With a surface area of about 482 square yards and incorporating depictions of 336 different figures, the nine-piece Honors set is one of the most sumptuous and visually complex ever produced. The set embodies an elaborate allegorical program concerning the virtues needed by a ruler—identified here, in the eighth piece, with the Habsburg emperor through insignia and portraits—to overcome the hazards of Fate; achieve Fame, Nobility, and Honor; and avoid Infamy. The set was probably commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Charles V as king of Germany and his assumption of the title of Holy Roman Emperor–elect in 1520. Embracing an enormous range of classical and medieval sources, this manifesto of royal ethics provides a veritable compendium of Northern European thought and learning. At the time the set was woven, it was unquestionably the most ambitious propagandistic exercise in the tapestry medium that had ever been undertaken.