Emperor Charles V and Pedro Lisperguer in Worms (1545)

When the city of Worms is mentioned, historical memory inevitably turns to the famous Diet of 1521 and to the figure of Martin Luther. Yet, almost a quarter of a century later, Worms once again became the center of European politics. There, during the spring and summer of 1545, some of the events that would change the course of the Holy Roman Empire unfolded and, unexpectedly, also the destiny of a young German named Pedro Lisperguer.

Pedro was the son of Peter Birling, mayor of the Free Imperial City of Worms. As the city's highest civic authority, he bore much of the responsibility for coordinating the complex organization required by the prolonged stay of Charles V and his entire court in the city. For several months, Worms hosted the emperor, his brother Ferdinand, King of the Romans, as well as numerous princes of the Empire, cardinals, ambassadors, and councillors who debated the political and religious future of Europe. Worms was no ordinary city for Charles V. It was there that, while still a twenty-one-year-old emperor, he had attempted to halt the challenge posed by Martin Luther. Returning to its streets in 1545 meant returning to the very place where, a quarter of a century earlier, the religious division of the Holy Roman Empire had begun.

At first glance, everyday life seemed to proceed as usual. Charles V attended solemn religious ceremonies, received diplomatic delegations, and even found time to pursue one of his greatest passions: hunting in the nearby forests. Yet beneath this apparent calm, one of the greatest crises of sixteenth-century Europe was taking shape.

For almost three decades, the emperor had sought to preserve the religious unity of the Empire through dialogue. He had promoted negotiations between Catholics and Protestants, encouraged theological conferences, and repeatedly called for the convocation of a general council. Nevertheless, all these efforts had ultimately failed. At Worms he realized that the path of reconciliation had reached its limits. The discussions held with the papal legate, Cardinal Farnese, and with his principal advisers paved the way for a decision that would transform European history: the use of armed force against the Schmalkaldic League.

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It was precisely in this setting that the young Pedro Lisperguer began to gain first-hand insight into the workings of imperial politics. Thanks to his father's position, he had the opportunity to grow up in an environment dominated by emperors, kings, great nobles, diplomats, military commanders, and churchmen from every corner of the continent. It would be difficult to imagine a more extraordinary political education for a boy of barely fifteen years of age.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the assistance provided by Peter Birling to the emperor during those months fostered a relationship of trust between the family and the imperial court. Organizing the stay of Charles V in a Free Imperial City required close cooperation between the municipal authorities and the emperor's entourage. Within that context, personal contacts were undoubtedly established which, in all likelihood, helped open the doors of the Hispanic world to Pedro.

The chronology is, to say the least, significant. Shortly after these events, Pedro Lisperguer left Germany to enter the service of the Hispanic Monarchy. Years later, he accompanied Viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza on his expedition to Peru and eventually became one of the best-known conquerors of the Kingdom of Chile. His extraordinary American career may well have begun long before he embarked for the New World: it began in the streets of Worms, amid the intense political activity surrounding the court of Charles V.

Those months were also marked by deeply human events. Charles V received with immense joy the news of the birth of his grandson, the future Infante Don Carlos, but only a few days later he had to face the death of his daughter-in-law, Maria Manuela of Portugal. Amid celebrations, funerals, diplomatic receptions, and complex religious negotiations, the summer of 1545 unfolded while the emperor prepared to face one of the most difficult decisions of his reign.

On 7 August 1545, Charles V finally departed from Worms. His principal advisers left with him, and a new chapter in the history of the Empire began. Among those embarking upon a decisive new path was also a young man named Pedro Lisperguer.

History often remembers great battles and great treaties, yet forgets the places where individual destinies first began to take shape. For Pedro Lisperguer, that place was Worms. There, under the protection of his father, the mayor Peter Birling, and in direct contact with the court of Charles V, he began a journey that would forever unite the histories of Germany, Spain, and Chile.

More information in the book The German Conqueror Pedro Lisperguer Wittemberg: From Courtier of Charles V and Philip II to Celebrated Forerunner of Chile.

National Library of Spain Catalogue

Library of Congress

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From British Hispanists to the Marquis of Valdeflores’s Unknown European and Colonial Ties

 

British Hispanists in Debate

British Hispanism, Enlightenment Spain, and the Transatlantic Dimensions of Valdeflores

British and American scholarship has long shown a deep interest in Spanish culture in all its dimensions, with particular attention to the eighteenth century and the figure of Luis José Velázquez de Velasco, Marquis of Valdeflores . Among the many scholars who have contributed to this field, a few stand out:

• Philip Deacon – leading British Hispanist, specialist in Valdeflores and eighteenth-century Castilian poetry; author of The Eighteenth-Century Origin of Spanish Literary History and Spain and Enlightenment.

• Nigel Glendinning (1929–2013) – authority on the Enlightenment and Goya; author of A Literary History of Spain: The Eighteenth Century and Goya and His Critics; also wrote on Valdeflores.

• Russell P. Sebold (1928–2014) – American hispanist, foremost authority on eighteenth-century Spanish literature, especially poetry.

• George Ticknor (1791–1871) – Harvard scholar; author of History of Spanish Literature (1849), the first comprehensive history of Spanish literature in English, acknowledging Valdeflores as a pioneer of literary historiography.

These studies primarily examine Valdeflores in connection with the literary culture of his time —his role in major movements, his travels across Spain, his contributions as historian, antiquarian, epigraphist, numismatist, Latinist, and his involvement in the Real Academia de la Historia and the Academia del Buen Gusto. Naturally, these scholars came from highly prestigious universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, producing excellent and well-structured articles. However, as expected, they are specialized studies, focusing on specific areas and relying on consolidated academic literature.

What remains underexplored is that Valdeflores, as one of Spain’s major Enlightenment intellectuals, requires a fuller reassessment —one that accounts for his wider familial, social, and transnational networks.

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The Wittemberg Legacy in Andalusia: New Research Carried Out in Spain

Through the exploration of primary sources and previously unknown documents, it has been revealed that, through his mother, Valdeflores descended from Juan Wittemberg Dreyers, a German who settled in Málaga in the seventeenth century and founded Wittemberg & Co., a maritime company active through his descendants until the late eighteenth century, operating routes across the Baltic, the Low Countries, France, England, and Belgium.

The Wittembergs became exceptionally wealthy, integrating into local elites, holding municipal offices, and forging ties with noble houses such as the Marquisate of Isla Hermosa and the Marquisate of Valdeflores. Some women of the clan married into powerful lineages, several of whose descendants eventually rose to the rank of Grandees of Spain —thus reaching the very pinnacle of the Spanish noble hierarchy. Remarkable, for example, is the familial connection of the Wittemberg family to the Count of Floridablanca, the chief minister to Charles III and one of the most influential figures of that period. This was an extraordinary achievement for a family of foreign origin that had arrived in Spain virtually unknown.

Valdeflores not only had dozens of cousins and uncles in this family with whom he corresponded and exchanged cultural viewpoints, but his siblings were also closely related to the Wittembergs. His niece, the Marchioness of Valdeflores, held seventeen mayorazgos (entailed estates) in Andalusia and wielded considerable influence during the Restoration. 

Despite considerable economic, political, and noble prominence, the Wittembergs developed no enduring heroic dimension—save for isolated episodes in the careers of certain seafarers—and thus slipped into historical oblivion by the mid-nineteenth century, surviving only in archival records. The striking exception is Valdeflores himself, whose resonant cultural legacy in many ways compensates for the family’s broader disappearance from historical memory.

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Transatlantic Links: The Lisperguer Wittemberg Connection

In seeking noble recognition, the Wittembergs amassed extensive genealogical documentation, including certifications by heralds such as Juan Alfonso de Guerra y Sandoval. These reveal kinship with the Lisperguer (Lisperguer Wittemberg) family. Under Emperor Charles V, Pedro Lisperguer Wittemberg was dispatched to the conquest of Peru and Chile despite restrictions on foreign settlers. Meanwhile, the other branch of the family secured establishment in Spain, with documented support from Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.  

The Lisperguers flourished especially in Chile, with military service in the Arauco Wars, prominent roles in politics, governance, and the Church; their women often married judges, consolidating power. In Peru they allied with noble houses; in Argentina, though to a lesser extent, they secured political and aristocratic influence. The most notorious descendant was Catalina de los Ríos Lisperguer, “La Quintrala”—an encomendera infamous for her cruelty towards Indigenous people. Far from a heroic figure, she nonetheless achieved lasting notoriety. Her life has inspired hundreds of academic works, doctoral theses, novels, plays, films, and even operas. Her figure remains central in debates on gender, power, colonial violence, and the cultural imagination of Latin America.

Why This Matters for British Hispanists

Through Valdeflores one can trace a broader Euro-Atlantic reality that transcends the individual scholar: the Habsburg connections, the triangular nexus of Germany, Spain, and the Americas, and the cultural interplay across early modern Europe and the New World. After leaving Worms in 1545, Pedro Lisperguer travelled for six months with Charles V through southern Germany and the Low Countries; he then spent a decade in Andalusia as equerry to the Counts of Feria, and accompanied the young Prince Philip (later Philip II) to England for seven months, participating in key events of the period.

This hidden transnational dimension—linking Enlightenment Spain, European courts, and the colonial world—offers British scholarship fertile ground for further research, interpretation, and interdisciplinary exploration in literature, history, and cultural studies, opening opportunities for infinite resonances in universal history.

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Reviews and Further Reading

THE LISPERGUER VOLUMES: LEGACY, REVIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES