Kdo je hodil z Barbara Blomberg?

Barbara Blomberg (1527 – 18 December 1597) was the mother of Don John of Austria.

Blomberg was born in Ratisbon (modern Germany), the eldest daughter of Wolfgang Plumberger or Blomberg, a burgher, and of his wife Sibilla Lohman. A singer, in 1546 she was for a short time the mistress of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was in Regensburg for the meeting of the Imperial Diet. On 24 February 1547 Blomberg gave birth to John of Austria, who was almost immediately taken from her and sent to be raised in Spain.

Shortly afterwards Blomberg married Hieronymus Kegel, an imperial official. In 1551 she moved to Brussels with her husband where Kegel was responsible for the equipment of the imperial mercenary army. They had three children.

When Kegel died in 1569, Blomberg and her children were in reduced financial circumstances. At the request of the governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, she was granted a pension by King Philip II of Spain (her oldest son's agnate half-brother).

In November 1576 Blomberg met her son John of Austria for the only time since his birth. Subsequently, she went into a Dominican convent in Castile, 70 km south of Valladolid. After John of Austria died in 1578, Philip II allowed her to choose her own residence. She established herself first in the village of Colindres. In 1584 she purchased an estate in the village of Ambrosero in Cantabria.

Blomberg died at the age of seventy at her estate in Ambrosero. She is buried in the Church of San Sebastian at the monastery of Montehano (also known as Convento San Sebastián de Hano), between Ambrosero and Santoña.

Karel V. Habsburški, rimsko-nemški kralj in cesar (1519-56), španski kralj (kot Karel I., 1516-56), avstrijski nadvojvoda (kot Karel I., 1519-21), suveren številnih nizozemskih provinc (1506-55), * 24. februar 1500, Gent, Flandrija (današnja Belgija), † 21. september 1558, San Jerónimo de Yuste, Španija.

Karel V., dedič kar štirih vladarskih dinastij (avstrijske, burgundske, kastiljske in aragonske), si je prizadeval to nehomogeno dediščino preoblikovati v enotno katoliško vladavino in se z njo postaviti v bran muslimanskim Turkom, ki so prodirali z juga. Pri tem je naletel na vrsto preprek. Potem ko si je pridobil cesarski naslov, je s svojim tekmecem, francoskim kraljem Francem I., bojeval štiri vojne za prevlado v Italiji. V cesarstvu je izbruhnil upor proti sprevrženi papeževi Cerkvi, nemški knezi pa so dodali zahteve po samostojnosti oblasti na svojih ozemljih. Ker papeži, za to pristojni, niso urejali verskih vprašanj, jih je poskušal reševati cesar na državnih zborih, kar pa je nasprotja le še povečevalo. Prišlo je do šmalkaldenske vojne med cesarjem in protestantskimi knezi, ki jo je cesar dobil. Ko pa se je ponovno spustil v urejanje verskih vprašanj in skušal povečati centralizacijo cesarstva, je povzročil med knezi še večji revolt, ki ga je podprl tudi mladi francoski kralj. Cesar se je razočaran in nemočen umaknil in prepustil vodenje Španije in Nizozemske sinu Filipu, cesarstvo pa bratu Ferdinandu.