For Marian in Vienna 1533: Barcelona The Holy Wars
>From America come the heralds of good tidings. The emperor closes his eyes and sees sails approaching and savours the smell of tar and salt. The emperor breathes like the ocean, high tide, low tide; and he blows to speed the ships swollen with treasure. Fate has just rewarded him a new kingdom, where gold and silver abound like iron in Viscaya. The astounding booty is on its way. With it he will finally be able to calm down the bakers who are strangling him and pay his soldiers - Swiss pikemen, German mercenaries, Spanish infantry - who never see a coin even in dreams. The Atahualpa ransom will finance the holy wars against the Islamic half moon, which has reached the very gates of Vienna, and against the heretics who follow Luther in Germany. The emperor will fit out a great fleet to sweep Sultan Suliman and the old pirate Redbeard off the Mediterranean. The mirror reflects the image of the god of war: damascene armour with chiselled insertions at the edge of the gorget and breastplate, feathered helmet, face illuminated by the sun of glory - bristling eyebrows over melancholy eyes, bearded chin thrust out. The emperor dreams of Algiers and hears the call of Constantinople. Tunis, fallen into infidel hands, also awaits the general of Jesus Christ. Eduardo Galeano 'Genesis'
