of dyspepsia and gout than restrain his appetite, which feasted on twenty dishes at a single meal.
In his autobiography he speaks of a fourteenth attack of gout, which "lasted till the spring of 1548."^302
He had taste for music and painting. He had also some literary talent, and wrote or dictated
an autobiography in the simple, objective style of Caesar, ending with the defeat of the Protestant
league (1548); but it is dry and cold, destitute of great ideas and noble sentiments.
He married his cousin, Donna Isabella of Portugal, at Seville, 1526, and lived in happy
union with her till her sudden death in 1539; but during his frequent absences from Spain, where
she always remained, as well as before his marriage, and after her death, he indulged in ephemeral
unlawful attachments.^303 He had at least two illegitimate children, the famous Margaret, Duchess
of Parma, and Don Juan of Austria, the hero of Lepanto (1547–1578), who lies buried by his side
in the Escorial.
Charles has often been painted by the master hand of Titian, whom he greatly admired. He
was of middle size, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, with a commanding forehead, an aquiline
nose, a pale, grave, and melancholy countenance. His blue and piercing eye, his blonde, almost
reddish hair, and fair skin, betokened his German origin, and his projecting lower jaw, with its
thick, heavy lip, was characteristic of the princes of Habsburg; but otherwise he looked like a
Spaniard, as he was at heart.
Incessant labors and cares, gluttony, and consequent gout, undermined his constitution, and
at the age of fifty he was prematurely old, and had to be carried on a litter like a helpless cripple.
Notwithstanding his many victories and successes, he was in his later years an unhappy and
disappointed man, but sought and found his last comfort in the religion of his fathers.
§ 51. The Ecclesiastical Policy of Charles V.
The ecclesiastical policy of Charles was Roman Catholic without being ultramontane. He kept
his coronation oath. All his antecedents were in favor of the traditional faith. He was surrounded
by ecclesiastics and monks. He was thoroughly imbued with the Spanish type of piety, of which
his grandmother is the noblest and purest representative. Isabella the Catholic, the greatest of
Spanish sovereigns, "the queen of earthly queens."^304 conquered the Moors, patronized the discoverer
of America, expelled the Jews, and established the Inquisition,—all for the glory of the Virgin
Mary and the Catholic religion.^305 A genuine Spaniard believes, with Gonzalo of Oviedo, that
"powder against the infidels is incense to the Lord." With him, as with his Moorish antipode, the
(^302) English translation, p. 157.
(^303) Motley (I. 123) says, on the authority of the Venetian ambassador, Badovaro: "He was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous
incontinence." On the same authority he reports of Philip II.: "He was grossly licentious. It was his chief amusement to issue forth at
night, disguised, that he might indulge in vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence in the common haunts of vice." (I. 145.)
(^304) So Shakespeare calls her, and praises her "sweet gentleness," "saintlike meekness,""wife-like government, obeying in commanding."
(^305) The inscription on the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Capilla Real of the cathedral at Granada is characteristic: "Mahometice
secte prostratores et heretice pervicacie extinctores Ferdinandus Aragonum et Helisabetha Castelle vir et uxor unanimes Catholici
appellati Marmores clauduntur hoc tumulo." The sepulcher is wrought in delicate alabaster; on it are extended the life-size marble figures
of the Catholic sovereigns; their faces are portraits; Ferdinand wears the garter, Isabella the cross of Santiago; the four doctors of the
Church ornament the corners, the twelve apostles the sides. Under the same monument rest the ashes of their unfortunate daughter Joanna
and her worthless husband. I have seen no monument which surpasses this in chaste and noble simplicity (unless it be that of King Frederick
William III. and Queen Louisa at Charlottenburg), and none which is more suggestive of historical meditation and reflection.