New book from UAA professor Ray Ball features the complete transcripts of Charles V's advice on 'how to be king'

UAA History Professor Ray Ball's new book Cómo ser rey [How to be king] is now available for purchase from the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica. Published by Ediciones El Viso, this bilingual critical edition is the result of Ball's collaboration with Professor Geoffrey Parker of Ohio State University. Cómo ser rey provides-for the first time-a complete transcript of two lengthy original sets of secret instructions written by the Emperor Charles V to his son, the future Philip II of Spain, on May 4 and May 5 of 1543. At the time, Charles was leaving Philip, who was not yet sixteen years old, as his regent in his Spanish kingdoms. The originals of these important historical documents are held in the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, where Ball recently conducted research and served as an investigator on a project funded by the Mellon Foundation. The critical edition provides a scholarly introduction to these important documents, a modern Spanish rendition of the texts and an English translation of the introduction and of the instructions themselves.

According to Parker and Ball, these documents prove beyond all doubt that the emperor composed and revised both instructions (by far the longest he ever wrote) entirely alone and in secret. Charles V personally wrote these letters of advice at a time of great stress and hectic activity, as he was preparing to leave once again for war. He was thus in the midst of preparing the necessary papers for Philip's regency government and the plans for military and naval operations against his French and Ottoman enemies. Nonetheless, he knew that he must leave detailed advice for his son because he might be killed or captured. Covering everything from advice about the importance of the Latin language and marriage to frankly critical assessments of the officials on whom Philip would have to rely, these secret instructions provide significant insights into the concerns of one of the greatest statesmen of the early modern period and a master class on how to be king.

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