Charles (1500 - 1558) was the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Naples, and Italy, Archduke of Austria and the Austrian Domain, and ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands. Charles is most commonly styled "Charles V" as Emperor, but he is also known as "Charles I" in Austria and Spain. Charles' reign is notable for the first documented usages of "His Majesty" and "His Imperial Magesty".

Early LifeEdit

Charles was the son of Philip the Handsome, the son of Emperor Maximilian I, and Joanna the Mad of Castile. He was born in Ghent on 24 February 1500. Until 1517 Charles lived in the Netherlands and was tutored by Adrian of Utrecht who later became Pope Hadrian IV. Charles made frequent visits to Paris in his childhoood. He succeeded his father in the Burgundian possessions after his death in 1506, although his aunt Margaret of Austria acted as his regent until he came of age in 1515. In 1516 following the death of his grandfather King Ferdinand II the Catholic, Charles inherited Aragon, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Navarre, and the guardian of his insane mother and became the regent of Castile, Granada and Spanish America. When his other grandfather Emperor Maximilian died in 1519, Charles inherited his possessions in Austria and was elected the Holy Roman Emperor on 28 June 1519. On 10 March 1526 he married Isabella of Portugal, the sister of King John III.

ReignEdit

In SpainEdit

Charles arrived in Spain in 1517, and he spent of the rest of his life there. On his first arrival he came to meet his regent Jiménez de Cisneros however Jiménez fell sick and died along the way, and it was suspected Charles had him poisoned. The Spanish were uneasy with his Imperial style and foreign upbringing. Prior to his reign, the kings in Spain were bound by laws under contract with the people. Charles established himself as an absolute ruler, although he did not legally become the king of Castile until his mother died in 1555. It was not long before resistance to his reign developed, due largely to heavy taxation to finance overseas wars the Spanish had no interest in and his preference in appointing Flemish people to high positions in the country despite qualified natives. The resistance culminated in the Castilian War of the Communities which Charles crushed, and Castile then became integrated into the Habsburg domain and supplied a large portion of its money and troops.

In the NetherlandsEdit

Charles was in his minority when he succeeded his father in the Burgundian possessions in 1506, so his aunt Margaret of Austria was his regent. Margaret ruled the territories well and was an effective mediatary between the Emperor and the Burgundian subjects. She negotiated a treaty of commerce with England favourable to Flemish clothmakers, and participated in the creation of the League of Cambrai in 1508. When Charles came of age in 1515 he rebelled against her influence, but soon came to realise her abilities, and he left her as regent intermittantly from 1519 until her death in 1530.

Charles viewed the Netherlands very favourably, not just because it was where he grew up and it was economically thriving. In order to try and prevent Protestantism from developing in the Netherlands, as eraly as 1522 he established an inquisition. Charles enlarged the Netherlands through the annexation of Tournai, Artois, Utrecht, Groningen, and Gelders. As many of the territories were fiefs of either France or the Empire, he instituted the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 which declared the Netherlands to be a separate domain and his family would be its heirs. Political dissention was fiercely controlled, and in 1550 the death penalty was made mandatory for heresy.

In the AmericasEdit

The territories of New Spain were greatly enlarged in Charles' reign through the brutal conquest of the Aztec and Incan Empires by the conquistadors. The conquests greatly increased Charles personal wealth, and in 1522 with the circumnavigation of the world he developed the belief that he was to rule the entire Christian world.

In GermanyEdit

Ruling his many lands proved a great challenge to Charles, and he increasingly granted more duties and responsibilities on his brother Ferdinand while he focused on other parts of his domain. In 1521 he called Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms, and dismissed his ideas of Reformation as a dispute between monks. In 1531 the Schmalkaldic League was formed between the Protestant rulers and cities of Germany which agreed to defend each other in case of attack from the Emperor. The Counter-Reformation was initiated in 1545 after the Council of Trent, and Charles gained to his side many princes of the empire. In 1547 he defeated the League, and in 1555 he initiated the Peace of Augsburg to try and curb religious fighting.

Later LifeEdit

In 1556 Charles abdicated his various positions and retired to the monastery in Yuste, Spain, although he kept himself informed on the affairs of the empire. The Holy Roman Empire and Austria were passed to his brother Ferdinand, and Spain and Italy were passed to his son Philip. Charles died of gout on 21 September 1558.

Preceded by:	Charles I		Succeded by:
Maximilian I	Holy Roman Emperor 1519 - 1558		Ferdinand I
Maximilian I	King of Germany 1519 - 1558		Ferdinand I
Ferdinand II the Catholic	King of Aragon 1516 - 1556	King of Spain 1556 - 1558	Philip II
Joanna the Mad	King of Castile 1555 - 1556
Ferdinand III the Catholic	King of Naples and Sicily 1516 - 1554		Philip I
Maximilian I	Archduke of Austria 1519 - 1520		Ferdinand I
Maximilian I	Duke of Carinthia 1519 - 1521		Ferdinand I
Maximilian I	Duke of Styria 1519 - 1521		Ferdinand I
Francis II Sforza	Duke of Milan 1535 - 1540		Philip I
Maximilian I	Margrave of Carniola 1519 - 1521		Ferdinand I
Maximilian I	Count of the Tyrol 1519 - 1521		Ferdinand I