- Ignatius on the horse
Ignatius' only desire in those days was for a military career .... This was a natural attraction as his grandfather, father and his oldest brother had fought in the wars of reconquest. Another brother, accompanying Columbus on his second journey, returned to fight for Spain in the kingdom of Naples. Heroic deeds of the family were recalled and interspersed with his fond reading of the romantic adventures of Amadís de Gaula and Tristán so vividly portrayed that he confessed later in life his imagination was entirely filled with them. So the young courtier developed into an officer ...
... full of life in service to the royal family but not without its excesses of reckless games, adventures with women, tavern brawls and deeds of arms. Once accused of a serious crime in his own hometown and described with pistols and daggers at his waist, (in prison briefly at Pamplona 1515) he claimed the privilege of tonsure for which no civil or church record has ever been found.
- Castle at Medina del Campo
He seems to have had some military authority at this garrison and castle at Medina del Campo and at the ...
- Walled town of Madrigal de las Torres
Nearby walled town of Madrigal de las Torres, and (castle now destroyed) as well as this...
- Castle and garrison at Arévalo
It would be a gross over simplification to say Ignatius was a 16th century soldier of fortune, because during his ten years at Arévalo ......
... , he became acquainted with the protocol and fashion of the court, and was introduced to, or became knowledgeable of most important figures of Spain's political, military and ecclesiastic structures - a knowledge that will put him in good stead later in the future, but in another capacity.
- Cardinal Cisneros and troops
In the year 1516, when King Ferdinand died, his will declared that the widow, Germaine de Foix, would receive the towns held by Juan Velasquez as a fief, for the widow's pension. The royal treasurer protested this as a breach of an earlier charter and thus he set himself and the citizens of Arévalo against Cardinal Cisneros, the regent of Spain with full religious and political authority, until a new monarch was installed. Juan Velasquez, fortifying the town, was ready to defy the royal troops but the town council protested and multiplied efforts to persuade Juan Velasquez of his folly. When the corregidor, dispatched by Cardinal Cisneros arrived, Juan Velasquez surrendered and was taken to Madrid, relinquishing all his responsibilities, where he died soon after. Ignatius, involved in this disgrace of his relative and employer, sought employment with his relative Antonio Manrique de Lara, recently appointed Duke of Navarra. Before departing, however, the wife of the treasurer, María Velasco provided Ignatius with 500 coins and two horses.
- Future King Charles as a teenager and his tutors
The likely inheritor of the Spanish throne after the death of Ferdinand in 1516, was to be Juana, residing at Tordesillas, but she was declared incapable of governing steming from a nervous breakdown after the death of her husband, Philip of Austria (1506). The next in line was her oldest 16 year-old son Charles ...... , residing in Flanders, soon to be known as Charles V (Carlos I in Spain). He will inherit the royal kingship as soon as he is old enough to govern. In the meantime Cardinal Cisneros continued to have all the authority. Virtually raised without his parents, the young Charles had his aunt Marguerite (sister of his father Philip) as his governess (center) and two of his tutors distinguished figures of the renaissance, Adrian Lorent, professor from Louvain (the future pope Adrian VI) and the great humanist Erasmus (extreme right).
- Map of Navarra
The Duke of Navarra, Antonio Manrique de Lara, welcomed Ignatius at the town of Nájera, the capital of the province of Navarra, which had been annexed to Spain in the year 1512, but intensely disputed by the French government which had made its own claim on the territory.
- Monastery of Santa María la Real
The Duke had several residences including this monastery of Santa María la Real, at Nájera where he held his province council, and also at Logro o, Pamplona, the strong most northern fortress, and the small town of Navarrete, close to Nájera, which had been a gift to his family by King Enrique IV.
- Modern town of Navarrete
Navarrete is still a small town today dominated by the 12th century old church and additional late l6th century tower. It was here that Ignatius spent much of his five years in service to his relative Antonio Manrique de Lara, the duke.
- Church at Navarrete
The Church of Santa María, where Ignatius worshiped, indicates the high wall ...... which once encompassed the small town.
- House at Navarrete
The royal house itself retains its royal crest on the high corner and is located at the end of a curved street of several early 15th century houses, near the church.
- Town of Valladolid - 16th Century
There were several occasions for the Duke of Navarra and Ignatius to meet the new King of Spain. Charles was first introduced at the court of Castile at Valladolid, November 1517, then again at his royal installation at St. Gregory's college ...... there in February 1518, also attended by Ignatius' brother Martin García of the House of Loyola. In March, the king ...
... presented his youngest sister, (Ignatius' favorite) Catherine ...
...
... to the court. The Duke and Ignatius travelled later to Zaragosa ...
... in 1520 to meet Charles to obtain permission to raise a local army of 3,000 soldiers and 700 cavalry, where now the former tutor of Charles, Adrian Lorent ...
... was Cardinal and in charge of the Inquisition in Aragón. Charles and the family also made an extended visit to Nájera staying at the Monastery Santa María la Real in 1520.
- Fortress of Pamplona
Many of the Spanish nobles, including those of Navarra, were disenchanted with their new young King Charles, because of his Flemish origin and training and his ignorance of Spain and its languages. Those involved in this opposition were somewhat widespread and were known as communeros. In various places this political movement was used to rise against the local nobles. (Such an insurrection was put down by the Duke and assisted by Ignatius in Nájera in September 1520.) At this military fortress of Pamplona ......
... , the forces of the communeros were aggravated by the divided loyalties to both France and Spain. These conflicts came to a head when the French army of 13,000 under General Andre de Foix entered Navarra and were opposed by the Spanish force of about 1,000 inside the walled city of Pamplona under the direction of General Frances de Beaumont during May 1521.
