Padilla, Juan de
Padilla, Juan de
(hwän dā päthē`lyä), c.1490–1521, Spanish revolutionary leader in the war of the comuneros [municipalities] against Holy Roman Emperor Charles VCharles V,1500–1558, Holy Roman emperor (1519–58) and, as Charles I, king of Spain (1516–56); son of Philip I and Joanna of Castile, grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragón, Isabella of Castile, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and Mary of Burgundy.
..... Click the link for more information. . Charles's conduct and his foreign advisers offended Spanish national feeling and led to a rising in Toledo under Padilla's leadership (1520). Soon other Castilian cities rose and joined Toledo in a Santa Junta [holy league]. Padilla sought to legitimize the junta by securing the support of Charles's mad mother, JoannaJoanna
(Joanna the Mad), 1479–1555, Spanish queen of Castile and León (1504–55), daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I. She succeeded to Castile and León at the death of her mother.
..... Click the link for more information. , but the movement soon degenerated into class warfare. Padilla's army was defeated at Villalar (Apr., 1521), and he was executed. The comuneros revolt was the most important rising in Castile until the 19th cent. Its defeat permitted royal absolutism to consolidate itself and led to a loss of municipal liberties.