The Edicts of Charles V

Baron Leys was regarded as Belgium's foremost artist in the mid 19th century. About 1851, he adopted a deliberately archaizing style resulting in part from a visit to Germany. This scene is set in the artist's native Antwerp, identifiable because of the famous church spire in the distance. Between 1520 and 1550, Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, issued 11 edicts making the practice of Protestantism a crime punishable by death. Antwerp served as a major center of learning and finance that had attracted many foreigners, especially Jews and Protestants.