Mercurino Arborio marchese di Gattinara (10 June 1465 – 5 June 1530) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 statesman

Statesman

A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

 and jurist. Gattinara was a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

, humanist

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

, imperialist

Imperialism

Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...

, and conservationist

Conservationist

Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...

. He was made a Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

 of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in 1529.

Biography

He was born in Gattinara

Gattinara

Gattinara is a comune in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about north of Vercelli...

, near Vercelli

Vercelli

Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...

, modern Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

. Mercurino Gattinara initially served as the legal advisor to Margaret of Austria in Savoy

Savoy

Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....

. She considered him as chief amongst her various counselors.

Mercurino Gattinara is however mostly famous for having served as Emperor Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

's “Grand Chancellor of all the realms and kingdoms of the king.” Upon the death of Charles' counselor Chièvres, Gattinara would become the king’s most influential advisor. He was a Roman Catholic, humanist, Erasmian, jurist and scholar—at the same time idealist

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

 in his goals, and realist in his tactics. He was a scholar of jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

, the classic theory of the state

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

, and the Christian doctrine of duty. Gattinara would guide Charles away from both his roots in dynastic Burgundy

Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...

, and from the prevailing secular political theory of Spain at the time, toward a Christian humanist conception of Empire. His ideas of the primacy of the Empire in Europe were in direct contradiction with the growing trend toward the theory of the nation state.

In his capacity as Chancellor, he urged Charles V to create a dynastic

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

 empire

Empire

The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....

 with the object of establishing global rule ("Dominium Mundi"). Gattinara in his policy advice and personal writings argued for Christian imperialism, based on a united Christendom

Christendom

Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...

, which would then combat or convert the Protestants, the Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, and the infidel

Infidel

An infidel is one who has no religious beliefs, or who doubts or rejects the central tenets of a particular religion – especially in reference to Christianity or Islam....

s of the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

. His theory attempted to balance the solidarity of Christian nations, with the requirements of conquest for the establishment of one world empire.

Gattinara was instrumental in shifting Charles V’s policy vision from that of a regional dynastic monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 to an empire-builder. Doubtless due in large part to Gattinara's counsel, the Spanish Empire

Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

 would reach its territorial height under Charles V, although it would begin to show signs of decay at the end of his reign, most importantly with the independence granted to the economically thriving but tax-averse Low Countries

Low Countries

The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

.

Goals

After Charles’s election to the throne, Gattinara wrote to him:

In the conclusion to this letter, Gattinara reiterated his belief that the true purpose of monarchy was to unite all people in the service of God.

During a review for the purpose of administrative reform, Gattinara advised Charles, in a section of the report entitled “Reverence toward God” on issues such as: whether Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 and Infidels should be tolerated in his lands; whether the inhabitants of the West Indian islands and the mainland were to be converted to Christianity; and whether the Inquisition

Inquisition

The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...

 should be reformed.

Another goal espoused by Gattinara was to unite Christendom against the Turk, as well as against the Lutheran heresy. There was little practical basis for achieving such an understanding between the European powers, however.

Gattinara’s own summation of his views included the final goal of laying the foundations for a policy that was truly imperial, leading to a general war on the infidel and heretic

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

. His first objective was the Emperor’s voyage to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 as soon as the fleet was ready. Gattinara concealed the reason for expanding the fleet by reference to the troubles in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

At every fresh opportunity Gattinara was for “taking time by the forelock

Forelock

The forelock or foretop is a part of a horse's mane, that grows from the animal's poll and falls between the ears and onto the forehead...

” and establishing the power of Charles V in Italy without more delay. This would function as a permanent guarantee of peace, not only on the peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

, but in all Europe. Gattinara’s views were rooted in Dante

Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...

, despite having to face many practical setbacks. He faced deep-seated opposition to the imperial council, and Gattinara began to acknowledge that many were against his plan. Many Spaniards suspected Gattinara of having interests in Italy (as he was originally from Piedmont), as so his motives were questioned, and he was even threatened.

Gattinara held Dante’s dream of universal monarchy as the ultimate goal of Charles V’s rule, united both Christendom, and eventually the world. These ideas were in line with some of Charles’s other advisors. Imperial ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 at Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

’s court, M. Louis de Praet

Louis of Praet

Louis of Praet, Louis of Flanders, Lord of Praet, or locally Lodewijk van Praet was a nobleman from the Low Countries and an important diplomat and statesman under the Emperor Charles V....

, wrote to Charles:

Charles’s secretary, Alfonso de Valdés

Alfonso de Valdés

Alfonso de Valdés was Spanish humanist, who became chancellor of the Emperor Charles V. He was the twin brother of Juan de Valdés....

, a humanist and Erasmian like Gattinara, would write to Charles after the victory of Pavia

Battle of Pavia

The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–26.A Spanish-Imperial army under the nominal command of Charles de Lannoy attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I of France in the great hunting preserve...

 (a defeat for the French, including the capture of their king François I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

):

Spanish missionary spirit is here wedded with Dante’s theocratic

Theocracy

Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....

 ideal, and expresses the high expectations of the humanist Italians and Spaniards surrounding Charles. The Emperor was seen as the reviver of the Roman universal Monarchy

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 who could put an end to the feudal and dynastic conflicts, and establish a democratic

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 imperium. Charles' more limited goals of ordering his empire within a Respublica Christiana (a united Europe) was disappointing to his advisors seeking world-dominion, especially so to Gattinara, the aspirant to “world-empire.”

Policies

Just as Gattinara is noted for his universalist

Universalism

Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...

 idealism

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

, he is also recognized as adept in the practice of realpolitik

Realpolitik

Realpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises...

.

Taking over from Charles V's advisor Carlos de Chièvres, Gattinara shifted the policy outlook of his king. Chièvres had advocated protecting the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 through understandings with France and England, attempting to avoid war with France especially. Gattinara aimed at broadening Charles from a narrow Burgundian/Spanish outlook toward a wide imperial vision. At the center of his imperial policy was Italy: Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 was the vital link between the Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

 holdings of Spain/Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

 and Tyrol

County of Tyrol

The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

. By the last months of 1521, Gattinara had succeeded in shifting the war with France from Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

 to Italy. His imperial strategy had two conditions for success: domination of Italy, and alliance with Rome.

Gattinara was the source of Charles’s shift in policy toward Italy—no other cabinet member pushed for these policies. A year previous to Gattinara’s appointment, the English ambassador Tunstal had remarked on Gattinara’s preoccupation with Italy. Gattinara had drawn up advance drafts of war plans against Italy, in which he stresses that since God called Charles to be the first prince of Christendom it was fitting that he turn his attention to Italy, saying that anyone who counseled Charles against pursuing Italy in lieu of interest elsewhere was prescribing the king’s ruin, shame and blame. Gattinara emphasized the low cost of an Italian campaign, and the necessary troop mobilization

Mobilization

Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, in order to describe the preparation of the Prussian army during the 1850s and 1860s. Mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed...

 necessary for overwhelming force.

In deciding whether or not to advise Charles V to go to war against France in northern Italy, Gattinara constructed an allegory posing the seven deadly sins

Seven deadly sins

The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...

 against the ten commandments

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

—seven causes for avoiding war, and ten arguments in favor. Against, the reasons were all quite practical: an attack would place a great stake on a single strategy

Military strategy

Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops...

 with an uncertain method of solution; there was not enough money in the treasury

Treasury

A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....

; negotiations with other Italian states were uncertain; the Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 might ally themselves with France; and the area would soon be fraught with danger from the impending winter. However, Gattinara argued that the war was justified by Charles V’s bond to honor the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

, whom he needed as an ally. Clearly, God was on Charles’s side, and to let France escape a fight would be to tempt fate

Destiny

Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...

—he would not have the chance, as resources would not be mobilized so easily next time. Additionally, with the army mobilized, it would not look good to call it off at the eleventh hour. Gattinara saw to it that his ten commandments won out over the seven deadly sins.

Gattinara was not an idealist when it came to policy. The Treaty of Madrid was forced upon Francis I of France by Charles after Francis was captured. The treaty spoke in romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 hyperbole

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....

 and ended with an oath

Oath

An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...

 for both rulers to undertake a crusade together. While François signed the treaty under duress, Gattinara refused to affix the imperial seal to the document, because of his sense of realpolitik. François would subsequently break the terms of the treaty, which had been to renounce claims in Italy, surrender Burgundy, and abandon suzerainty

Suzerainty

Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...

 over Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 and Artois

Artois

Artois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...

.