Another beautiful visual depiction of an early modern peace treaty this time to illustrate for the Treaty of Madrid in 1526. This treaty was coerced from Francis I during his "Spanish Captivity" after he was taken prisoner at the Battle of PAvia in 1525. Immediately upon his release he renounced its terms - as he had done in private to his own councillors before swearing to its terms.
The cover depicts the imperial and French arms (above); the second page shows a stylised meeting of the two sovereigns. One interpretation that comes to mind immediately could be that it shows the emperor on the left, offering his hand to Francis, who simply looks at it, unwilling to be reconciled. I'll have to think on the matter more. It could be, after all, a woodcut the printer had that seemed appropriate to be reused to illustrate the text of the treaty.
Follow this link for full access to this pamphlet at the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek.
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