Plus ultra


Plus ultra is a Latin phrase and the national motto of Spain. A reversal of the original phrase non plus ultra, said to have been inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, it has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. Its original version, the personal motto of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, also Duke of Burgundy and King of Spain, was Plus oultre in French. It appears on the columns of the Spanish coat of arms, in reference to the discovery of the New World.

History

Plus oultre, French for "further beyond", was adopted by the young Duke of Burgundy and new King of Spain Charles of Habsburg as his personal motto, at the suggestion of his adviser Luigi Marliano, an Italian physician, in 1516. It was emblematic of Marliano's vision of a Christian empire spanning beyond the boundaries of the Old World, now that Charles also controlled territories in the New World through the Spanish crown. It was also associated with the desire to bring the Reconquista past Gibraltar into North Africa and revive the crusades of the chivalric tradition. The motto is first recorded on the back of Charles's chair in the church of St Gudule, Brussels. Spaniards translated the original French into Latin due to the hostility they bore for the French-speaking Burgundian advisors and ministers Charles brought with him to Spain from the Low Countries. At Charles's entry into Burgos in 1520, an arch was set up bearing on one side, "Plus ultra", and on the other "All of Africa weeps because it knows that you have the key have to be its master". Plus oultre continued to be used in the Burgundian Low Countries and also appeared in the wooden panelling of Charles's palace in Granada. As a consequence of Charles's election as Holy Roman Emperor, both Plus oultre and Plus ultra began to be used in Italy and Germany, together with a less successful German translation, Noch Weiter. In Spain, the Latin motto continued to be popular after Charles V's death. It appeared in Habsburg propaganda and was used to encourage Spanish explorers to ignore the old warning and go beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Today it is featured on the coat of arms of Spain.

Other uses