ABSTRACT
During the course of the Diet, Charles did not neglect his family's interests and, in particular, those of his younger brother, Ferdinand. Ferdinand was sent abroad to Brussels and to isolation in the Netherlands. Discussions on an award of territories to Ferdinand were broached when the brothers met again in 1519 in the Netherlands, were pursued during the course of the Diet, and concluded in Brussels in 1522 as Charles prepared to return to Spain. As a secret annex to the arrangements worked out in Brussels, Ferdinand was to be elected King of the Romans once Charles had been crowned by the Pope, and was to be given full hereditary rights in those lands placed under his rule. In the Brussels treaty Charles resigned his territorial power-base in the Empire in return for a deputy there. By the Compact of Brussels, Charles began the division of the Habsburg Empire into Spanish and Austrian branches, promising to attach the imperial dignity.
