Charles V (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Karl V,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Carlos I or
Carlos V, 24 February 1500 — 21 September 1558) was ruler of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
from 1519 and, as
Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his
abdicationAbdication is the act of renouncing and resigning from a formal office, especially from the supreme office of state. In Roman law the term was also applied to the disowning of a family member, as the disinheriting of a son...
in 1556. On the eve of his death in 1558, his realm, which has been described as one in
which the sun never setsThe phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" has been used, with variations, to describe global empires so large that at least part of their territory is always in daylight...
, spanned almost 4 million square kilometers.
As the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties – the
HabsburgsThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
of the
Archduchy of AustriaThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, the
ValoisThe term "Valois Dukes of Burgundy" is employed to refer to the dynasty which began after John II of France granted the Duchy of Burgundy to his youngest son, Philip the Bold...
of the
Duchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
and the Trastamara of the
Crown of CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
– he ruled over extensive domains in Central, Western, and Southern Europe, as well as the various Castilian (Spanish) colonies in the Americas.
He was the son of
Philip I of CastilePhilip I , known as the Handsome or the Fair, was the son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor...
(Philip the Handsome) and Juana of Castile (Joan the Mad of Castile). His maternal grandparents were
Ferdinand II of AragonFerdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the...
and
Isabella I of CastileIsabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
, whose daughter
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
was Queen of England and first wife of Henry VIII. His cousin was
Mary I of EnglandMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
, who married his son Philip. His paternal grandparents were the
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Maximilian IMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
and
Mary of BurgundyMargaret, Duchess of Savoy|house=House of Valois-Burgundy|father=Charles the Bold|mother=Isabella of Bourbon|date of birth=13 February 1457|place of birth=Brussels, Brabant|date of death=|place of death=Castle of Wijnendale, Flanders...
, whose daughter Margaret raised him.
As the first king to reign in his own right over both Castile and Aragon following the end of the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
, he is often considered as the first King of Spain. Charles I of Spain provided five ships to
Ferdinand MagellanFerdinand Magellan was a maritime navigator and explorer. Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 at Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, one of the wildest districts of Portugal...
and his navigator
Juan Sebastian ElcanoJuan Sebastián Elcano was a Spanish Basque explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the world.-Early life:...
, after the Portuguese captain was repeatedly turned down by
Manuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatriz of Portugal.His mother was the granddaughter of King John I of...
. The commercial success of the voyage (first circumnavigation of the Earth), temporarily enriched Charles by the sale of its cargo of cloves and laid the foundation for the Pacific oceanic empire of Spain.
Charles' reign constitutes the pinnacle of Habsburg power, when all the family's far flung holdings were united in one hand. After his reign, the realms were split between
his descendantsHabsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
, who received the Spanish possession and the Netherlands, and
those of his younger brotherThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
, who received Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.
Aside from this, Charles is best known for his role in opposing the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
and the convocation of the
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
.
Heritage and early life
Combining the old heritage of the German
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
s, the House of Burgundy, and the Spanish heritage of his mother, Charles transcended ethnic and national boundaries. His motto was
Plus UltraPlus ultra is the national motto of Spain adopted from the personal motto of Charles I of Spain.-Nec plus ultra:...
, Further Beyond, and it became the national motto of Spain.
Charles was born in the
FlemishThe County of Flanders was a historical region in the Low Countries.It consisted not only of the two actual Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders but also much of the present-day French département of the Nord , in parts of which there is still a minority speaking the French Flemish...
city of
GhentGhent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in 1500. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
were an important influence in his early life. He spoke five languages: French, Dutch, later adding an acceptable Spanish (which was required by the Castilian
CortesThe Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
as a condition for becoming king of Castile) and some German and Italian.
From his Burgundian ancestors, he inherited an ambiguous relationship with the
Kings of France. Charles shared with France his mother tongue and many cultural forms. In his youth, he made frequent visits to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, then the largest city of
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
.
In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a
universeThe Universe comprises everything that physically exists, the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter and energy, and the physical laws and constants that govern them...
" (
LutetiaLutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris. Lutetia and Paris have little in common save their position where an island, the Île de la Cité, created a convenient ford of the...
non urbs, sed orbis). But Charles also inherited the tradition of political and dynastical enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian lines of the
Valois DynastyThe House of Valois The House of Valois The House of Valois ( was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet (or 'Direct Capetians') as kings of France from 1328 to 1589...
.
This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
and the kingdom of Spain.
Though Spain was the core of his possessions, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt like and was viewed as a foreign prince. He could not speak Spanish very well, as it was not his primary language. Nonetheless, he spent most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish monastery.
Marriage and children
On 10 March 1526, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, sister of
John III of PortugalJohn III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves....
, in Seville.
Their children included:
- Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
(1527 - 1598), the only son to reach adulthood.
- Maria of Spain
Maria of Spain was the first daughter of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. She was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor...
(1528 - 1603), who married her first cousin Maximilian II, Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian II was king of Bohemia from 1562, king of Hungary from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 and king of the Romans until his death. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.-Biography:...
.
- Joan of Spain (1535 - 1573), who married her first cousin Infante John of Portugal, who was the heir of Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
.
Charles also had several mistresses (all courted before or after his marriage to Isabella). Two of them gave birth to two future
Governors of the Habsburg NetherlandsThe Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands ruled the Habsburg Netherlands, as a representative of the Duke of Burgundy , the King of Spain or the Archduke of Austria , all from the house of Habsburg.- Habsburg Netherlands :...
:
- Johanna Maria van der Gheynst, a servant of Charles de Lalaing, Seigneur de Montigny, daughter of Gilles Johann van der Gheynst and wife Johanna van der Caye van Cocambi, bore Margaret of Parma
Margaret, Duchess of Parma governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V....
and
- Barbara Blomberg
Barbara Blomberg was the mother of Don John of Austria.Blomberg was born in Regensburg, Germany, the eldest daughter of Wolfgang Plumberger or Blomberg, a burgher, and of his wife Sibilla Lohman. A singer, in 1546 she was for a short time the mistress of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was...
bore John of AustriaJohn of Austria , in English traditionally known as Don John of Austria, and in Spanish as Don Juan de Austria, was an illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V...
.
Reign
Charles V (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Karl V,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Carlos I or
Carlos V, 24 February 1500 — 21 September 1558) was ruler of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
from 1519 and, as
Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his
abdicationAbdication is the act of renouncing and resigning from a formal office, especially from the supreme office of state. In Roman law the term was also applied to the disowning of a family member, as the disinheriting of a son...
in 1556. On the eve of his death in 1558, his realm, which has been described as one in
which the sun never setsThe phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" has been used, with variations, to describe global empires so large that at least part of their territory is always in daylight...
, spanned almost 4 million square kilometers.
As the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties – the
HabsburgsThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
of the
Archduchy of AustriaThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, the
ValoisThe term "Valois Dukes of Burgundy" is employed to refer to the dynasty which began after John II of France granted the Duchy of Burgundy to his youngest son, Philip the Bold...
of the
Duchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
and the Trastamara of the
Crown of CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
– he ruled over extensive domains in Central, Western, and Southern Europe, as well as the various Castilian (Spanish) colonies in the Americas.
He was the son of
Philip I of CastilePhilip I , known as the Handsome or the Fair, was the son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor...
(Philip the Handsome) and Juana of Castile (Joan the Mad of Castile). His maternal grandparents were
Ferdinand II of AragonFerdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the...
and
Isabella I of CastileIsabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
, whose daughter
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
was Queen of England and first wife of Henry VIII. His cousin was
Mary I of EnglandMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
, who married his son Philip. His paternal grandparents were the
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Maximilian IMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
and
Mary of BurgundyMargaret, Duchess of Savoy|house=House of Valois-Burgundy|father=Charles the Bold|mother=Isabella of Bourbon|date of birth=13 February 1457|place of birth=Brussels, Brabant|date of death=|place of death=Castle of Wijnendale, Flanders...
, whose daughter Margaret raised him.
As the first king to reign in his own right over both Castile and Aragon following the end of the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
, he is often considered as the first King of Spain. Charles I of Spain provided five ships to
Ferdinand MagellanFerdinand Magellan was a maritime navigator and explorer. Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 at Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, one of the wildest districts of Portugal...
and his navigator
Juan Sebastian ElcanoJuan Sebastián Elcano was a Spanish Basque explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the world.-Early life:...
, after the Portuguese captain was repeatedly turned down by
Manuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatriz of Portugal.His mother was the granddaughter of King John I of...
. The commercial success of the voyage (first circumnavigation of the Earth), temporarily enriched Charles by the sale of its cargo of cloves and laid the foundation for the Pacific oceanic empire of Spain.
Charles' reign constitutes the pinnacle of Habsburg power, when all the family's far flung holdings were united in one hand. After his reign, the realms were split between
his descendantsHabsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
, who received the Spanish possession and the Netherlands, and
those of his younger brotherThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
, who received Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.
Aside from this, Charles is best known for his role in opposing the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
and the convocation of the
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
.
Heritage and early life
Combining the old heritage of the German
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
s, the House of Burgundy, and the Spanish heritage of his mother, Charles transcended ethnic and national boundaries. His motto was
Plus UltraPlus ultra is the national motto of Spain adopted from the personal motto of Charles I of Spain.-Nec plus ultra:...
, Further Beyond, and it became the national motto of Spain.
Charles was born in the
FlemishThe County of Flanders was a historical region in the Low Countries.It consisted not only of the two actual Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders but also much of the present-day French département of the Nord , in parts of which there is still a minority speaking the French Flemish...
city of
GhentGhent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in 1500. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
were an important influence in his early life. He spoke five languages: French, Dutch, later adding an acceptable Spanish (which was required by the Castilian
CortesThe Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
as a condition for becoming king of Castile) and some German and Italian.
From his Burgundian ancestors, he inherited an ambiguous relationship with the
Kings of France. Charles shared with France his mother tongue and many cultural forms. In his youth, he made frequent visits to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, then the largest city of
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
.
In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a
universeThe Universe comprises everything that physically exists, the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter and energy, and the physical laws and constants that govern them...
" (
LutetiaLutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris. Lutetia and Paris have little in common save their position where an island, the Île de la Cité, created a convenient ford of the...
non urbs, sed orbis). But Charles also inherited the tradition of political and dynastical enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian lines of the
Valois DynastyThe House of Valois The House of Valois The House of Valois ( was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet (or 'Direct Capetians') as kings of France from 1328 to 1589...
.
This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
and the kingdom of Spain.
Though Spain was the core of his possessions, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt like and was viewed as a foreign prince. He could not speak Spanish very well, as it was not his primary language. Nonetheless, he spent most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish monastery.
Marriage and children
On 10 March 1526, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, sister of
John III of PortugalJohn III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves....
, in Seville.
Their children included:
- Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
(1527 - 1598), the only son to reach adulthood.
- Maria of Spain
Maria of Spain was the first daughter of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. She was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor...
(1528 - 1603), who married her first cousin Maximilian II, Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian II was king of Bohemia from 1562, king of Hungary from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 and king of the Romans until his death. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.-Biography:...
.
- Joan of Spain (1535 - 1573), who married her first cousin Infante John of Portugal, who was the heir of Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
.
Charles also had several mistresses (all courted before or after his marriage to Isabella). Two of them gave birth to two future
Governors of the Habsburg NetherlandsThe Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands ruled the Habsburg Netherlands, as a representative of the Duke of Burgundy , the King of Spain or the Archduke of Austria , all from the house of Habsburg.- Habsburg Netherlands :...
:
- Johanna Maria van der Gheynst, a servant of Charles de Lalaing, Seigneur de Montigny, daughter of Gilles Johann van der Gheynst and wife Johanna van der Caye van Cocambi, bore Margaret of Parma
Margaret, Duchess of Parma governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V....
and
- Barbara Blomberg
Barbara Blomberg was the mother of Don John of Austria.Blomberg was born in Regensburg, Germany, the eldest daughter of Wolfgang Plumberger or Blomberg, a burgher, and of his wife Sibilla Lohman. A singer, in 1546 she was for a short time the mistress of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was...
bore John of AustriaJohn of Austria , in English traditionally known as Don John of Austria, and in Spanish as Don Juan de Austria, was an illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V...
.
Reign
Charles V (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Karl V,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Carlos I or
Carlos V, 24 February 1500 — 21 September 1558) was ruler of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
from 1519 and, as
Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his
abdicationAbdication is the act of renouncing and resigning from a formal office, especially from the supreme office of state. In Roman law the term was also applied to the disowning of a family member, as the disinheriting of a son...
in 1556. On the eve of his death in 1558, his realm, which has been described as one in
which the sun never setsThe phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" has been used, with variations, to describe global empires so large that at least part of their territory is always in daylight...
, spanned almost 4 million square kilometers.
As the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties – the
HabsburgsThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
of the
Archduchy of AustriaThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, the
ValoisThe term "Valois Dukes of Burgundy" is employed to refer to the dynasty which began after John II of France granted the Duchy of Burgundy to his youngest son, Philip the Bold...
of the
Duchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
and the Trastamara of the
Crown of CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
– he ruled over extensive domains in Central, Western, and Southern Europe, as well as the various Castilian (Spanish) colonies in the Americas.
He was the son of
Philip I of CastilePhilip I , known as the Handsome or the Fair, was the son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor...
(Philip the Handsome) and Juana of Castile (Joan the Mad of Castile). His maternal grandparents were
Ferdinand II of AragonFerdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the...
and
Isabella I of CastileIsabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
, whose daughter
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
was Queen of England and first wife of Henry VIII. His cousin was
Mary I of EnglandMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
, who married his son Philip. His paternal grandparents were the
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Maximilian IMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
and
Mary of BurgundyMargaret, Duchess of Savoy|house=House of Valois-Burgundy|father=Charles the Bold|mother=Isabella of Bourbon|date of birth=13 February 1457|place of birth=Brussels, Brabant|date of death=|place of death=Castle of Wijnendale, Flanders...
, whose daughter Margaret raised him.
As the first king to reign in his own right over both Castile and Aragon following the end of the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
, he is often considered as the first King of Spain. Charles I of Spain provided five ships to
Ferdinand MagellanFerdinand Magellan was a maritime navigator and explorer. Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 at Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, one of the wildest districts of Portugal...
and his navigator
Juan Sebastian ElcanoJuan Sebastián Elcano was a Spanish Basque explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the world.-Early life:...
, after the Portuguese captain was repeatedly turned down by
Manuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatriz of Portugal.His mother was the granddaughter of King John I of...
. The commercial success of the voyage (first circumnavigation of the Earth), temporarily enriched Charles by the sale of its cargo of cloves and laid the foundation for the Pacific oceanic empire of Spain.
Charles' reign constitutes the pinnacle of Habsburg power, when all the family's far flung holdings were united in one hand. After his reign, the realms were split between
his descendantsHabsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
, who received the Spanish possession and the Netherlands, and
those of his younger brotherThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
, who received Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.
Aside from this, Charles is best known for his role in opposing the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
and the convocation of the
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
.
Heritage and early life
Combining the old heritage of the German
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
s, the House of Burgundy, and the Spanish heritage of his mother, Charles transcended ethnic and national boundaries. His motto was
Plus UltraPlus ultra is the national motto of Spain adopted from the personal motto of Charles I of Spain.-Nec plus ultra:...
, Further Beyond, and it became the national motto of Spain.
Charles was born in the
FlemishThe County of Flanders was a historical region in the Low Countries.It consisted not only of the two actual Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders but also much of the present-day French département of the Nord , in parts of which there is still a minority speaking the French Flemish...
city of
GhentGhent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in 1500. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
were an important influence in his early life. He spoke five languages: French, Dutch, later adding an acceptable Spanish (which was required by the Castilian
CortesThe Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
as a condition for becoming king of Castile) and some German and Italian.
From his Burgundian ancestors, he inherited an ambiguous relationship with the
Kings of France. Charles shared with France his mother tongue and many cultural forms. In his youth, he made frequent visits to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, then the largest city of
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
.
In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a
universeThe Universe comprises everything that physically exists, the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter and energy, and the physical laws and constants that govern them...
" (
LutetiaLutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris. Lutetia and Paris have little in common save their position where an island, the Île de la Cité, created a convenient ford of the...
non urbs, sed orbis). But Charles also inherited the tradition of political and dynastical enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian lines of the
Valois DynastyThe House of Valois The House of Valois The House of Valois ( was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet (or 'Direct Capetians') as kings of France from 1328 to 1589...
.
This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
and the kingdom of Spain.
Though Spain was the core of his possessions, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt like and was viewed as a foreign prince. He could not speak Spanish very well, as it was not his primary language. Nonetheless, he spent most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish monastery.
Marriage and children
On 10 March 1526, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal, sister of
John III of PortugalJohn III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves....
, in Seville.
Their children included:
- Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
(1527 - 1598), the only son to reach adulthood.
- Maria of Spain
Maria of Spain was the first daughter of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. She was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor...
(1528 - 1603), who married her first cousin Maximilian II, Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian II was king of Bohemia from 1562, king of Hungary from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 and king of the Romans until his death. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.-Biography:...
.
- Joan of Spain (1535 - 1573), who married her first cousin Infante John of Portugal, who was the heir of Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
.
Charles also had several mistresses (all courted before or after his marriage to Isabella). Two of them gave birth to two future
Governors of the Habsburg NetherlandsThe Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands ruled the Habsburg Netherlands, as a representative of the Duke of Burgundy , the King of Spain or the Archduke of Austria , all from the house of Habsburg.- Habsburg Netherlands :...
:
- Johanna Maria van der Gheynst, a servant of Charles de Lalaing, Seigneur de Montigny, daughter of Gilles Johann van der Gheynst and wife Johanna van der Caye van Cocambi, bore Margaret of Parma
Margaret, Duchess of Parma governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V....
and
- Barbara Blomberg
Barbara Blomberg was the mother of Don John of Austria.Blomberg was born in Regensburg, Germany, the eldest daughter of Wolfgang Plumberger or Blomberg, a burgher, and of his wife Sibilla Lohman. A singer, in 1546 she was for a short time the mistress of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was...
bore John of AustriaJohn of Austria , in English traditionally known as Don John of Austria, and in Spanish as Don Juan de Austria, was an illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V...
.
Reign
Burgundy and the Low Countries
In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories, most notably the Low Countries and
Franche-ComtéFranche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
, most of which were fiefs of the German empire, except his birthplace of Flanders that was still a French fief, a last remnant of what had been a powerful player in the
Hundred Years' WarThe Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known...
. As he was a minor, his aunt Margaret acted as regent until 1515 and soon she found herself at war with France over the question of Charles' requirement to pay homage to the French king for Flanders, as his father had done. The outcome was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders in 1528.
From 1515 to 1523, Charles' government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of
Frisian peasantsThe Arumer Zwarte Hoop was an army of peasant rebels in Friesland fighting the Dutch authorities from 1515 to 1523....
(led by
Pier Gerlofs DoniaPier Gerlofs Donia was a Frisian warrior, pirate, and rebel. He is best known by his West Frisian nickname "Grutte Pier" , or by the Dutch translations "Grote Pier" and "Lange Pier", or, in Latin, "Pierius Magnus", which referred to his legendary size and strength.His life is mostly shrouded in...
and Wijard Jelckama). The rebels were initially successful but after series of defeats, the remaining leaders were captured and decapitated in 1523.
Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of
TournaiTournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
,
ArtoisArtois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...
,
UtrechtUtrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands, and is located in the center of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
,
GroningenGroningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
and
GueldersGuelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy, in the Low Countries.The duchy was named after the town of Geldern , which is now in Germany...
. The
Seventeen ProvincesThe Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of the West of Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held...
had been unified by Charles' Burgundian ancestors, but nominally were fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. In 1549, Charles issued a
Pragmatic SanctionThe Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 was an edict, promulgated by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, reorganizing the Seventeen Provinces.It was Charles' plan to centralize the administrative units of Holy Roman Empire. The Seventeen Provinces were carved out of the Holy Roman Empire...
, declaring the Low Countries to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs.
The Low Countries held an important place in the Empire. For Charles V personally, they were the region where he spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the rich cities, they were also important for the treasury.
Spain
In the Castilian
Cortes of Valladolid of 1506, and of Madrid of 1510 he was sworn as prince of Asturias, heir of his mother the queen
JoannaJoanna , called Joanna the Mad reigned as Queen of Castile jointly with her husband Philip the Handsome and later also as Queen of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She is most famous for having been obsessed with her husband, never recovering from his loss...
.. On the other hand, in 1502, the Aragonese
Cortes gathered in Saragossa, alleged oath to his mother Joanna as heiress, but the Archbishop of Saragossa expressed firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that is to say, without modifying the right of the succession, but by virtue of a formal agreement between the
Cortes and the King. So, with the death of his grandfather, the king of Aragon Ferdinand II on 23 January 1516, his mother Joanna inherited the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
, which consisted of
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
,
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
,
ValenciaThe Christian Kingdom of Valencia , located in the Eastern shore of the Iberian Peninsula, was one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon...
,
NaplesThe Kingdom of Naples is the modern day name for a polity which existed on the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Also known contemporaneously, and somewhat confusingly, as the Kingdom of Sicily, this kingdom was founded after the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of...
,
SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom covered not only the island of...
and
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
; while Charles became Governor General. Nevertheless, the Flemings wished that Charles assume the royal title, and this was supported by his grandfather the emperor
Maximilian IMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
and the
Pope Leo XPope Leo X was Pope from 1513 to his death. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses. He was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the most famous ruler of...
, this way, after the celebration Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, he was proclaimed as king of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, when the Castilian
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the
fait accompli, he acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and he imposed his statement along the kingdom. Thus, the cities were recognizing Charles as king jointly with his mother.
For the first time the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united under the same king (Isabella had not been sovereign queen in Aragon).
Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. His
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him, but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and died before meeting the King.
Due to the irregularity of assuming the royal title, when his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive the negotiations with the Castilian Cortes in Valladolid (1518) proved difficult, and in the end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speak
CastilianSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile; and he would respect the rights of his mother, Queen
JoannaJoanna , called Joanna the Mad reigned as Queen of Castile jointly with her husband Philip the Handsome and later also as Queen of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She is most famous for having been obsessed with her husband, never recovering from his loss...
. The Cortes paid homage to him in Valladolid in February 1518. After this, the king departed to the kingdom of Aragon, and he managed to submit the resistance of the Aragonese
Cortes and Catalan
Cortes also, and finally he was recognized king of Aragon jointly with his mother.
Charles was accepted as sovereign, even though the Spanish felt uneasy with the Imperial style. Spanish monarchs until then had been bound by the laws; the monarchy was a contract with the people. With Charles it would become more absolute, even though until his mother's death in 1555 Charles did not hold the full kingship of the country.
Soon resistance against the Emperor rose because of the heavy taxation (funds that were used to fight wars abroad, most of which Castilians had no interest in) and because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices in Spain and America, ignoring Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in the
Castilian War of the CommunitiesThe Revolt of the Comuneros was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles V and his administration between 1520 and 1521...
, which was suppressed by Charles. After this, Castile became integrated into the Habsburg empire, and would provide the bulk of the empire's military and financial resources.
America
During Charles' reign, the territories in
New SpainThe Viceroyalty of New Spain , was the political unit of Spanish territories in North and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. The territory included the present-day California, Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America , the Caribbean, and the Philippines. It was ruled by a viceroy from...
were considerably extended by
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es like
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
and
Francisco PizarroFrancisco Pizarro González, 1st Marqués de los Atabillos was a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of Peru. Pizarro was born in Trujillo, Extremadura, modern Spain. Sources differ in the birth year they assign to him: 1471, 1475–1478, or...
, who caused the
AztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Often the term...
and
IncaThe Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the Inca state grew to absorb other Andean communities. In 1442, the Incas began a...
empires to fall in little more than a decade. Combined with the Magellan expedition's circumnavigation of the globe in 1522, these successes convinced Charles of his divine mission to become the leader of a
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
world that still perceived a significant threat from
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
. Of course, the conquests also helped solidify Charles' rule by providing the state treasury with enormous amounts of bullion. As the conquistador Bernal Diaz observed:
"We came to serve God and his Majesty, to give light to those in darkness, and also to acquire that wealth which most men covet." In 1550, Charles convened a conference at
Valladolid||-||} is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, upon the Pisuerga River and within the Ribera del Duero wine-making region. It is the capital of the province of Valladolid and of the autonomous community of Castile and Leon.- Etymology :...
in order to consider the morality of the force used against the indigenous populations of Spanish America.
Charles V is credited with the first idea of constructing an American Isthmus canal in Panama as early as 1520
Holy Roman Empire
After the death of his paternal grandfather, MaximilianMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
, in 1519, he inherited the HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
lands in AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
. He was also the natural candidate of the electorsThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors....
to succeed his grandfather. With the help of the wealthy FuggerThe Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists like the Welser and the Höchstetter families. This banking family replaced the...
family, Charles defeated the candidacy of Francis I of FranceFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
and was elected on 28 June 1519. In 1530, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VIIPope Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
in BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, the last Emperor to receive a papal coronation.
Charles was Holy Roman Emperor over the German states, but his real power was limited by the princes. Protestantism gained a strong foothold in Germany, and Charles was determined not to let this happen in the Netherlands. An inquisitionThe term Inquisition can apply to any one of several institutions charged with trying and convicting heretics within the Catholic Church...
was established as early as 1522. In 1550, the death penalty was introduced for all heresyHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
. Political dissent was also firmly controlled, most notably in his place of birth, where Charles, assisted by the Duke of Alva, personally suppressed the Revolt of GhentThe Revolt of Ghent was an uprising against the Spanish Empire of Charles V in 1539. Flanders in general and Ghent in particular were an international centre of trade and industry and therefore an important source of revenues for Spain...
in mid-February 1540.
Charles abdicated as Emperor in 1556 in favor of his brother Ferdinand; however, due to lengthy debate and bureacratic procedure, the Imperial Diet did not accept the abdication (and thus make it legally valid) until May 3, 1558. Up to that date, Charles continued to use the title of Emperor.
France
Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts with France, which found itself encircled by Charles's empire and still maintained ambitions in Italy. The first warThe Italian War of 1521–26, sometimes known as the Four Years' War, was a part of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Francis I of France and the Republic of Venice against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England, and the Papal States...
with Charles's great nemesis Francis I of FranceFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
began in 1521. Charles allied with England and Pope Leo XPope Leo X was Pope from 1513 to his death. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses. He was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the most famous ruler of...
against the French and the Venetians, and was highly successful, driving the French out of MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
and defeating and capturing Francis at the Battle of PaviaThe Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of February 24, 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521-26. A Spanish-Imperial army under the nominal command of Charles de Lannoy attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I of France in the great hunting preserve...
in 1525. To gain his freedom, the French king was forced to cede BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
to Charles in Treaty of Madrid (1526).
When he was released, however, Francis had the Parliament of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duressDuress or coercion is a possible legal defense, one of four of the most important justification defenses, by which defendants argue that they should not be held liable because the actions that broke the law were only performed out of an immediate fear of injury...
. France then joined the League of CognacThe War of the League of Cognac was fought between the Habsburg dominions of Charles V—primarily Spain and the Holy Roman Empire—and the League of Cognac, an alliance including France, Pope Clement VII, the Republic of Venice, England, the Duchy of Milan, and Florence.- Prelude :Shocked by the...
that the PopePope Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
had formed with Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles's sack of Rome (1527)The Sack of Rome on 5 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States...
and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VIIPope Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
in 1527 prevented him from annulling the marriage of Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
of EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Charles's aunt Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
, with important consequences. In other respects, the war was inconclusive. In the Treaty of Cambrai (1529), called the "Ladies' Peace" because it was negotiated between Charles's aunt and Francis's mother, Francis renounced his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy.
A third warThe Italian War of 1535 between Charles V and Francis I of France began with the death of Francesco Maria Sforza, the duke of Milan. When Charles' son Phillip inherited the duchy, Francis invaded Italy, capturing Turin, but failed to take Milan...
erupted in 1535, when, following the death of the last Sforza Duke of Milan, Charles installed his own son, PhilipPhilip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
, in the duchy, despite Francis's claims on it. This war too was inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but succeeded in conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally the Duke of Savoy, including his capital, TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
. A truce at NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
in 1538 on the basis of uti possidetisUti possidetis is a principle in international law that territory and other property remains with its possessor at the end of a conflict, unless provided for by treaty. Originating in Roman law, this principle enables a belligerent party to claim territory that it has acquired by war...
ended the war, but lasted only a short time. War resumed in 1542, with Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and Charles once again allied with Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
. Despite the conquest of NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
by a Franco-Ottoman fleetThe Franco-Ottoman alliance, also Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the king of France Francis I and the Turkish ruler of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent. The alliance has been called "the first nonideological diplomatic alliance of its kind between a...
, the French remained unable to advance into Milan, while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace and restoration of the status quo ante in 1544.
A final war erupted with Francis' son and successor, Henry IIHenry II of the House of Valois and son and successor of Francis I was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death in 1559.-Early years:...
, in 1551. This war saw early successes by Henry in Lorraine, where he captured MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
, but continued failure of French offensives in Italy. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of the war to his son, Philip IIPhilip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
and his brother, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman EmperorFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
.
Conflicts with the Ottoman Empire
Charles fought continually with the Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and its sultan, Suleiman the MagnificentSuleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566...
. The expeditions of the Ottoman force along the Mediterranean coast posed a threat to Habsburg lands and Christian monopolies on trade in the Mediterranean. In Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
, the Turkish advance was halted at ViennaThe Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The siege signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power and great rivalry with Europe as well as the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in...
in 1529. In 1535 Charles won an important victoryThe Conquest of Tunis was an attack on Tunis, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire, by the Spanish Empire in 1535.- The battle :In 1533, Suleiman ordered Hayreddin Barbarossa, whom he had summoned from Algiers, to build a large war fleet in the arsenal of Constantinople...
at TunisTunis is the capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1,200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the greater Tunis area...
, but in 1536 Francis I of France allied himself with Suleiman against Charles. While Francis was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, he again allied himself with the Ottomans in 1542. In 1543 Charles allied himself with Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
and forced Francis to sign the Truce of Crepy-en-Laonnois. Charles later signed a humiliating treaty with the Ottomans to gain him some respite from the huge expenses of their war, although it did not end there. However, the Protestant powers in the Holy Roman Empire DietIn politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is derived from Medieval Latin dietas, and ultimately comes from the Latin dies, "day". The word came to be used in this sense because assemblies met on a daily basis which is reflected in the German language use of Tagung and -tag...
often voted against money for his Turkish wars, as many Protestants saw the Muslim advance as a counterweight to the Catholic powers. The great Hungarian defeat at the 1526 Battle of MohácsThe Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.The Ottoman victory led to the partition of...
"sent a wave of terror over Europe."
Humanism and Reformation
As Holy Roman Emperor, he called Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
to the Diet of WormsThe Diet of Worms
[p] was a general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in 1521 at Worms, a small town on the Rhine River located in what is now Germany. It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding...
in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. He initially dismissed Luther's idea of reformation as "An argument between monks". He later outlawed Luther and his followers in that same year but was tied up with other concerns and unable to take action against Protestantism.
1524 to 1526 saw the Peasants' RevoltThe Peasants' War was a popular revolt that took place in Europe during 1524-1525...
in Germany and in 1531 the formation of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic LeagueThe Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
. Charles delegated increasing responsibility for Germany to his brother FerdinandFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
while he concentrated on problems elsewhere.
In 1545, the opening of the Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
began the Counter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
, and Charles won to the Catholic cause some of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1546, he outlawed the Schmalkaldic LeagueThe Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
(which had occupied the territory of another prince). He drove the League's troops out of southern Germany and at the Battle of MühlbergThe Battle of Mühlberg was a large battle at Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony during the Protestant Reformation at which the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under Elector John Frederick I of...
defeated John Frederick, Elector of SaxonyJohn Frederick I, Elector of Saxony , called John the Magnanimous, was Elector of Saxony and Head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany , "Champion of the Reformation"....
and imprisoned Philip of Hesse in 1547. At the Augsburg InterimThe Augsburg Interim was an imperial decree ordered on May 15, 1548, at the Diet of Augsburg, after Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, defeated the forces of the Schmalkaldic League in the Schmalkaldic War, from 1546 to 1547. The document was written by three theologians: Johannes Agricola, Julius von...
in 1548 he created an interim solution giving certain allowances to Protestants until the Council of Trent would restore unity. However, Protestants mostly resented the Interim and some actively opposed it. Protestant princes, in alliance with Henry II of FranceHenry II of the House of Valois and son and successor of Francis I was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death in 1559.-Early years:...
, rebelled against Charles in 1552, which caused Charles to retreat to the Netherlands.
Health
Charles suffered from an enlarged lower jaw, a deformity which got considerably worse in later Habsburg generations. This deformity was caused by the family line's multiple years of incest, which was very common in royal families of that era and was practiced in order to keep the blood "pure." He struggled to chew his food properly and consequently experienced bad indigestion for much of his life. As a result, he usually ate alone.
He suffered from epilepsyEpilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures...
and was seriously afflicted with goutGout is a disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues...
. This was presumably caused by a diet consisting mainly of red meat. As he aged, his gout went from painful to crippling. In his retirement, he was carried around the monastery of St. YusteYuste is a small village in the province of Cáceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain....
in a sedan chairThe litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include jiao , sedan chairs , palanquin , gama and tahtırevan...
. A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his rooms.
Abdication and later life
In 1556, Charles abdicated his various titles, giving his Spanish empireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
(SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, the NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
, NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
, MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
and Spain's possessions in the Americas) to his son, Philip II of SpainPhilip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
. His brother FerdinandFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
, already in possession of the Austrian lands and Roman King succeeded as Emperor elect. Charles retired to the monastery of YusteYuste is a small village in the province of Cáceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain....
in ExtremaduraExtremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. It includes the provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz...
, but continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in the situation of the empire. He suffered from severe goutGout is a disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues...
and some scholars think Charles V decided to abdicate after a gout attack in 1552 forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz, where he was later defeated.
Charles died on 21 September 1558 from fatal malaria. Twenty-six years later, his remains were transferred to the Royal Pantheon of The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialEl Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school...
.
Titles
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Titular Duke of BurgundyDuke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks.-Bosonid dynasty:...
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Duke of Brabant as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Duke of Limburg as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Duke of Lothier as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Duke of Luxemburg as Charles III
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Margrave of NamurThe following is a list of Marquisses or Margraves of Namur.Namur was not often an independent state, rather under the dominion of other entities like the counties of Hainaut and Flanders or the Duchy of Burgundy....
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count Palatine of Burgundy as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of ArtoisThe counts of Artois were the rulers over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.-List of Counts of Artois:*Odalric...
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of CharolaisCharolais is an area of France, named after the town of Charolles, and located in today's Saône-et-Loire département, in Burgundy.-History:...
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of Flanders as Charles III
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of HainaultThe counts of Hainaut were the rulers of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries.-House of Reginar:*Reginar I *Sigard *Hagano *Reginar I , second time...
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of HollandThe Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...
as Charles II
-
25 September 1506–16 January 1556: Count of Zeeland as Charles II
-
12 September 1543–16 January 1556: Duke of Guelders-House of Wassenberg:The first count of Guelders was Gerard IV, Lord of Wassenberg.During Reginald III's reign, the county of Guelders became a duchy.* before 1096–about 1129 : Gerard I* about 1129–about 1131 : Gerard II the tall, son of...
as Charles III
-
12 September 1543–16 January 1556: Count of ZutphenThe title of Count of Zutphen historically belonged to the ruler of the Dutch province of Gelderland ....
as Charles II
-
14 March 1516–16 January 1556: King of Castile and Leon as Charles I (with JoannaJoanna , called Joanna the Mad reigned as Queen of Castile jointly with her husband Philip the Handsome and later also as Queen of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She is most famous for having been obsessed with her husband, never recovering from his loss...
, 14 March 1516 – 12 April 1555)
-
14 March 1516–16 January 1556: King of Aragon and SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom covered not only the island of...
as Charles I (with JoannaJoanna , called Joanna the Mad reigned as Queen of Castile jointly with her husband Philip the Handsome and later also as Queen of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She is most famous for having been obsessed with her husband, never recovering from his loss...
, 14 March 1516 – 12 April 1555)
-
14 March 1516–1554: King of NaplesThe Kingdom of Naples is the modern day name for a polity which existed on the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Also known contemporaneously, and somewhat confusingly, as the Kingdom of Sicily, this kingdom was founded after the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of...
as Charles IV (with JoannaJoanna , called Joanna the Mad reigned as Queen of Castile jointly with her husband Philip the Handsome and later also as Queen of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She is most famous for having been obsessed with her husband, never recovering from his loss...
, 14 March 1516 – 12 April 1555)
-
: 28 June 1519–24 February 1530: King of the RomansKing of the Romans was the title used by the elected ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the Imperator futurus prior to his imperial coronation performed by the Pope, King of the Romans was the title used by the elected ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the Imperator futurus ("Emperor to-be"—...
as Charles V
- : 24 February 1530–16 January 1556: Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
as Charles V
- 12 January 1519–1521: Archduke of Austria as Charles I
Ancestors
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