blood. Philip cherished this
precious memorial of his father’s piety, and bequeathed it as an heirloom to his son.^322
From the beginning of his retreat, and especially in the second year, Charles fulfilled his
religious duties with scrupulous conscientiousness, as far as his health would permit. He attended
mass in the chapel, said his prayers, and listened to sermons and the reading of selections from the
Fathers (Jerome, Augustin, Bernard), the Psalms, and the Epistles of Paul. He favored strict discipline
among the friars, and gave orders that any woman who dared to approach within two bow-shots of
(^320) "Aus den Legaten seines Testamentes lernt man die Mitglieder derselben kennen,—eine ganze Anzahl Kammerdiener, besondere
Diener für die Fruchtkammer, Obstkammer, Lichtbeschliesserei, Aufbewahrung der Kleider, der Juwelen, meist Niederländer, jedoch
unter einem spanischen Haushofmeister, Louis Quixada. Der Leibarzt und eine Apotheke fehlten nicht." Ranke, V. 305. The codicil of
Charles, executed a few days before his death, specifies the names and vocations of these servants. Sandoval and Gachart give the list,
the latter more correctly, especially in the orthography of Flemish names.
(^321) These and other articles of furniture and outfit are mentioned in the inventory. See Sterling, Pichot, and Prescott, I. 302 sqq.
(^322) Prescott, l.c., I. 311.