Antonio de Beatis

[1] It consists mainly of notes made at the time based on firsthand witness or, as De Beatis says, reports by "persons of great authority and worthy of all trust and belief".

According to De Beatis, the cardinal was familiar with Spain and Italy and so resolved that "he would also get to know Germany, France and all those other regions bordering the northern and western ocean and make himself known to so great a variety of people.

"[4] The official excuse for the trip was to meet the cardinal's relative, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was already King of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands.

[5] De Beatis's diary is of major historical interest for its firsthand accounts of meeting with famous persons and for its descriptions of works of art.

Besides Charles V, the cardinal met King Francis I of France at Rouen, the banker Jakob Fugger at Augsburg and the polymath Leonardo da Vinci at Cloux.