The Carolinian instrucciones

Whatever significance in both practical and normative terms may be attached to the reflections of a political thinker or an entire school on the nature of the ruler's duties and the traits with which his character must be adorned will in the end solely be measured by his success in imbuing the prince with his teachings. We are fortunate in this respect to have a number of documents revealing to what extent the monarch whose reign encompasses most of the period under scrutiny here reflected the teachings in vogue among the thinkers who surrounded his person. Since to some extent we have already become acquainted with the political ideas sponsored by a few notable writers of the imperial age, I have chosen to introduce my future comments on their understanding of the prince's personality with a study of what the monarch himself has to say concerning his own duties as ruler and the qualifications that a good prince must possess or endeavor to attain. Or, to put the same thing in the form of a question, what does Charles V have to say on the subject of the attributes indispensable to the man whom God has chosen to guide His people?

The answer, I feel, can be found in the instrucciones or advice which at various times during his reign the Emperor addressed to his son for the benefit, edification, and guidance of the future ruler. There are four such instrucciones. The first one, dated Madrid November 5, 1539, was written when Philip was but twelve years old and its usefulness for our purposes is therefore very relative.