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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

                                   CAPTION: Spanish and Portuguese Royalty
                                                         House of Habsburg


                                   Charles I
     Children
        Felipe, Prince of Asturias (future Philip II)
         Infanta Maria, Holy Roman Empress
         Infanta Juana, Crown Princess of Portugal
         Infante Juan (natural son)
         Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Florence, Duchess of Parma (natural
     daughter)
                           Philip II (I of Portugal)
     Children include
         Carlos, Prince of Asturias
         Infanta Isabella, Archduchess of Austria
         Infanta Catalina, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Savoy
         Felipe, Prince of Asturias (future Philip III)
                          Philip III (II of Portugal)
     Children include
         Infanta Ana, Queen of France
         Felipe, Prince of Asturias (future Philip IV)
         Infanta Maria Ana, Holy Roman Empress
         Infante Carlos
         Cardinal-Infante Fernando
                          Philip IV (III of Portugal)
     Children include
         Baltasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias
         Infanta Maria Theresa, Queen of France
         Infanta Margarita, Holy Roman Empress
         Infante Carlos (future Charles II)
                                  Charles II

   Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
   Enlarge
   Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
   Silver peso (worth 8 reales) coin of Carlos and Johanna, ca. 1520,
   depicting the Pillars of Hercules
   Enlarge
   Silver peso (worth 8 reales) coin of Carlos and Johanna, ca. 1520,
   depicting the Pillars of Hercules

   Charles V ( 24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was ruler of the
   Burgundian territories ( 1506- 1555), King of Castile ( 1516- 1556),
   King of Aragon (1516-1556), King of Naples and Sicily (1516- 1554),
   Archduke of Austria ( 1519- 1521), King of the Romans (or German King),
   (1519- 1531) and Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556). In Spain, though he is
   often referred to as Carlos V, he ruled officially as Carlos I, hence
   Charles I of Spain. He is also known in English by his French name,
   Charles Quint.

   He was the son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad of Castile.
   His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of
   Castile, whose marriage had first united Spain. His paternal
   grandparents were Emperor Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. His aunt
   was Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and first wife of Henry VIII,
   his cousin was Mary I of England who married his son Philip.

   Charles V's reign introduced the first documented use of the styles of
   His Majesty or His Imperial Majesty. Because of his far-reaching
   territories he was described as ruling an Empire " in which the sun
   does not set".

Heritage and early life

   Plus Oultre, Charles' personal motto on the gable of a Flemish house in
   Ghent, Charles V's birthplace
   Enlarge
   Plus Oultre, Charles' personal motto on the gable of a Flemish house in
   Ghent, Charles V's birthplace

   Combining in himself the heritage of the German Habsburgs, the House of
   Burgundy, and the Spanish heritage of his mother, Charles transcended
   ethnic and national boundaries.

   Charles was born in the Flemish city of Ghent and brought up in
   Mechelen by his aunt Margaret until 1517. The culture and courtly life
   of the Burgundian Low Countries was the prime influence in his early
   life. He was brought up to speak French and Flemish, but also added
   Spanish and some German . Indeed, he was said to speak "Spanish to God,
   Italian to women, French to men, and German to his horse". He could not
   speak Spanish very well, as it was not his primary language.

   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
   Paris, then the largest city of Western Europe, which he thoroughly
   enjoyed. In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a universe" ( Lutetia
   non urbs, sed orbis). But Charles was also born into the tradition of
   political and dynastical enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian
   lines of the Valois Dynasty.

   This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the Holy Roman
   Empire and the kingdom of Spain. Though Spain was the core of his
   kingdom, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier
   years felt and was viewed as a foreign prince. Nonetheless, he spent
   most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish
   monastery.

   In his youth, Charles was tutored by Adrian of Utrecht, later Pope
   Adrian VI. His three most prominent subsequent advisors were Lord
   Chièvres, Jean Sauvage and Mercurino Gattinara.

Marriage and children

   On March 10, 1526, Charles married his first cousin Isabella of
   Portugal, sister of John III of Portugal.

   Their children included:
     * Philip II of Spain ( 1527 - 1598), the only son to reach adulthood.
     * Maria of Spain ( 1528 - 1603), who married her cousin Maximilian
       II, Holy Roman Emperor.
     * Joan of Habsburg ( 1537 - 1573)

   Charles is also infamous for his many mistresses. Two of them gave
   birth to two future Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands:
     * Johanna Maria van der Gheynst bore Margaret of Parma and
     * Barbara Blomberg bore John of Austria.

Reign

   Habsburgs Possessions in 1547
   Enlarge
   Habsburgs Possessions in 1547

Burgundy and the Low Countries

   In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories, most
   notably the Low Countries and Franche-Comté, although, as he was a
   minor, his aunt Margaret acted as regent until 1515.

   Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of
   Tournai, Artois, Utrecht, Groningen and Guelders. The Seventeen
   Provinces 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 Sanction, declaring the Low Countries
   as a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs..

   The Low Countries held an important place in the Empire. For Charles
   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

   With the death of his grand-father Ferdinand II, on May 30, 1516
   Charles became the first king of a united Spain. Charles inherited his
   grandfather's realm, which included Aragon, Navarre, Naples, Sicily and
   Sardinia, and also became joint-king of Castile and guardian of his
   insane mother Joanna. With the Castilian crown he also gained Granada
   and the Spanish possessions in the New World.
   Inner court of the Charles V Palace in Granada
   Enlarge
   Inner court of the Charles V Palace in Granada

   For the first time the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united in one
   person. Ferdinand and Isabella had each been sovereign in one kingdom,
   but only consort in the other.

   Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. His regent
   Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him, but fell ill along the way, not
   without a suspicion of poison. Charles sent him a letter to thank him
   for his services, but Cisneros died before meeting the King.

   Negotiations with the Castilian Cortes proved difficult, and in the end
   Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to
   speak Castilian; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited
   from taking precious metals from Castile; and he would respect the
   rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage to him in
   Valladolid in 1518. In 1519 he was crowned before the Cortes of Aragon
   in Zaragoza, and the Cortes of Catalonia followed.

   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, wars most 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 Communities, which
   was suppressed by Charles. After this, Castile became integrated into
   the Habsburgs' empire, and would provide the bulk of the Habsburg's
   military and financial resources.

America

   During Charles' reign, the territories in New Spain were considerably
   extended by conquistadores like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro,
   who brought the Aztec and Inca empires to fall in little more than a
   decade. Combined with the circumnavigation of the globe in 1522, this
   gave to Charles a strong impression of his divine mission to become the
   leader of a christian world. The conquests also provided the state
   treasury with enormous amounts of bullion. The conquistador Bernal Diaz
   had already observed: "We came to serve God and our Majesty, ... and
   also to get rich." In 1550, Charles convened a conference at Valladolid
   in order to consider the morality of the force used against the
   indigenous populations of Spanish America.

Holy Roman Empire

   After the death of his other grandfather, Maximilian, in 1519, he
   inherited Habsburg lands in Austria. Naturally, he also was the
   candidate for succeeding Maximilian as Emperor, but he had to face the
   competition of the French King Francis I, who also had the support of
   Pope Leo X. Francis used promises and bribes to win the favour of the
   electors, but with the help of the wealthy Fugger family Charles could
   oust Francis and was elected on June 28, 1519. In 1530 he was crowned
   Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna, 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 lot of support
   in Germany, and Charles was determined not to let this happen in the
   Netherlands. An inquisition was established as early as 1522. In 1550
   the death penalty was introduced for all heresy. Political dissent was
   also firmly controlled, most notably in his place of birth: the Revolt
   of Ghent in 1539, which Charles personally suppressed.

Wars against France

   Much of Charles's reign was taken up with wars with France, which found
   itself encircled by Charles's empire and still maintained ambitions in
   Italy. The first war with Charles's great nemesis Francis I of France
   began in 1521. Charles allied with England and Pope Leo X against the
   French and the Venetians, and was highly successful, driving the French
   out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at the Battle of Pavia
   in 1525, and forcing him to sign the humiliating Treaty of Madrid the
   next year, in which the French king was forced to cede Burgundy to
   Charles.

   When he was released, however, Francis had the parlement de Paris
   denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress. Already
   the Pope had formed the League of Cognac with Henry VIII of England,
   the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Milanese to resist imperial
   domination of Italy, and Francis soon joined. This war was notable for
   the sack of Rome by Charles's forces in 1527, which took the Pope out
   of the war. Charles's occupation of Rome and virtual imprisonment of
   Pope Clement VII allowed him to keep the Pope from annulling the
   marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of
   Aragon, with important consequences. Besides the sack, the war itself
   was inconclusive, and came to an end with the compromise Treaty of
   Cambrai in 1529, called the "Ladies' Peace" because it was negotiated
   between Charles's aunt and Francis's mother, in which Francis renounced
   his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy.

   A third war erupted in 1535, when, following the death of the last
   Sforza Duke of Milan, Charles installed his own son, Philip in the
   duchy, despite Francis's claims on it. The war was inconclusive.
   Francis failed to conquer Milan, but was successful in conquering most
   of the lands of Charles's ally the Duke of Savoy, including his
   capital, Turin. A truce at Nice in 1538 on the basis of uti possidetis
   ended the war, but only for a short time. The Italian war of 1542
   resumed in 1542, with Francis now actively allied with Ottoman Sultan
   Suleiman I, and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite the
   conquest of Nice by a Franco-Ottoman fleet, 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's son and successor, Henry II, in
   1551. This war saw early successes by Henry in Lorraine, where he
   captured Metz, but continued failure of French offensives in Italy.
   Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct
   of the war to his son, Philip II and his brother, Ferdinand I, Holy
   Roman Emperor.

Wars against the Ottoman Empire

   Charles had been fighting with the Ottoman Empire and its sultan,
   Suleiman the Magnificent, for a number of years. The expeditions of the
   Ottoman force along the Mediterranean coast posed a threat to Habsburg
   lands and the peace of Western Europe. In Central Europe, the Turkish
   advance was halted at Vienna in 1529, which they besieged
   unsuccessfully. In 1535 Charles won an important victory at Tunis, 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 VIII 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 wasn't over. However, the Protestant powers in the Holy
   Roman Empire Diet 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
   Mohacs was in some ways a moral defeat for the West as a whole.

Humanism and Reformation

   Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg, painted in 1548 by Titian.
   Enlarge
   Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg, painted in 1548 by Titian.

   As Holy Roman Emperor, he called Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms 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 try to stamp out
   Protestantism.

   1524 to 1526 saw the Peasants' Revolt in Germany and the formation of
   the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, and Charles delegated increasing
   responsibility for Germany to his brother Ferdinand while he
   concentrated on problems abroad.

   In 1545 the opening of the Council of Trent began the
   Counter-Reformation, and Charles won to the Catholic cause some of the
   princes of the Holy Roman Empire. He also attacked the Schmalkaldic
   League in 1546 and at the Battle of Mühlberg defeated John Frederick,
   Elector of Saxony and imprisoned Philip of Hesse in 1547. At the
   Augsburg Interim in 1548 he created a doctrinal compromise that he felt
   Catholics and Protestants alike might share. A more permanent
   settlement followed with the 1555 Peace of Augsburg.

Abdication and later life

   Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
   Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

   In 1556 Charles abdicated his various titles, giving his personal
   empire to his son, Philip II of Spain, and the Holy Empire to his
   brother, Ferdinand. Charles retired to the monastery of Yuste in
   Extremadura, but continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in
   the situation of the empire. He suffered from severe gout and some
   scholars think Charles V decided to abdicate after a gout attack in
   1552 forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the French city of
   Metz, where he was later defeated..

   Charles died on September 21, 1558. Twenty-six years later his remains
   were transferred to the Royal Pantheon of The Monastery of San Lorenzo
   de El Escorial.

Trivia

     * He suffered from an enlarged lower jaw, a deformity which got
       considerably worse in later Habsburg generations.
     * 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 was afraid of mice and spiders.
     * He was obsessed with clocks and instructed his servants to take
       them apart and reassemble them in his presence.
     * In his retirement, he was carried around the monastery of St. Yuste
       in a sedan chair.
     * A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his
       rooms.
     * He passed his time fishing from his window on the first floor and
       enjoying the smell of incense drifting on the breeze from the abbey
       church.

Ancestors

   CAPTION: Charles's ancestors in three generations

   Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Father:
   Philip I of Castile Paternal Grandfather:
   Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor Paternal Great-Grandfather:
   Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
   Paternal Great-Grandmother:
   Eleanor of Portugal, Empress
   Paternal Grandmother:
   Mary of Burgundy Paternal Great-Grandfather:
   Charles the Bold
   Paternal Great-Grandmother:
   Isabella of Bourbon
   Mother:
   Joanna of Castile Maternal Grandfather:
   Ferdinand II of Aragon Maternal Great-Grandfather:
   John II of Aragon
   Maternal Great-Grandmother:
   Juana Enriquez
   Maternal Grandmother:
   Isabella I of Castile Maternal Great-Grandfather:
   John II of Castile
   Maternal Great-Grandmother:
   Infanta Isabel of Portugal
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