In 1565 an agent of the Spanish empire in Italy complained about imperial overreach: ‘There are old men in Castile who believe we were better off when we had no more than that realm.’ He confessed that if the political situation had reverted to

Almost fifty years earlier, Mercurino di Gattinara (1465–1530) had helped to create this empire by orchestrating the Spanish domination of Italy. As grand chancellor of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Gattinara directed policy at the Spanish court from 1518 to 1530 and helped to construct the ideological foundations of a world empire.

Gattinara provided the Spanish empire with a cohesive vision of ‘universal monarchy’, a world united under the authority of one ruler. Fortified with source material from a variety of genres and historical eras including medieval biblical prophecy, Roman law and Christian humanism, he sounded an almost revolutionary call for peace, justice and religious reform. The ideological underpinning of empire complemented an active political agenda aiming toward one overriding goal: the military conquest of the Italian peninsula. This chapter examines the relationship between ideology and action as the grand chancellor guided the policy of Charles V. His combination of utopian idealism and raw power proved irresistible both to his ruler and to the subjects of the numerous domains he sought to bring into the Spanish empire.

As one among many chancellors working to consolidate state power in the early sixteenth century, he played a role similar to that of Antoine Du Prat (1463–1535) in France, Matthew Lang (1469–1540) in the Holy Roman Empire and Thomas Wolsey (1473–1530) in England. Enlarging the territories and military grandeur of their rulers, these men gained reputations as ruthless diplomatic negotiators and efficient administrators. They devoted their attention to the endemic warfare which dominated European affairs at that time.