The duel that never happened: Charles V versus Francis I of France.

At the battle of Pavia, Francis I of France was taken prisoner by Alonso Pita da Veiga, Juan de Urbieta, and Diego Dávila, men at arms of Charles V's army. This resulted in Francis I being taken captive, and held captive in Madrid's Alcázar for a year, captivity that ended with the Treaty of Madrid of 1526, which lead to Francis leaving his two sons as hostages in order to guarantee his not bresking the clausesbof the treaty. However, as soon as he was in France, he denounced the treaty of Madrid as abusive and claimed he signed it while captive, meaning he could not excercise his free will.

Francis I soon afterwards sent envoys to Madrid challenging Charles V to a singular combat in order to settle their dispute over Burgundy and the duchy of Milan. Charles V took some time to consider the proposal, and consulted the grandees of Spain and his closest counselors. The opinion was unanimous: Charles should never accept the duel, for a variety of reasons. The most interesting one came from the Admiral of Castile, who argued that a knight was equal to any other knight, but having Francis I broken his oath of respecting the treaty, he was deprived of honour and no longer a true knight, meaning the challenge was null as he was not in any capacity to challenge a knight.

Charles, imbued of the knightly spirit of the Renaissance, accepted the duel, much to the concern of his counselors. He had the great Kolman Helmschmied and his apprentices brought to Spain so they would create an armour for the duel, which is now known as Karolud Divus armour, and kept at the Royal Armoury of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Charles sent his heralds to Francis I accepting the duel, proposing a date, and that it happened in a safe place by the river Bidasoa, natural border between Spain and France. He even left Francis the chance of the duel being fought by means of a champion, something that would have been safer to both kings but which would have meant an inevitable victory for Charles*. This resulted in Charles V gaining a lot of popularity amongst his Spanish subjects, who started to see him as a true knight, and a brave prince.

Francis I refused to receive Charles V's heralds carrying the day, time, and place proposal. This led to Francis I losing any credit he could have had as a knight, and started to be considered a coward for chickening out of the duel he had proposed in the first place.

The letters from the 42 lords, prelates, and counselors advising Charles V are preserved in the Archivo General de Simancas, with the call number Estado 8815, in a folder named "Desafío de Carlos V y Francisco de Francia".

*Nobody doubts that Charles V would have appointed colonel Diego García de Paredes as his champion, a man of colossal height, build, and strength, who had never lost a duel. Paredes was 2.06 meters tall and of very muscular build, think of Hafthor Björnsson to get an accurate picture of the man.