Parallels in the Governance of the “Spanish” and “Austrian” Habsburgs in the 16th Century

Abstract

The Habsburgs – as a result of their specific heritage and policies – gained control over many countries in the 16^th century, and they tried to establish more efficient and coordinated governance for them, with varying degrees of success, despite greater or lesser resistance from the estates. The Burgundian, Iberian and Central European solutions were very similar to each other, and the personal experience of the Habsburg rulers and their knowledge of the already established systems could certainly have been taken into account and could have been a starting point for the innovations they introduced.