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183-472: El Escorial , or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( Spanish : Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid ), or Monasterio de El Escorial ( Spanish pronunciation: [el eskoˈɾjal] ), is a historical residence of the king of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial , 2.06 kilometres (1.28 mi) up the valley (4.1 km [2.5 mi] road distance) from
366-483: A necropolis for the interment of the remains of his parents, Charles I and Isabella of Portugal , himself, and his descendants. In addition, Philip envisioned El Escorial as a center for studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation cause. The building's cornerstone was laid on 23 April 1563. The design and construction were overseen by Juan Bautista de Toledo , who did not live to see the completion of
549-709: A "peace price" during the many battles of the Spanish Empire with the Ottoman Empire . As part of his active efforts, in 1571 Philip II bought a large portion of the collection of Gonzalo Pérez , one of his advisors. This meant 57 original Greek manuscripts from Sicily, and 112 Latin ones, from Calabria. He also bought 315 original volumes, in Greek and Arabic, from Juan Páez de Castro's personal library. The King charged specific ambassadors with traveling through his empire and neighboring kingdoms searching and buying
732-653: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558)
915-593: A baby in 1500. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent "shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours" to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation,
1098-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
1281-505: A copy of every book published inside the empire. During his reign the orders of continuing to search for books for the library were still in place. Arias Montano donated a large number of original Hebrew manuscripts, and Admiral Luis Fajardo brought back the complete Zaydani library captured during his wars with the Sultan Muley Zidán . Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano )
1464-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
1647-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
1830-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
2013-823: A manuscript of the Concilios visigóticos (the Visigothic Councils ) from the ninth century. Philip acquired several books from the Library of Granada, that belonged to Isabella I of Castile , including her Libro the Horas of astonishing visual beauty. Other valuable libraries acquired by Philip were the library of Pedro Fajardo , and of Antonio Agustín , one of the largest in Spain at the time. Not all of those books are still in El Escorial, since many ended up in
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#17327658267302196-459: A monastery. Above the center door is a niche where the image of Saint Lawrence has been placed. The Courtyard of the Kings owes its name to the statues of the kings of Judah that adorn the façade of the basilica, located at the east end of the courtyard. Steps of red marble lead to the large, public chapel, past the narthex, which is one of the highlights of the basilica. The basilica has a floor in
2379-645: A monastery. Indeed, his son and heir, later Philip II of Spain , was born and raised in Castile. Nonetheless, many Spaniards believed that their resources (largely consisting of flows of silver from the Americas) were being used to sustain Imperial-Habsburg policies that were not in the country's interest. Charles inherited the Austrian hereditary lands in 1519, as Charles I of Austria , and obtained
2562-485: A pension for the Escorial Library, to ensure that it would still be able to acquire new volumes. Philip III continued his father's policy of protection and enrichment of the library, even though he was not theologically inclined. In addition to continuing the search for, and purchase of, especially valuable and old books, he promulgated a new decree, according to which the library of El Escorial ought to receive
2745-482: A prepared place called a pudridero , or decaying chamber, awaiting interment in the Pantheon of the Kings. With the interment of these remains, all the sepulchres in the pantheon will be filled. No decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place of now-abdicated Juan Carlos, Queen Sofía , Felipe VI , Queen Letizia , and any future monarchs and consorts. There are two pudrideros at El Escorial, one for
2928-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
3111-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
3294-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
3477-536: A surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias (heir presumptive of Castile) and honorific Archduke (heir apparent of Austria). The Burgundian inheritance included the Habsburg Netherlands , which consisted of a large number of
3660-734: A sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission
3843-608: A year later. Charles of Austria was born on 24 February 1500 in the Prinsenhof of Ghent , a Flemish city of the Habsburg Netherlands , to Philip of Austria and Joanna of Trastámara . His father Philip, nicknamed Philip the Handsome , was the firstborn son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , Archduke of Austria , and Mary of Burgundy , heiress to the Burgundian Netherlands . Charles's mother Joanna
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#17327658267304026-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
4209-666: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of
4392-402: Is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 by 153 metres (735 by 502 ft), which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and courtyards. At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than
4575-569: Is especially notable. Among the more recent interments is that of Infante Alfonso in October 1992. The younger brother of King Juan Carlos I , he was buried originally in Portugal, after being killed in a still-mysterious 1956 shooting at the family home in Estoril , aged 14. In 1994, King Juan Carlos I signed a decree raising his cousin and close personal friend Carlos, Duke of Calabria to
4758-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
4941-413: Is for the moment the only queen in the pantheon who has not been mother to a king. That is because her only son, the presumed heir to the throne, died after her but before he could become king. But she was the great-grandmother of Philip V (by her daughter Maria Theresa of Spain ) and she is an ancestor of the king of Spain. The walls of polished Toledo marble are ornamented in gold-plated bronze. All of
5124-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
5307-690: Is made up of a few thousands of medieval codices . Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and works of Western European Humanism . During Phillip's reign, there was an entire room dedicated to ancient manuscripts, most of them in Latin, many in Greek, but also some in Hebrew, Aramaic , Arabic, Italian, French, and Spanish. There were approximately 1,800 Arabic titles. The first of those books were acquired in 1571 through Juan Paez de Castro . After that many books were obtained as
5490-677: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
5673-580: Is situated at the foot of Mount Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama . This austere location, hardly an obvious choice for the site of a royal palace, was chosen by King Philip II of Spain , and it was he who ordained the building of a grand edifice here to commemorate the 1557 Spanish victory at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy against King Henry II of France . Philip also intended the complex to serve as
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5856-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
6039-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
6222-633: Is to say, modify the right of the succession, except by virtue of a formal agreement between the Corts and the King. So, upon the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, on 23 January 1516, Joanna inherited the Crown of Aragon , which consisted of Aragon , Majorca , Catalonia , Valencia , Naples , Sicily and Sardinia , while Charles became governor general. Nevertheless, the Flemings wished Charles to assume
6405-671: The Algiers expedition in the early 1540s frustrated his anti-Ottoman policies. After years of negotiations, Charles came to an agreement with Pope Paul III for the organization of the Council of Trent (1545). The refusal of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League to recognize the council's validity led to a war , won by Charles. However, Henry II of France offered new support to the Lutheran cause and strengthened
6588-581: The Battle of Pavia in 1525. To gain his freedom, Francis ceded Burgundy to Charles in the Treaty of Madrid , as well as renouncing his support of Henry II's claim over Navarre . When he was released, however, Francis had the Parlement of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress. France then joined the League of Cognac that Pope Clement VII had formed with Henry VIII of England,
6771-470: The Battle of Pavia . In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs, and Charles V annexed the territory as a vacant Imperial state with the help of Massimiliano Stampa , one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke. Charles successfully held on to all of its Italian territories, though they were invaded again on multiple occasions during the Italian Wars . In addition, Habsburg trade in
6954-609: The Danube river. However, by 1541, central and southern Hungary fell under Ottoman control . Suleiman won the contest for mastery of the Mediterranean, in spite of Christian victories such as the conquest of Tunis in 1535. The regular Ottoman fleet came to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean after its victories at Preveza in 1538 and Djerba in 1560 (shortly after Charles's death), which severely decimated
7137-807: The Franco-Ottoman alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent . Ultimately, Charles conceded the Peace of Augsburg and abandoned his multi-national project with abdications in 1556 that divided his hereditary and imperial domains between the Spanish Habsburgs, headed by his son Philip II of Spain , and Austrian Habsburgs, headed by his brother Ferdinand . In 1557, Charles retired to the Monastery of Yuste in Extremadura and died there
7320-558: The Kingdom of Sardinia . As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was sovereign in several states of northern Italy as King of Italy . The Duchy of Milan , however, was under French control. France took Milan from the House of Sforza after victory against Switzerland at the Battle of Marignano in 1515. Imperial- Papal troops succeeded in re-installing Francesco II Sforza in Milan in 1521, in
7503-673: The Ottomans or accompanied him in his travels, and the bulk of his army was generally composed of German troops, especially the Imperial Landsknechte . In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories that included Franche-Comté and, most notably, the Low Countries . The latter territories mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire and its borders, but were formally divided between fiefs of
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7686-603: The Revolt of the Comuneros , which Charles suppressed. Comuneros released Joanna and wanted to depose Charles and support Joanna to be the sole monarch instead. While Joanna refused to depose her son, her confinement would continue after the revolt to prevent possible events alike. Immediately after crushing the Castilian revolt, Charles was confronted again with the hot issue of Navarre when King Henry II attempted to reconquer
7869-408: The Safavid Empire to open a second front against the Ottomans, in an attempt at creating a Habsburg–Persian alliance . Contacts were positive, but rendered difficult by enormous distances. In effect, however, the Safavids did enter in conflict with the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman–Safavid War , forcing it to split its military resources. During the 1541 expedition of Algiers , the losses amongst
8052-441: The Spanish Navy . At the same time, the Muslim Barbary corsairs , acting under the general authority and supervision of the sultan, regularly devastated the Spanish and Italian coasts and crippled Spanish trade. The advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe chipped at the foundations of Habsburg power and diminished Imperial prestige. In 1536, Francis I allied France with Suleiman against Charles. While Francis
8235-452: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
8418-446: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
8601-423: The United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which
8784-564: The conquest of Nice by a Franco-Ottoman fleet , the French could not advance toward Milan, while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace and restoration of the status quo ante bellum in 1544. A final war erupted with Francis' son and successor, Henry II , in 1551. Henry won early success in Lorraine , where he captured Metz , but French offensives in Italy failed. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of
8967-554: The election as Holy Roman Emperor against the candidacy of the French king. Since the Imperial election, he was known as Emperor Charles V even outside of Germany. The dynastic motto of the House of Habsburg used by Charles was A.E.I.O.U. ("Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo" — "it is Austria's destiny to rule the world"; although its exact meaning remains disputed). Charles staunchly defended Catholicism as Lutheranism spread. Various German princes broke with him on religious grounds, fighting against him. Charles's presence in Germany
9150-433: The gout that afflicted him. The gallery was originally called the King's Gallery ( Galería del Rey ) but came to be known as the Hall of Battles ( Sala de Batallas ) for its fresco paintings depicting the most important Spanish military victories. These include a medieval victory over the Moors , as well as several of Philip's campaigns against the French. This chamber consists of twenty-six marble sepulchres containing
9333-431: The sacristy , paintings such as Joseph's Coat by Velázquez , The Last Supper by Titian , and The Adoration of the Sacred Host by Charles II by Claudio Coello are on exhibit. Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon crypt. This is the place of burial for the kings of Spain. It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with
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#17327658267309516-405: The southern Italian kingdoms of Naples , Sicily and Sardinia . In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of Spanish colonization and a short-lived German colonization . The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled " the empire on which the sun never sets ". Charles was born in Flanders to Habsburg Archduke Philip
9699-424: The 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout
9882-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
10065-406: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
10248-416: The Byzantine and Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the Alhambra at Granada , where, as at El Escorial, two courtyards in succession separate the main portal of the complex from a fully enclosed place of worship. The most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by
10431-474: The Castilian colonies of the West Indies and the Spanish Main , as well as Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. At the death of his grandfather Maximilian in 1519, he inherited the Austrian hereditary lands and was elected as Holy Roman Emperor. He adopted the Imperial name of Charles V as his main title, and styled himself as a new Charlemagne . Charles revitalized the medieval concept of universal monarchy . With no fixed capital, he made 40 journeys through
10614-486: The Castilian possessions in the Americas (the Spanish West Indies and the Province of Tierra Firme ) and the Aragonese kingdoms of Naples , Sicily , and Sardinia . Joanna inherited these territories in 1516 while confined, allegedly because she was mentally ill. Charles, therefore, claimed the crowns for himself jure matris , thus becoming co-monarch with Joanna with the title of Charles I of Castile and Aragon or Charles I of Spain . Castile and Aragon together formed
10797-413: The Countess of Barcelona was the mother of a king but not the wife of a king. However, some consider the Count of Barcelona to have been de jure king of Spain from 1941 to 1977, which in turn would make him, his mother, Queen Victoria Eugenie, and his wife, the Countess of Barcelona, eligible for interment in the Pantheon of Kings. There has already been one exception to tradition: Elisabeth of Bourbon
10980-408: The David-warrior figure, representing Charles V, and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a reminder of Solomon's legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary, monumental temple. The Temple of Solomon design, if indeed it
11163-422: The Emperor. In 1508 Charles had been nominated by Henry VII to the Order of the Garter . His Garter stall plate survives in Saint George's Chapel . The first war with Charles's great nemesis Francis I of France began in 1521. Charles allied with England and Pope Leo X against the French and the Venetians , and was highly successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at
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#173276582673011346-523: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
11529-429: The Habsburg possessions, started a war in Italy that led to the Battle of Pavia (1525). In 1527, Rome was sacked by an army of Charles's mutinous soldiers. Charles then defended Vienna from the Turks and obtained coronations as King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from Pope Clement VII . In 1535, he took possession of Milan and captured Tunis . However, the loss of Buda during the struggle for Hungary and
11712-480: The Handsome , son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Mary of Burgundy , and Joanna of Castile , younger child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon , the Catholic Monarchs of Spain . Heir of his grandparents, Charles inherited his family dominions at a young age. After his father's death in 1506, he inherited the Low Countries. In 1516 he became King of Spain as co-monarch of Castile and Aragon with his mother . Spain 's possessions included
11895-444: The Holy Roman Empire and French fiefs such as Charles's birthplace of Flanders , the last remnant of the Burgundian State , a powerful player in the Hundred Years' War . Since he was a minor, his aunt Margaret of Austria acted as regent, as appointed by Emperor Maximilian until 1515. She soon found herself at war with France over Charles's requirement to pay homage to the French king for Flanders, as his father had done. The outcome
12078-577: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
12261-459: The Imperial Diet did not accept the abdication (and thus make it legally valid) until 24 February 1558. Up to that date, Charles continued to use the title of emperor. Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts with France , which found itself encircled by Charles's empire while it still maintained ambitions in Italy. In 1520, Charles visited England , where his aunt, Catherine of Aragon , urged her husband, Henry VIII , to ally himself with
12444-454: The Judeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus : a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between
12627-402: The King ( Casa del Rey ), is found behind the presbytery of the basilica. The outbuildings of this palace, of Italian style, are distributed around the Courtyard of the Fountainheads ( Patio de los Mascarones ). Inside the House of the King are the Sala de las Batallas (Hall of Battles), which contains frescoes of the battles of San Quintín and Higueruela, among others. The next building contains
12810-441: The King's neoplatonic views and who also designed the library's shelves. It constituted, along with the basilica, the heart of the entire project, and the project was redrafted several times to accommodate changes in the organization of the library itself. As was usual for Juan de Herrera's work, it was the most advanced of its kind in Europe. It was the first library on the continent that broke with medieval design. Domenico Fontana
12993-408: The King's preferences had been Michelangelo or Titian , but both of these giants were already more than eighty years old and in frail health. Consequently, Philip consulted his foreign ambassadors for recommendations, and the result was a lengthy parade of the lesser European artists of that time, all swanning through the construction site at El Escorial seeking the King's favor. One chapel exhibits
13176-876: The Low Countries to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs. The Low Countries held an essential place in the Empire. For Charles V, they were his home, the region where he was born and spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the wealth of the region's cities, the Low Countries also represented a significant income for the Imperial treasury. The Burgundian territories were generally loyal to Charles throughout his reign. The important city of Ghent rebelled in 1539 due to heavy tax payments demanded by Charles. The rebellion did not last long, however, as Charles's military response, with reinforcement from Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba ,
13359-517: The Mediterranean was consistently disrupted by the Ottoman Empire and its vassal Barbary pirates . In 1538 a Holy League consisting of all the Italian states and the Spanish kingdoms was formed to drive the Ottomans back, but it was defeated at the Battle of Preveza . Decisive naval victory eluded Charles; it would not be achieved until after his death, at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. After
13542-544: The Netherlands, which proved to be lost causes. Each hastened the economic decline of the Spanish Empire in the next generation. The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles's reign, along with the inflation that affected the kingdom , resulted in declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II. The Crown of Aragon inherited by Charles included the Kingdom of Naples , the Kingdom of Sicily and
13725-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
13908-527: The Pantheon of the Kings and the other for the Pantheon of the Princes. These can only be visited by monks from the Monastery. In these rooms, the remains of the deceased are placed in a small leaden urn, which in turn will be placed in the marble sepulchres of the appropriate pantheon after the passage of fifty years, the estimated time necessary for the complete decomposition of the bodies. The interment of
14091-475: The Parliament of Navarre ( Cortes ) required him to attend the coronation ceremony (to become Charles IV of Navarre). Still, this demand fell on deaf ears, and the parliament kept piling up grievances. Charles was accepted as sovereign, even though the Spanish felt uneasy with the Imperial style. Spanish kingdoms varied in their traditions. Castile had become an authoritarian, highly centralized kingdom, where
14274-481: The Romans , who thus became his designated successor as emperor, a move that "had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe". Afterwards, Ferdinand managed to gain control of Bohemia , Croatia , and Hungary , with support from local nobles and his German vassals. Charles abdicated as emperor in 1556 in favour of his brother Ferdinand; however, due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure,
14457-482: The Spanish coat of arms since the 18th century. However, at his accession to the Iberian thrones, Charles was viewed as a foreign prince. Two rebellions, the Revolt of the Germanies and the Revolt of the Comuneros , contested Charles's rule in the 1520s. Following these revolts, Charles placed Spanish counselors in a position of power and spent a significant part of his life in Castile, including his final years in
14640-491: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
14823-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
15006-682: The Vatican; but around a thousand of them can still be found there. The King actively purchased rare books—often on esoteric, scientific, or theological subjects—from the East. He also collected and preserved over four hundred books prohibited by the Inquisition , which he agreed should not be available for those likely to "misunderstand" them but only to experts. By 1602, the library had a large cartographic collection and over 150 mathematical instruments. Before his death, Philip II left in his last will
15189-703: The Venetians, the Florentines , and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles's sack of Rome (1527) and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in 1527 prevented the Pope from annulling the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, so Henry eventually broke with Rome, thus leading to the English Reformation . In other respects,
15372-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
15555-546: The altar was replaced with a full circular dome over the center of the church, where the four arms of the Greek cross meet. Clearly Juan Bautista de Toledo 's experience with the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome influenced the design of El Escorial's basilica. However, the Roman dome is supported by ranks of tapered Corinthian columns, with their extravagant capitals of acanthus leaves and their elaborately fluted shafts, while
15738-524: The annexation of Tournai , Artois , Utrecht , Groningen , and Guelders . The Seventeen Provinces had been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but nominally were fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. Charles eventually won the Guelders Wars and united all provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders. In 1549, Charles issued a Pragmatic Sanction , declaring
15921-589: The best for El Escorial's library. These ambassadors were coordinated by the head librarian, who had total authority to direct their movements, and who stayed in contact with them through all their travels. Diego Guzmán de Silva was one such ambassador and made one of the most important purchases for the library during his time in Venice: an ancient collection of Greek manuscripts and Latin codices (1569–1577). An inventory prepared in 1576 counted 4,546 volumes, over 2,000 manuscripts, and 2,500 printed books. That same year
16104-527: The bulk of the empire's financial resources. However, the two conflicting strategies of Charles V, enhancing the possessions of his family and protecting Catholicism against Protestant heretics, diverted resources away from building up the Spanish economy. Elite elements in Spain called for more protection for the commercial networks, which were threatened by the Ottoman Empire and Barbary pirates . Charles instead focused on defeating Protestantism in Germany and
16287-553: The children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas . Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce
16470-684: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
16653-500: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
16836-464: The context of an alliance between Charles V and Pope Leo X. A Franco-Swiss army was expelled from Lombardy at the Battle of Bicocca 1522. In 1524, Francis I of France retook the initiative, crossing into Lombardy where Milan, along with several other cities, once again fell to his attack. Pavia alone held out, and on 24 February 1525 (Charles's twenty-fifth birthday), Charles's forces led by Charles de Lannoy captured Francis and crushed his army in
17019-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
17202-544: The court of his aunt Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy . William de Croÿ (later prime minister) and Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope Adrian VI ) served as his tutors. The culture and courtly life of the Low Countries played an important part in the development of Charles's beliefs. As a member of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece in his infancy, and later its grandmaster, Charles was educated to
17385-525: The crowns of Castile and Aragon to Maximilian's male line, however, was unexpected. The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was already Duke of Burgundy (although the Duchy of Burgundy itself had been lost to the French crown), given Mary's death in 1482, and also heir apparent of Austria as honorific archduke . Joanna, in contrast,
17568-454: The death of his paternal grandfather, Maximilian , in 1519, Charles inherited the Habsburg monarchy . He was also the natural candidate of the electors to succeed his grandfather as Holy Roman Emperor . He defeated the candidacies of Frederick III of Saxony , Francis I of France , and Henry VIII of England in the 1519 Imperial election . According to some, Charles became emperor due to
17751-595: The decentralized structure of the Empire proved resilient, not least because of the Reformation . It was exactly during this crucial period, Charles V and Ferdinand were too busy with non-German affairs to prevent Imperial Cities in Upper Germany from becoming estranged from Imperial power. Due to Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in
17934-540: The different cells and rooms of the monks and that the Augustine monks have gradually managed to make their own. Finally, the Royal Library, which is public and exists under a special papal bull of protection. From the beginning, the Royal Library was meant to be a monumental work of art, and its execution was commissioned to prominent architects of the moment: Juan de Toledo and Juan de Herrera , who shared
18117-460: The different entities he ruled and spent a quarter of his reign travelling within his realms. Although his empire came to him peacefully, he spent most of his life waging war, exhausting his revenues and leaving debts in his attempt to defend the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire from the Reformation , the expansion of the Ottoman Empire , and in wars with France . Charles borrowed money from German and Italian bankers and, to repay them, relied on
18300-413: The dome at El Escorial, soaring nearly 100 metres (330 ft) into the air, is supported by four heavy granite piers connected by simple Romanesque arches and decorated by simple Doric pilasters , plain, solid, and largely unprepossessing. It would not be a flight of fancy to interpret St. Peter's as the quintessential expression of Baroque sensuality and the basilica at El Escorial as a statement of
18483-412: The east–west axis intersected by a shorter transept, about three-quarters of the way between the west entrance and the high altar. This plan was modified by Juan de Herrera to that of a Greek cross , a form with all four arms of equal length. Coincident with this shift in approach, the bell towers at the western end of the church were somewhat reduced in size and the small half-dome intended to stand over
18666-587: The end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speak Castilian ; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile beyond the Quinto Real ; and he would respect the rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage to him in Valladolid in February 1518. After this, Charles departed to the Crown of Aragon. He managed to overcome
18849-509: The exception of Philip V , Ferdinand VI , and Amadeus of Savoy . The remains of the Count of Barcelona , the father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain , also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that the Count never became king himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble, and the sarcophagi are bronze and marble. There is also the Pantheon of the Princes, where the bodies of
19032-523: The face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant Princes and France, the defense of central Europe, as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the Empire, was subcontracted to Ferdinand. Charles V abdicated as Archduke of Austria in 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes elect Ferdinand as King of
19215-467: The fact that by paying huge bribes to the electors, he was the highest bidder. He won the crown on 28 June 1519. On 23 October 1520, he was crowned in Germany and some ten years later, on 24 February 1530 , he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna , the last emperor to receive a papal coronation . Others point out that while the electors were paid, this was not the reason for
19398-490: The famous Crucifix carved in white marble by Benvenuto Cellini . This statue of Christ is unusual because it was represented fully nude; although for modesty it wears one cloth covering the genitals. Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II consists of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe mass from his bed when incapacitated by
19581-462: The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Its eleven rooms showcase the tools, cranes and other materials used in the construction of the edifice, as well as reproductions of blueprints and documents related to the project. Constructed at the order of Philip II, a great lover of nature, these constitute an ideal place for repose and meditation. Manuel Azaña , the Socialist who served as
19764-631: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
19947-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
20130-462: The government became more absolute, even though until his mother died in 1555, Charles did not hold absolute power in the country. Soon resistance to the Emperor arose because of heavy taxation to support foreign wars in which Castilians had little interest and because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices in Castile and America, ignoring Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in
20313-604: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
20496-505: The heiress of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret . Jeanne was instead forced to marry William, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg , but that childless marriage was annulled after four years. She next married Antoine de Bourbon , and both she and their son Henry of Navarre would oppose Philip II in the French Wars of Religion . After its integration into Charles's empire, Castile guaranteed effective military units and its American possessions provided
20679-483: The ideals of the medieval knights and the desire for Christian unity to fight the infidel. The Low Countries were very rich during his reign, both economically and culturally . Charles was very attached to his homeland and spent a large part of his life in Brussels and various Flemish cities. The Spanish inheritance, resulting from a dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon , included Spain as well as
20862-552: The king's viceroy, whose recommendation brought him to the king's attention. Philip appointed him architect-royal in 1559, and, together, they designed El Escorial as a monument to Spain's role as a center of the Christian world. On 2 November 1984, UNESCO declared The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo of El Escorial a World Heritage Site . It is a popular tourist attraction, often visited by daytrippers from Madrid—more than 500,000 visitors come to El Escorial every year. El Escorial
21045-539: The kingdom . Main military operations lasted until 1524, when Hondarribia surrendered to Charles's forces, but frequent cross-border clashes in the western Pyrenees only stopped in 1528 (Treaties of Madrid and Cambrai ). After these events, Navarre remained a matter of domestic and international litigation still for a century (a French dynastic claim to the throne did not end until the July Revolution in 1830). Charles wanted his son and heir Philip II to marry
21228-535: The kingdom. Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and he died before reaching the King. Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian Cortes in Valladolid (1518) proved difficult. In
21411-469: The kneeling family groups of Charles and Philip, also by Leoni, with help from his son Pompeo . In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level is the tabernacle, a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze . It was built between 1579 and 1586 by Jacopo da Trezzo . To decorate the reredos ,
21594-540: The language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in
21777-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
21960-485: The largest of Charles's personal possessions, and they also provided a great number of generals and tercios (the formidable Spanish infantry of the time), while Joanna remained confined in Tordesillas until her death. Plus Ultra , the rendition from French into Latin of Charles's personal motto "Plus Oultre" ( Further Beyond ), later became the national motto of Spain and features on the country's flag as part of
22143-590: The last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs . The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (who ruled Spain as King Charles I), Philip II, Philip III , Philip IV , Charles II , Louis I , Charles III , Charles IV , Ferdinand VII , Isabella II , Alfonso XII , and Alfonso XIII . Two Bourbon kings, Philip V (who reigned from 1700 to 1724 and again from 1724 to 1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), as well as King Amadeus (1870–1873), are not buried in
22326-619: The last president of the Second Spanish Republic , studied in the monastery's Augustinian -run school and mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars). Students at the school still use it today to study and pass the time. The Escorial has three libraries. One is located behind the Chorus of the basilica. Another, within the monastery itself, used to be distributed to
22509-493: The library has more than 40,000 volumes, located in a great hall 54 metres (177 ft) in length, 9 metres (30 ft) wide, and 10 metres (33 ft) tall, with marble floors and beautifully carved wood shelves. De Herrera and Italian construction engineer Giuseppe Flecha y Gamboa were careful to consider the security of the library's holdings in armarios (large bookcases), as well as their display, safeguards against fire hazards, and use of available natural lighting. This library
22692-408: The library introduced a novel way of arranging the library's bookcases or "book presses". Until then most book presses were combined with desks and stood at right angles to the library's walls. This system was known as the "stall system" and allowed light from the library's windows to illuminate the shelves. Phillip's library began using a "wall system", placing the bookcases along the walls. Currently
22875-418: The library of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza , the most valuable in Spain at the time, was bought. It included 850 codices and over 1,000 printed volumes. At this point, the size of the library was such that Benito Arias Montano had to be specially hired to organize the books and classify them by language, in addition to subject. In the 1580s the Library acquired some of its most unique pieces. Jorge Beteta donated
23058-459: The lordships that formed the Low Countries and covered modern-day Belgium , Netherlands and Luxembourg . It excluded Burgundy proper, annexed by France in 1477, with the exception of Franche-Comté . At the death of Philip in 1506, Charles was recognized Lord of the Netherlands with the title of Charles II of Burgundy . During his childhood and teen years, Charles lived in Mechelen together with his sisters Mary , Eleanor , and Isabella at
23241-461: The magnificent main staircase. The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts : for example, the collection of the sultan Zidan Abu Maali , who ruled Morocco from 1603 to 1627, is housed here. The main entrance of the El Escorial is the west façade, which has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of the Kings ( Patio de los Reyes ) and the side ones lead to a school and to
23424-575: The main cloister, decorated with frescoes by Tibaldi and his workshop, in which scenes from the history of the Redemption are represented. In the East gallery, one finds the splendid main staircase with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy , painted by Luca Giordano in 1692. The Palace of the Austrians ( Palacio de los Austrias ), also known as the House of
23607-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
23790-462: The moment he became King of the Romans in 1486, Charles's paternal grandfather Maximilian had carried a very financially risky policy of maximum expansionism, relying mostly on the resources of the Austrian hereditary lands. Even though it is often implied (among others, by Erasmus of Rotterdam ) that Charles V and the Habsburgs gained their vast empire through peaceful policies (exemplified by
23973-466: The monarch's own will easily overrode legislative and justice institutions. By contrast, in the Crown of Aragon, and especially in the Pyrenean Kingdom of Navarre, law prevailed, and the monarchy was seen as a contract with the people . This became an inconvenience and a matter of dispute for Charles V and later kings since realm-specific traditions limited their absolute power. With Charles,
24156-491: The monastery. The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of Saint Lawrence , who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill. St. Lawrence's feast day is 10 August, the same date as the 1557 Battle of St. Quentin. However, the origin of the building's layout is quite controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Juan de Herrera eliminated from
24339-707: The newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Burgundian Low Countries as the honorific Duke of Luxembourg and second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as "Charles of Ghent". He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai . The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croÿ and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria , respectively his step-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were
24522-734: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
24705-468: The original conception the six interior towers of the façade, was not unique to El Escorial. Other buildings had been constructed with churches or chapels fronting on interior courtyards: King's College, Cambridge , dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore , Milan 's first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete , is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact, palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in
24888-654: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
25071-499: The others, and the closest to the origin, which was God in the Basilica: theology, geometry, and mathematics. The visitor must leave the noisy world behind and walk through the halls of knowledge in a specific, comprehensible order from concreteness to abstraction before being able to reach God and understand His message, a notion quite in line with both Charles I and Philip II's hermeticist view of religion. During Philip II's reign,
25254-434: The outcome, or at most played only a small part. The important factor that swayed the final decision was that Frederick refused the offer, and made a speech in support of Charles on the ground that they needed a strong leader against the Ottomans, Charles had the resources and was a prince of German extraction. Although even at the beginning of his reign, his position was more powerful than that of any of his predecessors,
25437-512: The pantheon is King Alfonso XIII , removed there from the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato , Rome in 1980. The remains of Alfonso XIII's wife, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg were interred in the pantheon in 2011. The remains of Alfonso XIII's third son Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona , (d. 1993) and daughter-in-law Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 2000); (the father and mother of King Juan Carlos I ), lie at
25620-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
25803-432: The profane subjects—such as history, geography, and botany—are located in the part closest to the entrance. The library corridors branch out into different sections just to re-converge in the end, and as they advance towards the basilica, the subjects are the more abstract forms—such as poetry, grammar, and mathematics. The subjects closest to the basilica are those the King conceived as being the most abstract distillations of
25986-400: The project. With Toledo's death in 1567, direction passed to his apprentice, Juan de Herrera , under whom the building was completed in 1584, in slightly less than 21 years. To this day, la obra de El Escorial ("the work of El Escorial") is a proverbial expression for a thing that takes a long time to finish. Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings of
26169-468: The queens who did not have a crowned succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part was built in the nineteenth century. Next to the basilica, to the south, is the Courtyard of the Evangelists. This is a gardened patio in whose center rises a magnificent pavilion, by Juan de Herrera , in which one can find sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the courtyard are the galleries of
26352-588: The remains of Queen Victoria Eugenie and the Count and Countess of Barcelona in the Royal Pantheon will each constitute an exception to tradition. First, Victoria Eugenie, although the wife of a king, was never the mother of a king in the strict sense. Secondly, the Count of Barcelona never reigned as king, although he was head of the Spanish royal family between the renunciation of his father's rights on 14 January 1941 and his renunciation of his own rights in favour of his son Juan Carlos I on 14 May 1977. Thirdly,
26535-474: The remains of the kings and queens regnant (the only queen regnant since Philip II being Isabella II ) of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, from Charles I to the present, except for Philip V and his son Ferdinand VI . The sepulchres also contain the remains of royal consorts who were parents of monarchs. The only king consort is Francis of Asis de Bourbon , husband of Queen Isabella II and father of Alfonso XII . The most recent monarch interred in
26718-481: The resistance of the Aragonese Cortes and Catalan Corts , and he was recognized as King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona jointly with his mother, while his mother was kept confined and could only rule in name. The Kingdom of Navarre had been invaded by Ferdinand of Aragon jointly with Castile in 1512, but he pledged a formal oath to respect the kingdom. On Charles's accession to the Spanish thrones,
26901-641: The rest), rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica. Philip's instructions to Juan Bautista de Toledo were simple and clear, directing that the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation." Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. In it are displayed masterworks by Titian , Tintoretto , Benvenuto Cellini , El Greco , Velázquez , Rogier van der Weyden , Paolo Veronese , Bernini , Alonso Cano , José de Ribera , Claudio Coello , and others. Giambattista Castello designed
27084-484: The rooms of Philip II and of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia . Another outbuilding is that of Alcoba del Rey , housing the bed in which Philip II died. The basilica of San Lorenzo el Real, the central building in the El Escorial complex, was originally designed, like most of the late Gothic cathedrals of Western Europe, to take the form of a Latin cross . As such, it has a long nave on
27267-475: The royal monastery itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda , a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five kilometres (3.1 mi) away. These sites have a dual nature: during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. El Escorial
27450-438: The royal title, and this was supported by Emperor Maximilian I and Pope Leo X . Thus, after the commemoration of Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, Charles was proclaimed king of the crowns of Castile and Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, when the Castilian regent Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the fait accompli , he acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and imposed his instatement throughout
27633-416: The saying Bella gerant aliī, tū fēlix Austria nūbe / Nam quae Mars aliīs, dat tibi regna Venus or "Let others wage war, but thou, O happy Austria, marry; for those kingdoms which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee.", reportedly spoken by Mathias Corvinus ), Maximilian and his descendants fought wars aplenty (Maximilian alone fought 27 wars during his four decades of ruling). His general strategy
27816-417: The shape of a Greek cross and an enormous dome, inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, above the crossing. The naves are covered over by barrel vaults decorated with frescoes by Luca Giordano . The main altarpiece is 30 metres (98 ft) high and divided into compartments of different sizes where are found bronze sculptures, and canvases by Pellegrino Tibaldi , Federico Zuccari , and Leone Leoni . In
27999-496: The stark rigidity and grim purposefulness of the Inquisition , the two sides of the Counter-Reformation . The most richly decorated part of the church is the area surrounding the high altar. Behind the altar is a three-tiered reredos , or altar screen, made of red granite and jasper , nearly 28 metres (92 ft) tall, adorned with gilded bronze statuary by Leone Leoni , and three sets of religious paintings commissioned by Philip II. To either side are gilded life-size bronzes of
28182-438: The status of a Spanish infante , making him eligible for interment in the Pantheon of the Princes. Upon his death in October 2015, his funeral was held at El Escorial and his body placed in the pudridero , awaiting future interment in the pantheon. Thirty-seven of the sixty available niches are filled. Consists of works of the German , Flemish , Venetian , Lombard , Ligurian and more Italian and Spanish schools from
28365-431: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
28548-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
28731-465: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
28914-506: The town of El Escorial and about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of the Spanish capital Madrid . Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of King Philip II (who reigned 1556–1598), El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital. El Escorial consists of two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance:
29097-410: The war to his son, Philip II , and his brother, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor . Charles fought continually with the Ottoman Empire and its sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent . The defeat of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 "sent a wave of terror over Europe." The Muslim advance in Central Europe was halted at the Siege of Vienna (1529) , followed by a counter-attack of Charles V across
29280-412: The war was inconclusive. In the Treaty of Cambrai (1529), called the "Ladies' Peace" because it was negotiated between Charles's aunt and Francis' mother, Francis renounced his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy. A third war erupted in 1536. Following the death of Francesco II Sforza , Charles installed his son Philip in the Duchy of Milan , despite Francis' claims on it. This war too
29463-405: The wealth of the Low Countries and on flow of silver from New Spain and Peru , brought under his rule following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires, which caused widespread inflation . Crowned King of Germany in Aachen , Charles sided with Pope Leo X and declared Martin Luther an outlaw at the Diet of Worms in 1521. The same year, Francis I of France , surrounded by
29646-533: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
29829-409: The wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande , on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba. The pantheon's name in Spanish is Panteón de Infantes . Completed in 1888, this group of nine burial chapels is the final resting place of princes, princesses, and consorts other than the parents of monarchs. With floors and ceiling of white marble, the tomb of Prince John of Austria
30012-582: The world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
30195-465: Was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506 to 1555. He was heir to and then head of the rising House of Habsburg . His dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire , extending from Germany to northern Italy with rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and Burgundian Low Countries , and Spain with its possessions of
30378-529: Was a Renaissance statement of power, majesty, prowess, and intellectual world leadership, designed for both the preservation of the old (binding multiple cultural histories into a single Catholic Spanish culture) and discovery of the new (imprinted by that culture). The vault of the library's ceiling is decorated with frescoes, painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi , depicting the seven liberal arts : grammar , rhetoric , dialectic , music , arithmetic , geometry , and astronomy . This arrangement of parallel book cases
30561-412: Was a younger daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , the Catholic Monarchs of Spain from the House of Trastámara . The political marriage of Philip and Joanna was first conceived in a letter sent by Maximilian to Ferdinand to seal an Austro-Spanish alliance, established as part of the League of Venice directed against the Kingdom of France during the Italian Wars . From
30744-492: Was both a Spanish royal palace and a monastery. Established with a community of Hieronymite monks, it has become a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine . It was also a boarding school: the Real Colegio de Alfonso XII. Philip II engaged the Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to be his collaborator in the building of the complex at El Escorial. Toledo had spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he had worked on St. Peter's Basilica , and in Naples serving
30927-581: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
31110-446: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
31293-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
31476-433: Was inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but he succeeded in conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally, Charles III, Duke of Savoy , including his capital Turin . A truce at Nice in 1538 on the basis of uti possidetis ended the war but lasted only a short time. War resumed in 1542 , with Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite
31659-428: Was initiated by Philip II and was called the "wall system". The fire of 1671, which engulfed the library, destroyed about 5,280 handwritten codices , but the printed collections were saved. The printed collection of the library is made up of more than 600 incunabulas , 10,608 books from the 16th century, 2,179 books from the 17th century, and an increasing number of books from the 18th century. The manuscript collection
31842-441: Was inspired by Herrera's design, after a visit, for his design of the Vatican Library . Philip was involved in every part of the design process of the library. The Royal Library, like everything else in El Escorial, forms part of a larger symbolic structure and has symbolic meaning. It links the monastery and the seminary across the principal axis of the building, symbolizing the union of the spiritual and physical world. The books on
32025-559: Was often marked by the organization of imperial diets to maintain religious and political unity. He was frequently in Northern Italy, often taking part in complicated negotiations with the Popes to address the rise of Protestantism. It is important to note, though, that the German Catholics supported the Emperor. Charles had a close relationship with important German families, like the House of Nassau , many of which were represented at his imperial court. Many German princes, noblemen and generals led his military campaigns against France and
32208-450: Was only third in the Spanish line of succession , preceded by her older brother John, Prince of Asturias and older sister Isabella of Aragon . Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandson Miguel da Paz as heir presumptive of Spain by naming him Prince of Asturias ; but he died as
32391-406: Was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, he again allied himself with the Ottomans in 1542 in a Franco-Ottoman alliance . In 1543, Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign the Truce of Crépy-en-Laonnois . Later, in 1547, Charles signed a humiliating treaty with the Ottomans to gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of their war. Charles V made overtures to
32574-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
32757-505: Was swift and humiliating to the rebels of Ghent. In the Castilian Cortes of Valladolid in 1506 and of Madrid in 1510, Charles was sworn as the Prince of Asturias , heir-apparent to his mother Queen Joanna . On the other hand, in 1502, the Aragonese Corts gathered in Zaragoza and pledged an oath to Joanna as heiress-presumptive, but Alonso de Aragón , Archbishop of Zaragoza, (an illegitimate son of King Ferdinand) expressed firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that
32940-417: Was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders in 1528. From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of Frisian peasants (led by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijard Jelckama ). The rebels were initially successful but after a series of defeats, the remaining leaders were captured and executed in 1523. Charles extended the Burgundian territory with
33123-475: Was the basis for El Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional functions Philip II intended the building to serve. Besides being a monastery, El Escorial is also a pantheon, a basilica, a convent, a school, a library, and a royal palace. All these functional demands resulted in a doubling of the building's size from the time of its original conception. Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite, square and sparsely ornamented, El Escorial
33306-675: Was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes , which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile . Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 (after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain). The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for
33489-406: Was to combine his intricate systems of alliance, wars, military threats and offers of marriage to realize his expansionist ambitions. Ultimately he succeeded in coercing Bohemia , Hungary and Poland into acquiescence in the Habsburgs' expansionist plan. The fact that the marriages between the Habsburgs and the Trastámaras, originally conceived as a marital alliance against France, would bring
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