Renaissance music at the Spanish court of Charles V (1520-1556)

The middle of the 16th century was a busy period in Spanish history. The conquistadores were rampaging around the globe assimilating the lands and native peoples of Central and South American. The Catholic Church, emerging from the Inquisition and Luther's Reformation, wielded absolute power and influence over its own population as well as over most of the western Mediterranean. The Aragonese monarchy was hastily consolidating its power through its complex system of alliances with the Hapsburgs and rest of the Holy Roman Empire. Against this backdrop, some of the greatest European composers of the 16th century were native Spaniards patronized by the royal family or by the Church: Cristobal de Morales at the Vatican, Luys de Narvaez for Emperor Charles V. The influence of the Franco-Flemish maestri on the music of Renaissance Spain was also considerable. Gombert and others from the Netherlands were prominent members of the Spanish royal court.