Letter from Don Diego de Mendoza to Captain Salazar

The Letter of Don Diego de Mendoza to Captain Salazar is a sarcastic “apology” of the German War, by Pedro de Salazar. It is, perhaps, one of the most ironic texts written in Spanish.
The “German War” was initiated in June 1546 by Emperor Charles V against the Schmalkaldic League, following the refusal of Protestants to recognize the Council of Trent.
Charles V was victorious at the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547; and the German princes subordinated themselves to his imperial rule. However, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was not very convinced by the arguments and story told in Salazar’s book. That is why he wrote his letter from Don Diego de Mendoza to Captain Salazar that begins as follows:

“Being as it is, the fame general memory of the world, it has come to this court, laden with the victories of the Emperor our lord; and thinking to pass it like a lead doubloon, it also came loaded with a book of yours, addressed at least to the illustrious lady Duchess of Alba, in which the victory against the Saxons, with its annexes and dependencies, is related; so particularly written and so well ordered, as could be expected from a man who saw everything and spoke everything, and I am yet to say that you, who wrote it, did everything…”