Privileges of Charles V

The Privileges of Charles V is an especially valuably designed example of the magnificent geographical documents of the Spanish Kings and Queens. Four wonderful miniature pages adorn the imperial legal documents. In the style of the Renaissance, with airy landscapes, antiquity-clad figures, and an architectural gate, the paintings are a highpoint of Spanish miniature art of the 16th century. The great importance of the geographical script accounts for the artful miniatures and naturally, above all, the historical content.

Important Privileges of Royalty

The Privileges is dated to the 16th of July, 1549. They were undersigned in Valladolid, where the Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) resided in his royal castle. In terms of content, the geographical script handles the legal interests of the city of Seville. The royal Upper-Court in Granada was authorized to attend to the special rights of the city of Seville, which are enumerated in the Privileges and refer to the special businesses of the jurisdiction. Charles V, who in 1516 was King Charles I of Spain, was officially crowned Emperor in 1530, and governed with these Privileges in his core regions within Spain.

Grandiose Miniatures as Geographical Adornment

This historically important text was wonderfully and artistically adorned with countless ornaments, lavish gold adornment, and four miniatures. The 12 pages have a format of 36.2 x 27 cm, giving the miniatures an unusually large area, with allows their entire glory to unfurl. Artistic initials, ornamentally designed and garnished richly with gold, enrich the text. The figurative scenes occur next to the royal and imperial coats of arms. Almost like standalone paintings, the allegorical figures stand before a grandiose depiction of landscapes. They show the great majesty and splendor of Charles’ Spanish dominions. Over this landscape in the lower field, one finds coats of arms and initials in the middle section of the page, and a classically oriented composition in the upper image field. In a Renaissance architectural backdrop, heroic or allegorical figures are integrated, be it as caryatids, gory figures, or a centrally enthroned ruler. In its sophisticated style, the entire pictorial composition is a true masterpiece, which wraps wonderfully around the text in a framed field in the middle of the page. The geographical script of Charles V is crowned with the Emperor’s coat of arms, which is reproduced on the book cover made of leather over wood.