Charles I, King of Spain, or Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was the most powerful ruler in Europe since Charlemagne. With a Germanic background, and speaking French, Charles became King of Spain in 1516. Yet secondary sources and available sixteenth century Spanish sources such as Spanish Royal Council records, local records of Castro Urdiales in Castile, and Charles's correspondence show that he continued the policies of his predecessors in Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. He strove to strengthen his power and unify Spain and his empire using Castilian strength, a Castilian model of government, Roman law, religion, his strong personality, and a loyal and talented bureaucracy. Charles desired to be another Charlemagne, but with his base of power in Spain.

This dissertation addresses the role of recipe writing in the culture and development of empiricism in Spain over the course of the long sixteenth century. In 1516, Charles of Habsburg was named King of Spain, and began his project to consolidate and extend Spanish rule, picking up where his grandparents, Isabel and Ferdinand, left off. While the Iberian Monarchy attempted to control empirical practice and knowledge of the natural world by way of its administrative institutions, Europe was developing a bit of a recipe habit. Across sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe, there was an surge in readership of recipe books, manuals, books of secrets, and artes, as well as any other book containing recipes (including natural histories). Much like today, there was a rich culture of recipe writing and exchange. When it came to household affairs such as cooking, toiletries and cosmetics, cleaning, and pharmaceuticals, most people had their own practices, and many were also willing to share their tested recipes with others. As I argue in this dissertation, local experimentation and the exchange of said knowledge took place among heterogenous networks of practitioners across Habsburg Spain. While the Crown was influenced by these practices and often appropriated them as well, it was not the only force behind the empirical turn in the history of science and medicine in Spain. Rather, local practitioners and cohorts of experimenting nobles and laypeople alike all played a role in the turn toward experimentation as scientific method.