View source for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

{{Short description|Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556}}
{{Redirect|Karl V.|the opera|Karl V. (opera){{!}}''Karl V.'' (opera)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Charles V
| title        = [[Holy Roman Emperor|Imperator Romanorum]]
| image        = Portrait of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, seated (1500–1558), formerly attributed to Titian (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).jpg
| alt          = Portrait of Charles V seated on a chair
| caption      = ''[[Portrait of Charles V (Titian, Munich)|Portrait of Charles V]]'', 1548
| succession   = [[Holy Roman Emperor]]<br>as Charles V
| moretext     = ([[#Titles and coat of arms|more...]])
| reign        = 28 June 1519&nbsp;–<br/>3 August 1556/24 February 1558{{efn|The chronology of his abdications has been disputed since early scholarship.<ref name="Robertson">{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=William |author-link=William Robertson (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kNSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA262 |title=Histoire de Charles-Quint |date=1829 |publisher=Haumann |pages=262–263 (note 1), 452–454 |language=fr}}</ref> His public abdication to the [[States General of the Netherlands]] certainly took place on 25 October 1555.<ref name="Robertson" /><ref>[https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=4388 The Abdication of Emperor Charles V (1555/56).] ''German History in Documents and Images''.</ref> His abdication as Spanish king is generally dated to 16 January 1556, although some give other dates.<ref name="Robertson" /> This was ratified in a document dated 17 February.<ref name="Robertson" /> On 3 August, he announced his abdication as emperor and instructed his commissioners to negotiate with Ferdinand and the electors the formal transfer of power.<ref>[https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/docpage.cfm?docpage_id=5370&language=english The Abdication of Emperor Charles V / Kaiserliche Instruktion für die Abdikationsgesandtschaft zu Ferdinand I. und zu den Kurfürsten]. ''German History in Documents and Images''.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnEhAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA315 |title=Archiv für österreichische Geschichte |date=1901 |publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. |pages=314–316 |language=de |quote=''Instruktion für die Abdikationsgesandtschaft'' (Instruction for the Abdication Mission)}}</ref> On 27 August, Charles wrote a document to the Imperial court in [[Speyer]] (referred to as a ''[[Constitutio]]'' or ''[[Rescript]]um'') renouncing the Empire in favour of Ferdinand.<ref name="Bernard">{{Cite book |last=Bernard |first=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ9SAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA276 |title=Recueil Des Traitez De Paix, De Treve, De Neutralite, etc. |date=1700 |publisher=Henry Et La Veuve De T. Boom |pages=276 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lünig |first=Johann Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1H9CAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA355 |title=Das deutsche Reichs-Archivs |date=1720 |volume=4 |pages=355–356 |language=de |quote=''Rescriptum'' to the Chamber-Judges and Assessors of the Holy Imperial Chamber Court in Speyer, in which he refers them to the Roman King ''Ferdinandum I'' as their future ruler.}}</ref> Then, on 7 September, he sent an [[edict]] to all States of the Empire urging them to recognize Ferdinand as their new ruler.<ref name="Bernard"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lünig |first=Johann Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WNBeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA288 |title=Das deutsche Reichs-Archiv |date=1711 |volume=6 |pages=288–289 |language=de |quote=''Edictum'' to all Electors and States of the Holy Roman Empire, that he entrusted his lord brother, the Roman King Ferdinand I, with the rule of the German Reich.}}</ref> The abdication was not recognized by the electors until 24{{refn|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clémencet |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Clémencet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePWdvPNW1nsC&pg=PA41 |title=L'art de verifier les dates des faits historiques |date=1784 |publisher=Al. Jombert Jeune |pages=41 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=Herber>{{Cite book |last=Herbermann |first=Charles George |author-link=Charles George Herbermann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr0-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA738 |title=Histoire politique du règne de l'empereur Charles Quint |date=1836 |publisher=H. Tarlier |pages=738 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Cr">Chillany, F. Wilhelm (1865). [https://books.google.com/books?id=itr0qTRSX3wC&pg=PA16 ''Europaeische Chronik von 1492 bis Ende April 1865'']. pp. 16, 78.</ref><ref>Patxot, Fernando (1856). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mRVFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA399 Los héroes y las grandezas de la tierra]'' '''6'''. p. 399</ref>{{sfn|Setton|1984|p=716}}<ref>Ruiz, Enrique Martínez (2020). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6LbyDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR7 Felipe II: El hombre, el rey, el mito]''. La Esfera de los Libros. p. vii.</ref>}} (or 28){{refn|<ref>[[William H. Prescott]] (1856). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Bi9pAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA321 ''Historia del reinado de Felipe Segundo, Rey de España.''] p. 321.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mignet |first=François Auguste Alexis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmErGwc0fM4C&pg=PA307 |title=Carlos Quinto: su abdicación, su estancia y muerte en el Monasterio de Yuste |date=1878 |publisher=Biblioteca Perojo |pages=307 |language=es}}</ref><ref>Bruno Gebhardt (1890). [https://books.google.com/books?id=5clDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA92 ''Gebhardts Handbuch der deutschen geschichte'']. p. 92.</ref><ref>[[Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent|de Cadenas y Vicent, Vicente]] (1999). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SWFBX4TK3w0C&pg=PA105 Caminos y derroteros que recorrió el emperador Carlos V]''. Ediciones Hidalguia. p. 10.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Herbermann |first=Charles George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nC5OAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA629 |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church |date=1908 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |pages=629 |language=en}}</ref>}} February 1558. Ferdinand was finally proclaimed and crowned Emperor-elect on 14 March,{{sfn|Setton|1984|p=716}} after sworing the [[Electoral capitulation]].<ref>[https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/pdf/10.13109/9783666360824.46 Wahlkapitulation Ferdinands I., Frankfurt am Main, 14. März 1558]. ''V&R eLibrary''</ref>}}
| coronation   = {{ubl|23 October 1520 ([[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]])|22 February 1530 ([[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]])|24 February 1530 ([[Holy Roman Empire|Empire]])<ref name=NH>[https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/carlos-v-coronacion-emperador_7521/1 Carlos V: La coronación del Emperador] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725130451/https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/carlos-v-coronacion-emperador_7521/1 |date=25 July 2021 }}. [[National Geographic]]</ref>}}
| cor-type     = [[Coronation of Charles V|Coronation]]
| predecessor  = [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]]
| successor    = [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]]
| succession1  = [[King of Spain]]<br/>as Charles I
| reign1       = 14 March 1516&nbsp;– {{nowrap|16 January 1556}}
| predecessor1 = [[Joanna of Castile]]
| successor1   = [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]]
| regent1      = Joanna I (until 1555)
| reg-type1    = Co-monarch
| regent2      = {{Collapsible list|title=See list|1={{plainlist|
* [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian, Cardinal-Bishop of Tortosa]]
* [[Isabella of Portugal|Isabella, Holy Roman Empress]]
* [[Philip II of Spain|Philip, Prince of Asturias]]
* [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Maximilian of Austria]]
* [[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|Infanta Maria of Spain]]}}}} 
| reg-type2    = Regents
| succession3  = [[Archduke of Austria]]<br/>as Charles I
| reign3       = 12 January 1519&nbsp;–<br/>21 April 1521
| predecessor3 = [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]]
| successor3   = [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] (in the name of Charles V until 1556)
| succession4  = {{ubl|[[Lord of the Netherlands]], [[Count Palatine of Burgundy]], and titular [[Duke of Burgundy]] (as Charles II)}}
| reign4       = 25 September 1506&nbsp;–<br/>25 October 1555
| predecessor4 = [[Philip the Handsome]]
| successor4   = [[Philip II of Spain]]
| regent4      = {{Collapsible list|title=See list|1={{plainlist|
* [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret of Austria]]
* [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary of Austria]]}}}}
| reg-type4    = Governors
| birth_date   = 24 February 1500
| birth_place  = [[Prinsenhof (Ghent)|Prinsenhof of Ghent]], [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], [[Habsburg Netherlands]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1558|9|21|1500|2|24|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Monastery of Yuste]], [[Crown of Castile]], [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]]
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = [[El Escorial]], Spain
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Isabella of Portugal]]|10 March 1526|1 May 1539|end=d}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
* [[Philip II, King of Spain]]
* [[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|Maria, Holy Roman Empress]]
* [[Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal|Joanna, Princess of Portugal]]
* Illegitimate:<br>[[Margaret, Duchess of Florence and Parma]]
* [[John of Austria]]
}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| issue-pipe   = more...
| house        = [[Habsburg]]
| father       = [[Philip the Handsome]]
| mother       = [[Joanna, Queen of Castile and Aragon]]
| religion     = [[Catholic Church]]
| signature    = Firma Emperador Carlos V.svg
}}

'''Charles V'''{{efn|{{hlist|{{langx|de|Karl V.}}|{{langx|es|Carlos V}}|{{langx|fr|Charles Quint}}|{{langx|it|Carlo V}}|{{langx|nl|Karel V}}|{{langx|ca|Carles V}}|{{langx|la|Carolus V}}}}}}{{efn|'''Charles V''' as Holy Roman Emperor; '''Charles I''' as King of Spain and Archduke of Austria; '''Charles II''' as Duke of Burgundy.}} (24 February 1500&nbsp;– 21 September 1558) was [[Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[Archduke of Austria]] from 1519 to 1556, [[King of Spain]] (as '''Charles I''') from 1516 to 1556, [[King of Sicily]] and [[King of Naples|Naples]] from 1516 to 1554, and also [[Lord of the Netherlands]] and titular [[Duke of Burgundy]] (as '''Charles II''') from 1506 to 1555. He was heir to and then head of the rising [[House of Habsburg]]. His dominions in Europe included the [[Holy Roman Empire]], extending from [[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]] to [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|northern Italy]] with rule over the [[Austrian hereditary lands]] and [[Burgundian Low Countries]], and [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] with its possessions of the [[southern Italy|southern Italian]] kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], and [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Sardinia]]. In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization]] and a short-lived [[German colonization of the Americas|German colonization]]. The [[personal union]] of the [[Empire of Charles V|European and American territories]] he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled "[[the empire on which the sun never sets]]".

Charles was born in [[County of Flanders|Flanders]] to Habsburg Archduke [[Philip the Handsome]], son of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[Mary of Burgundy]], and [[Joanna of Castile]], younger child of [[Isabella I of Castile]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain]]. Heir of his grandparents, Charles inherited his family dominions at a young age. After his father's death in 1506, he inherited the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] in the [[Low Countries]]. In 1516 he became King of Spain as co-monarch of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] [[Jure matris|with his mother]]. [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]]'s possessions included the Castilian colonies of the [[Spanish West Indies|West Indies]] and the [[Spanish Main]], as well as Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. At the death of his grandfather Maximilian in 1519, he inherited the [[Austrian hereditary lands]] and was [[1519 imperial election|elected]] as Holy Roman Emperor. He adopted the Imperial name of ''Charles V'' as his main title, and styled himself as a new [[Charlemagne]].

Charles revitalized [[Res publica Christiana|the medieval concept]] of [[universal monarchy]]. With no fixed capital, he made 40 journeys through the different entities he ruled and spent a quarter of his reign travelling within his realms. Although his empire came to him peacefully, he spent most of his life waging war, exhausting his revenues and leaving debts in his attempt to defend the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire from the [[Protestant Reformation]], the expansion of the [[Ottoman Empire]], and in [[Italian Wars|wars with France]]. Charles borrowed money from German and Italian bankers and, to repay them, relied on the wealth of the Low Countries and the flow of silver from [[New Spain]] and [[Viceroyalty of Peru|Peru]], brought under his rule following the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Spanish conquest of the Aztec]] and [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|Inca]] empires, which caused [[price revolution|widespread inflation]].

Crowned [[King of Germany]] in [[Aachen]], Charles sided with [[Pope Leo X]] and declared [[Martin Luther]] an outlaw at the [[Diet of Worms]] in 1521. The same year, [[Francis I of France]], surrounded by the Habsburg possessions, started a [[Italian War of 1521–1526|war in Italy]] that led to his capture in the [[Battle of Pavia]] (1525). In 1527, [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Rome was sacked]] by an army of Charles's mutinous soldiers. Charles then [[Siege of Vienna (1529)|defended Vienna]] from the Turks and obtained [[Coronation of Charles V|coronations]] as [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|King of Italy]] and Holy Roman Emperor from [[Pope Clement VII]]. In 1535, he took possession of [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]] and [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|captured Tunis]]. However, the [[Siege of Buda (1541)|loss of Buda]] during the struggle for [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and the [[Algiers expedition (1541)|Algiers expedition]] in the early 1540s frustrated his anti-Ottoman policies. After years of negotiations, Charles came to an agreement with [[Pope Paul III]] for the organization of the [[Council of Trent]] (1545). The refusal of the Lutheran [[Schmalkaldic League]] to recognize the council's validity led to [[Schmalkaldic War|a war]], won by Charles. However, [[Henry II of France]] offered [[Treaty of Chambord|new support to the Lutheran cause]] and strengthened the [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]] with [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].

Ultimately, Charles conceded the [[Peace of Augsburg]] and abandoned his multi-national project with abdications in 1556 that divided his hereditary and imperial domains between the Spanish Habsburgs, headed by his son [[Philip II of Spain]], and Austrian Habsburgs, headed by his brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]]. In 1557, Charles retired to the [[Monastery of Yuste]] in [[Extremadura]] and died there a year later.

==Ancestry==
[[File:Hoftenwalle.JPG|thumb|The entrance gate to the [[Prinsenhof (Ghent)|Prinsenhof]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] for "Princes' Court", in [[Ghent]], where Charles V was born]]

Charles of Austria was born on 24 February 1500 in the [[Prinsenhof (Ghent)|Prinsenhof]] of [[Ghent]], a [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] city of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], to [[Philip the Handsome|Philip of Austria]] and [[Joanna I of Castile|Joanna of Trastámara]].<ref>''Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and of a World-empire'', [[Karl Brandi]]</ref> His father Philip, nicknamed ''Philip the Handsome'', was the firstborn son of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]], [[Archduke of Austria]], and [[Mary of Burgundy]], heiress to the [[Burgundian Netherlands]]. Charles's mother [[Joanna of Castile|Joanna]] was a younger daughter of [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella I of Castile]], the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain]] from the [[House of Trastámara]]. The political marriage of Philip and Joanna was first conceived in a letter sent by Maximilian to Ferdinand, part of the establishment of an Austro-Spanish alliance opposed to the [[Kingdom of France]] in the context the [[Italian Wars]].<ref name="ReferenceA">''Emperor, a new life of Charles V'', Geoffrey Parker</ref>

From the moment he became [[King of the Romans]] in 1486, Charles's paternal grandfather Maximilian had carried a very financially risky policy of maximum expansionism, relying mostly on the resources of the [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian]] hereditary lands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haemers |first1=Jelle |title=De strijd om het regentschap over Filips de Schone : opstand, facties en geweld in Brugge, Gent en Ieper (1482–1488) |date=2014 |location=Gent |isbn=978-9038224008 |url=https://libstore.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/181/896/RUG01-002181896_2017_0001_AC.pdf |pages=203, 204 |access-date=7 January 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://libstore.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/181/896/RUG01-002181896_2017_0001_AC.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Even though it is often implied, among others, by [[Erasmus of Rotterdam]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VGSyEAR3hUC&pg=PP1|title=Erasmus: The Education of a Christian Prince with the Panegyric for Archduke Philip of Austria|first=Desiderius|last=Erasmus|date=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58811-9 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} that Charles V and the Habsburgs gained their vast empire through peaceful policies (exemplified by the saying {{lang|la|Bella gerant aliī, tū fēlix Austria nūbe / Nam quae Mars aliīs, dat tibi regna Venus}} or "Let others wage war, but thou, O happy Austria, marry; for those kingdoms which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee.", reportedly spoken by [[Mathias Corvinus]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hare |first=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/highpuissantprin00hare |title=The high and puissant princess Marguerite of Austria, princess dowager of Spain, duchess dowager of Savoy, regent of the Netherlands |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1907 |page=[https://archive.org/details/highpuissantprin00hare/page/48 48]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ingrao |first1=Charles W. |title=The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618–1815 |date= 2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108499255 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcqlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |access-date=10 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref>), Maximilian and his descendants fought wars aplenty. Maximilian fought 27 wars during his four decades of ruling.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumann |first1=Anette |last2=Schmidt-von Rhein |first2=Georg |title=Kaiser Maximilian I. : Bewahrer und Reformer; [Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung vom 2.8. bis 31.10.2002 im Reichskammergerichtsmuseum Wetzlar] |date=2002 |publisher=Paqué |location=Ramstein |isbn=978-3935279338 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWIiAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref name=Britannica>{{cite web |last1=Skjelver |first1=Danielle Mead |last2=Wiesflecker |first2=Hermann |title=Maximilian I|website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=18 March 2021 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilian-I-Holy-Roman-emperor |access-date=7 January 2022 |archive-date=28 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228184400/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilian-I-Holy-Roman-emperor |url-status=live }}</ref> 

His general strategy was to combine his intricate systems of alliance, wars, military threats and offers of marriage to realize his expansionist ambitions. Ultimately he succeeded in coercing [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Poland]] into acquiescence in the Habsburgs' expansionist plan.<ref name=Britannica/><ref>{{cite book |title=From Pax Mongolica to Pax Ottomanica: War, Religion and Trade in the Northwestern Black Sea Region (14th–16th Centuries) |year=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004422445 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxfUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |access-date=7 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Haemers|2014|p=204}}

The fact that the marriages between the Habsburgs and the Trastámaras, originally conceived as a marital alliance against France, would bring the crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] to Maximilian's male line, was unexpected.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=Gillian B. |title=Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile |year= 2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3319743479 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E9UDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |access-date=7 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mortimer |first1=Geoff |title=The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618 |year= 2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1137543851 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WJOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=7 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was already [[Duke of Burgundy]] (although the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] itself had been lost to the French crown), given Mary's death in 1482, and also [[heir apparent]] of Austria as honorific [[archduke]]. Joanna, in contrast, was only third in the Spanish [[line of succession]], preceded by her older brother [[John, Prince of Asturias]] and older sister [[Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Isabella of Aragon]]. Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498. The Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandson [[Miguel da Paz]] as [[heir presumptive]] of Spain by naming him [[Prince of Asturias]]; but he died as a baby in 1500.<ref>The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power, [[Martyn Rady]]</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Charles of Habsburg'''
*Holy Roman Emperor (1519)
*Archduke of Austria (1519)
*King of Castile (1516)
*King of Aragon (1516)
*Duke of Burgundy (1506)
|2= 2. [[Philip I of Castile|Philip of Habsburg]]
*Duke of Burgundy (1482)
*King of Castile (1506)
|3= 3. [[Joanna, Queen of Castile|Joanna of Trastámara]]
*Queen of Castile (1504)
*Queen of Aragon (1516)
|4= 4. [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian of Habsburg]]
*Archduke of Austria (1493)
*Holy Roman Emperor (1508)
|5= 5. [[Mary of Burgundy]]
*Duchess of Burgundy (1477)
|6= 6. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]
*King of Aragon (1479)
|7= 7. [[Isabella I of Castile]]
*Queen of Castile (1474)
}}

==Birth and childhood==
Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of [[Charles the Bold]] of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the [[Burgundian State]] into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent "shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours" to celebrate his birth.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originally [[heir apparent]] only of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], being given the honorary title [[Duke of Luxembourg]]. He was also second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as "Charles of Ghent". He was baptised at the [[Saint Bavo's Cathedral|Church of Saint John]] by the [[Bishop of Tournai]]. The Burgundian nobles [[Charles I de Croÿ]] and [[John III of Glymes]] were his godfathers, and [[Margaret of York]] and [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret of Austria]], respectively his step-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were a sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace.<ref>''Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana'', José Hernando Sanchez</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas.

[[File:Bernhard Strigel 003b.jpg|thumb|A painting by [[Bernhard Strigel]] representing the extended Habsburg family with a young Charles in the middle]]
In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-grandmother Margaret of York in [[Mechelen]] and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian ''Cortes'', which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became [[Queen of Castile]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |title=''Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla''; Manuel Colmeiro (1883) |year=1884 |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055350/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |archive-date=10 June 2008 |last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }},{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |title=XXIII |year=1884 |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055346/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |archive-date=10 June 2008 |last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }}</ref> Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 (after giving birth to [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]] in Spain). The Spanish Ambassador [[Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida]] reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for the children to stay with the parents.{{sfn|Parker|2019|pp=9, 10}}

Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of [[Tordesillas]]. Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with [[Germaine de Foix]] failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias (heir presumptive of Castile) and honorific Archduke (heir apparent of Austria).<ref>Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510. {{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |title=''Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla''; Manuel Colmeiro (1883) |year=1884 |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055350/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |archive-date=10 June 2008 |last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }},{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |title=XXIII |year=1884 |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055346/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |archive-date=10 June 2008 |last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }}</ref>

==Inheritances==
[[File:Barend van Orley - Portrait of Charles V - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|A 1519 portrait of Charles V by [[Bernard van Orley]] with the insignia of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]] prominently displayed]]
[[File:Jakob Seisenegger 001.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Charles V with a Dog]]'', a 1532 portrait by [[Jakob Seisenegger]]]]

The Burgundian inheritance included the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], which consisted of a large number of the lordships in the [[Low Countries]] and covered modern-day [[Belgium]], [[Netherlands]] and [[Luxembourg]]. It also included the [[Free County of Burgundy]] (the region of [[Franche-Comté]]) and the [[County of Charolais]], but excluded the [[Duchy of Burgundy]], annexed by France in 1477. At the death of Philip in 1506, Charles was recognized as Lord of the Netherlands and count of Burgundy and Charolais, also becoming the titular ''Duke of Burgundy'', and thus being styled as ''Duke Charles II of Burgundy''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Richard |title=Charles V: Duty and Dynasty – The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558 |year=2018 |isbn=978-1725852785 |page=23|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}</ref>

During his childhood and teen years, Charles lived in [[Mechelen]] together with his sisters [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary]], [[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor]], and [[Isabella of Austria|Isabella]] at the court of his aunt [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy]]. [[William de Croÿ]] (later prime minister) and Adrian of Utrecht (later [[Pope Adrian VI]]) served as his tutors. The culture and courtly life of the Low Countries played an important part in the development of Charles's beliefs. As a member of the Burgundian [[Order of the Golden Fleece]] in his infancy, and later its grandmaster, Charles was educated to the ideals of the medieval knights and the desire for Christian unity to fight the infidel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Richard |title=Charles V: Duty and Dynasty – The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558 |year=2018 |isbn=978-1725852785 |page=23|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}</ref> The Low Countries were very rich during his reign, both [[History of capitalism|economically]] and [[Flemish art|culturally]]. Charles was very attached to his homeland and spent a large part of his life in [[Brussels]] and Flemish cities.

The Spanish inheritance, resulting from a [[dynastic union]] of the crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], included Spain and the Castilian possessions in the Americas (the [[Spanish West Indies]] and the [[Province of Tierra Firme]]) and the Aragonese kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], and [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Sardinia]]. Joanna inherited these territories in 1516 while confined, allegedly because she was mentally ill. Charles, therefore, claimed the crowns for himself ''[[jure matris]]'', thus becoming co-monarch with Joanna with the title of ''Charles I of Castile and Aragon'' or ''Charles I of Spain''.<ref name="History of Spain, Joseph Perez"/>

Castile and Aragon together formed the largest of Charles's personal possessions. They provided a great number of generals and ''[[tercios]]'', the formidable Spanish infantry of the time, while Joanna remained confined in [[Tordesillas]] until her death. ''[[Plus Ultra]]'', the rendition from French into Latin of Charles's personal motto "Plus Oultre" (''Further Beyond''), later became the national motto of Spain and features on the country's flag as part of the Spanish coat of arms since the 18th century. However, at his accession to the Iberian thrones, Charles was viewed as a foreign prince.<ref name="History of Spain, Joseph Perez">History of Spain, Joseph Perez</ref>

Two rebellions, the [[Revolt of the Germanies]] and the [[Revolt of the Comuneros]], contested Charles's rule in the 1520s. Following these revolts, Charles placed Spanish counselors in a position of power and spent a significant part of his life in Castile, including his final years in a monastery. His son and heir, later [[Philip II of Spain]], was born and raised in Castile. Nonetheless, many Spaniards believed that their resources, largely consisting of flows of silver from the Americas, were being used to sustain Imperial-Habsburg policies that were not in Spain's interest.<ref name="History of Spain, Joseph Perez"/>

Charles inherited the [[Austrian hereditary lands]] in 1519, as ''Charles I of Austria'', and obtained the [[1519 Imperial election|election]] as [[Holy Roman Emperor]] against the candidacy of the French king. Since the Imperial election, he was known as ''Emperor Charles V'' even outside of Germany. The dynastic motto of the House of Habsburg used by Charles was ''[[A.E.I.O.U.]]'' ("Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo" — "it is Austria's destiny to rule the world"; although its exact meaning remains disputed). Charles staunchly defended Catholicism as Lutheranism spread. Various German princes broke with him on religious grounds, fighting against him. Charles's presence in Germany was often marked by the organization of [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|imperial diet]]s to maintain religious and political unity.<ref name="Charles V, Pierre Chaunu">''Charles V'', Pierre Chaunu</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">''Germany in the Holy Roman Empire'', Whaley</ref>

He was frequently in Northern Italy, often taking part in complicated negotiations with the [[Pope]]s to address the rise of Protestantism. It is important to note that the German Catholics supported the Emperor. Charles had a close relationship with important German families, like the [[House of Nassau]], many of which were represented at his imperial court. Many German princes, noblemen and generals led his military campaigns against France and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] or accompanied him in his travels, and the bulk of his army was generally composed of German troops, especially the Imperial [[Landsknechte]].<ref name="Charles V, Pierre Chaunu"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/>

==Reign==
{{main|Empire of Charles V}}
[[File:Empire-Roman-Emperor-Charles-V 01.png|thumb|The dominions of the Habsburgs at the time of the abdication of Charles V in 1556]]

===Burgundy and the Low Countries===
[[Image:Paleis op de Koudenberg.jpg|thumb|The [[Palace of Coudenberg]] in [[Brussels]] from a 17th-century portrait before it burnt down in 1731. [[Brussels]] served as the main seat of the imperial court of Charles V in the Low Countries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Papadopoulos |first=Alex G. |url=https://archive.org/details/urbanregimesstra0000papa |title=Urban Regimes and Strategies: Building Europe's Central Executive District in Brussels |date=1996 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226645599 |page=[https://archive.org/details/urbanregimesstra0000papa/page/72 72] |quote=Brussels was the imperial capital of Charles V. |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=City Tourism: National Capital Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FktYIGI-jkC&q=bruxelles+imperial+capital+of+charles+v&pg=PA241 |last1=Maitland |first1=Robert |last2=Ritchie |first2=Brent W. |date=2019 |publisher=CABI |isbn = 978-1845935467|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}]]

In 1506, Charles inherited all of his father's territories in the Low Countries, thus becoming the ruler of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]]. His inheritance also included the [[Free County of Burgundy]] (region of [[Franche-Comté]]) within the Holy Roman Empire, and the [[County of Charolais]] in the [[Kingdom of France]]. and, most notably, the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Low Countries]]. His territories in the Low Countries mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire, and partially witin the French realm. Thus, Charles's birthplace, the city of Ghent, belonged to the [[County of Flanders]], at that time still being the fief of the French crown. Since he was a minor, his aunt Margaret of Austria acted as regent, as appointed by Emperor Maximilian until 1515. She soon found herself at war with France over Charles's requirement to pay [[Homage (feudal)|homage]] to the French king for Flanders, Artois and Charolais, as his father had done. The outcome was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders and Artois in 1528.

From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of [[Arumer Zwarte Hoop|Frisian peasants]] (led by [[Pier Gerlofs Donia]] and [[Wijard Jelckama]]). The rebels were initially successful but after a series of defeats, the remaining leaders were captured and executed in 1523.

Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of [[Tournaisis|Tournai]], [[County of Artois|Artois]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht|Utrecht]], [[Lordship of Groningen|Groningen]], and [[Guelders]]. The [[Seventeen Provinces]] had been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but nominally were [[fief]]s of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. Charles eventually won the [[Guelders Wars]] and united all provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders. In 1549, Charles issued a [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1549|Pragmatic Sanction]], declaring the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs.<ref name="Kamen">{{Cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/spain14691714soc00kame |title=Spain, 1469–1714: a society of conflict |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2005 |isbn=0582784646 |edition=3rd |location=Harlow, UK }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

The entire region of the Low Countries held an essential place in the Empire. For Charles V, they were his home, the region where he was born and spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the wealth of the region's cities, the Habsburg Netherlands also represented a significant income for the Charles' treasury.

The Burgundian territories were generally loyal to Charles throughout his reign. The important city of Ghent [[Revolt of Ghent (1539)|rebelled]] in 1539 due to heavy tax payments demanded by Charles. The rebellion did not last long, however, as Charles's military response, with reinforcement from [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba]],<ref name=Kamen />{{page needed|date=March 2025}} was swift and humiliating to the rebels of Ghent.<ref name="Gentenaars Stropdragers">{{Cite web |title=Gentenaars Stropdragers |url=http://gilde2.itbull.org/nl/historiek-0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104205756/http://gilde2.itbull.org/nl/historiek-0 |archive-date=4 January 2014 |url-status=usurped |access-date=7 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gilde van de Stroppendragers |url=http://www.gentschefieste.be/2005/Progr/GStroppen/Stroppen.htm |access-date=7 November 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081311/http://www.gentschefieste.be/2005/Progr/GStroppen/Stroppen.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Spanish kingdoms===
[[File:Toledo Skyline Panorama, Spain - Dec 2006.jpg|thumb|[[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] served as the main seat of the Imperial court of Charles V in [[Crown of Castile|Castile]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martínez Gil, Fernando |title=La invención de Toledo. Imágenes históricas de una identidad urbana |publisher=Almud, ediciones de Castilla-La Mancha |year=2007 |isbn=978-8493414078 |pages=113–121 |chapter=Corte renacentista}}</ref><ref name="toledoescorte">{{Cite book |last=Martínez Gil, Fernando |title=Historia de Toledo |publisher=Azacanes |year=1999 |isbn=8488480199 |pages=259–308 |chapter=Toledo es Corte (1480–1561)}}</ref>]]
[[File:Palacio Carlos V west.jpg|thumb|The exterior of the [[Palace of Charles V]] in [[Granada]], which was built upon his wedding to [[Isabella of Portugal]] in 1526.]]

In the Castilian ''Cortes'' of Valladolid in 1506 and of Madrid in 1510, Charles was sworn as the [[Prince of Asturias]], heir-apparent to his mother Queen [[Joanna of Castile|Joanna]].<ref>{{Cite web |title='Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla'; Manuel Colmeiro (1883) |year=1884 |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055350/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000017.htm |archive-date=10 June 2008 |access-date=23 August 2012|last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }},{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |title=XXIII |year=1884 |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055346/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000016.htm#I_38_ |archive-date=10 June 2008 |last1=Colmeiro |first1=Manuel }}</ref> On the other hand, in 1502, the [[Cortes of Aragon|Aragonese ''Corts'']] gathered in [[Zaragoza]] and pledged an oath to Joanna as heiress-presumptive, but [[Alonso de Aragón]], Archbishop of Zaragoza, (an illegitimate son of King Ferdinand) expressed firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that is to say, modify the right of the succession, except by virtue of a formal agreement between the ''Corts'' and the King.<ref>[http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205100701/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF |date=5 February 2012 }}, ''Revista General de Información y Documentación 2003, vol 13, núm.2 (Universidad complutense de Madrid)'', p. 137</ref><ref>[http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0202220291A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Juana la Loca fabricada en los Países Bajos (1505–1506); José María de Francisco Olmos] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114061003/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0202220291A.PDF |date=14 January 2012 }}, ''Revista General de Información y Documentación 2002, vol 12, núm.2 (Universidad complutense de Madrid)'', p. 299</ref> So, upon the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, on 23 January 1516, Joanna inherited the [[Crown of Aragon]], which consisted of [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Kingdom of Majorca|Mallorca]], [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]], [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]] and [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Sardinia]], while Charles became governor general (regent).<ref>[http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205100701/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF|date=5 February 2012}}, ''Revista General de Información y Documentación 2003, vol 13, núm.2 (Universidad complutense de Madrid)'' p. 138</ref><ref>[http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos], p. 138 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205100701/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF |year=5 February 2012 }}</ref> Nevertheless, the Flemish wished Charles to assume the royal title, and this was supported by Emperor Maximilian I and [[Pope Leo X]]. Consequently, after Ferdinand II's funeral on 14 March 1516, Charles I was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, the Castilian [[Regent]], Cardinal [[Jiménez de Cisneros]] accepted the ''fait accompli'', and the Castilian and Aragonese ''Cortes'' paid homage to him<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o7JJAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA51 ''Historia general de España''; Modesto Lafuente (1861)], pp. 51–52.</ref> as King of Aragon jointly with his mother.<ref>[http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/buscarLect/96E2C129300D5FB0C1256E43003ECF79?OpenDocument ''Fueros, observancias y actos de corte del Reino de Aragón''; Santiago Penén y Debesa, Pascual Savall y Dronda, Miguel Clemente (1866)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610081505/http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/buscarLect/96E2C129300D5FB0C1256E43003ECF79?OpenDocument|date=10 June 2008}}, [http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/pw/A94C1361FB8E6926C1256E43003F1FAF/%24file/00000242.jpg p. 64] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610081505/http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/pw/A94C1361FB8E6926C1256E43003F1FAF/%24file/00000242.jpg|date=10 June 2008}}</ref> Cisneros acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and imposed his instatement throughout the kingdom.<ref>[http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos], pp. 139–140 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205100701/http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/byd/11321873/articulos/RGID0303220133A.PDF |date=5 February 2012 }}</ref> Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. Cisneros came to meet him but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and he died before reaching the King.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Jimenes de Cisneros, Francisco|volume=15|page=416}}</ref>

Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian ''Cortes'' in [[Valladolid]] (1518) proved difficult.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000018.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130224212203/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/95791734217821695203346/p0000018.htm |archive-date=24 February 2013 |access-date=1 June 2016}}; Manuel Colmeiro (1883), chapter XXIV</ref> In the end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speak [[Spanish language|Castilian]]; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile beyond the [[Quinto Real (place)|Quinto Real]]; and he would respect the rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage to him in Valladolid in February 1518. After this, Charles departed to the Crown of Aragon.<ref name="auto4">[http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/buscarLect/96E2C129300D5FB0C1256E43003ECF79?OpenDocument ''Fueros, observancias y actos de corte del Reino de Aragón''; Santiago Penén y Debesa, Pascual Savall y Dronda, Miguel Clemente (1866)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610081505/http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/buscarLect/96E2C129300D5FB0C1256E43003ECF79?OpenDocument |year=10 June 2008 }}, [http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/pw/A94C1361FB8E6926C1256E43003F1FAF/%24file/00000242.jpg page 64] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610081505/http://saavedrafajardo.um.es/biblioteca/biblio.nsf/pw/A94C1361FB8E6926C1256E43003F1FAF/%24file/00000242.jpg |date=10 June 2008 }}</ref> He managed to overcome the resistance of the Aragonese ''Cortes'' and [[Catalan Courts|Catalan ''Corts'']],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o7JJAAAAMAAJ&dq=carlos+rey&pg=PA43 ''Historia general de España''; Modesto Lafuente (1861)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404081925/https://books.google.com/books?id=o7JJAAAAMAAJ&dq=carlos+rey&pg=PA43 |date=4 April 2023 }}, pp. 51–52.</ref> and he was recognized as King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona jointly with his mother, while his mother was kept confined and could only rule in name.<ref name="auto4" /> The [[Kingdom of Navarre]] had been [[Spanish conquest of Navarre|invaded by Ferdinand of Aragon]] jointly with Castile in 1512, but he pledged a formal oath to respect the kingdom. On Charles's accession to the Spanish thrones, the Parliament of Navarre (''Cortes'') required him to attend the coronation ceremony (to become Charles IV of Navarre). Still, this demand fell on deaf ears, and the parliament kept piling up grievances.

Charles was accepted as sovereign, even though the Spanish felt uneasy with the Imperial style. Spanish kingdoms varied in their traditions. Castile had become an authoritarian, highly centralized kingdom, where the monarch's own will easily overrode legislative and justice institutions.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Monreal, Gregorio |title=Conquista e Incorporación de Navarra a Castilla |last2=Jimeno, Roldan |publisher=Pamiela |year=2012 |isbn=978-8476817360 |location=Pamplona-Iruña |pages=37–43}}</ref> By contrast, in the Crown of Aragon, and especially in the Pyrenean Kingdom of Navarre, law prevailed, and the monarchy was seen as [[Basque fuero|a contract with the people]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQioAAAAIAAJ&q=navarre%2C+law+prevailed%2C+and+the+monarchy+was+a+contract+with+the+people&pg=RA1-PA104 |title=The Albany Law Journal: A Monthly Record of the Law and the Lawyers |date=1899 |publisher=Weed, Parsons |language=en}}</ref> This became an inconvenience and a matter of dispute for Charles V and later kings since realm-specific traditions limited their absolute power. With Charles, the government became more absolute, even though until his mother died in 1555, Charles did not hold absolute power in the country.

Soon resistance to the Emperor arose because of heavy taxation to support foreign wars in which Castilians had little interest and because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices in Castile and America, ignoring Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in the [[Revolt of the Comuneros]], which Charles suppressed. Comuneros released Joanna and wanted to depose Charles and support Joanna to be the sole monarch instead. While Joanna refused to depose her son, her confinement would continue after the revolt to prevent possible events alike. Immediately after crushing the Castilian revolt, Charles was confronted again with the hot issue of Navarre when King [[Henry II of Navarre|Henry II]] attempted to [[Spanish conquest of Navarre#1521 French-Navarrese expedition|reconquer the kingdom]]. Main military operations lasted until 1524, when [[Hondarribia]] surrendered to Charles's forces, but frequent cross-border clashes in the western Pyrenees only stopped in 1528 (Treaties of Madrid and [[Treaty of Cambrai|Cambrai]]).

After these events, Navarre remained a matter of domestic and international litigation still for a century (a French dynastic claim to the throne did not end until the [[July Revolution]] in 1830). Charles wanted his son and heir [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] to marry the heiress of Navarre, [[Jeanne d'Albret]]. Jeanne was instead forced to marry [[William, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg]], but that childless marriage was annulled after four years. She next married [[Antoine de Bourbon]], and both she and their son [[Henry of Navarre]] would oppose Philip II in the [[French Wars of Religion]].

After its integration into Charles's empire, Castile guaranteed effective military units and its American possessions provided the bulk of the empire's financial resources. However, the two conflicting strategies of Charles V, enhancing the possessions of his family and protecting Catholicism against Protestant heretics, diverted resources away from building up the Spanish economy. Elite elements in Spain called for more protection for the commercial networks, which were threatened by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Barbary pirates]]. Charles instead focused on defeating Protestantism in Germany and the Netherlands, which proved to be lost causes. Each hastened the economic decline of the Spanish Empire in the next generation.<ref>Aurelio Espinosa, "The grand strategy of Charles V (1500–1558): Castile, war, and dynastic priority in the Mediterranean." ''Journal of Early Modern History'' 9.3 (2005): 239–283. [http://www.academia.edu/download/47577260/GrandStrategy.pdf Online]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles's reign, along with the [[Spanish price revolution|inflation that affected the kingdom]], resulted in declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II.<ref>Elliot, J.H. ''Imperial Spain 1469–1716.'' Penguin Books (New York: 2002), p. 208.</ref>

===Italian states===
[[File:Papa Clemente VII e l'imperatore Carlo V a cavallo soto un baldacchino (8 de agosto de 2018, Museo degli affreschi Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, Verona).jpg|thumb|''[[Pope Clement VII]] and Emperor Charles V on horseback under a canopy'', a 1580 portrait by [[Jacopo Ligozzi]]. It depicts the entry of the Pope and the Emperor into [[Bologna]] in 1530 when Charles was [[Coronation of Charles V|crowned]] as [[Holy Roman Emperor]] by Clement VII.]]

The [[Crown of Aragon]] inherited by Charles included the [[Kingdom of Naples]], the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] and the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Kingdom of Sardinia]]. As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was sovereign in several states of northern Italy as [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|King of Italy]]. The [[Duchy of Milan]], however, was under French control. [[Early Modern France|France]] took Milan from the [[House of Sforza]] after victory against [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Switzerland]] at the [[Battle of Marignano]] in 1515.

Imperial-[[Papal States|Papal]] troops succeeded in re-installing [[Francesco II Sforza]] in Milan in 1521, in the context of an alliance between Charles V and Pope Leo X. A Franco-Swiss army was expelled from Lombardy at the [[Battle of Bicocca]] 1522. In 1524, [[Francis I of France]] retook the initiative, crossing into [[Lombardy]] where Milan, along with several other cities, once again fell to his attack. [[Pavia]] alone held out, and on 24 February 1525 (Charles's twenty-fifth birthday), Charles's forces led by [[Charles de Lannoy]] captured Francis and crushed his army in the [[Battle of Pavia]].

In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs, and Charles V annexed the territory as a vacant Imperial state with the help of [[Massimiliano Stampa]], one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Litta|first=Count Pompeo|title=Famous Italian Families, Stampa di Milano}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Charles successfully held on to all of its Italian territories, though they were invaded again on multiple occasions during the [[Italian Wars]].

In addition, Habsburg trade in the Mediterranean was consistently disrupted by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and its vassal [[Barbary pirates]]. In 1538 a [[Holy League (1538)|Holy League]] consisting of all the Italian states and the Spanish kingdoms was formed to drive the Ottomans back, but it was defeated at the [[Battle of Preveza]]. Decisive naval victory eluded Charles; it would not be achieved until after his death, at the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571.

===Holy Roman Empire===
[[File:C. 1540 Austrian territories (Western).jpg|thumb|Charles' domains in the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], and also in the [[Free County of Burgundy]], and the [[County of Charolais]], {{circa}} 1540 (all in light orange)]]
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles - Augusta vendilicorum.png|thumb|A panorama of [[Augsburg]], the main [[Germany|German]] seat of the Imperial court and the location of many of the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]]s presided over by Charles V depicted in a hand-coloured [[woodcut]] from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'']]

After the death of his paternal grandfather, [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]], in 1519, Charles inherited the [[Habsburg monarchy]]. He was also the natural candidate of the [[Prince-elector|electors]] to succeed his grandfather as [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. He defeated the candidacies of [[Frederick III of Saxony]], [[Francis I of France]], and [[Henry VIII of England]] in the [[1519 Imperial election]]. According to some, Charles became emperor due to the fact that by paying huge bribes to the electors, he was the highest bidder. He won the crown on 28 June 1519. On 23 October 1520, he was crowned in Germany and some ten years later, on [[Coronation of Charles V|24 February 1530]], he was crowned [[Holy Roman Emperor]] by [[Pope Clement VII]] in [[Bologna]], the last emperor to receive a [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|papal coronation]].<ref name=NH/><ref>Brinckmeier, Eduard (1882). [https://books.google.com/books?id=w4wBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA311 ''Praktisches Handbuch der historischen Chronologie aller Zeiten und Völker, besonders des Mittelalters'']. p. 311.</ref><ref>Claims that he gained the imperial crown through bribery have been questioned. H.J. Cohn, "Did Bribes Induce the German Electors to Choose Charles V as Emperor in 1519?" ''German History'' (2001) 19#1 pp 1–27</ref> Others point out that while the electors were paid, this was not the reason for the outcome, or at most played only a small part.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohn |first1=H.J. |title=Did Bribes Induce the German Electors to Choose Charles V as Emperor in 1519? |journal=German History |date=1 January 2001 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1191/026635501672200203}}</ref> The important factor that swayed the final decision was that Frederick refused the offer, and made a speech in support of Charles on the ground that they needed a strong leader against the Ottomans, Charles had the resources and was a prince of German extraction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holborn |first1=Hajo |title=A History of Modern Germany: The Reformation |year=1982 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691007953 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=350Qosar-UcC&pg=PA47 |access-date=9 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Justi |first1=Ferdinand |last2=Stevenson |first2=Sara Yorke |last3=Jastrow |first3=Morris |title=A History of All Nations |date=1905 |publisher=Lea Brothers |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnckAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA56 |access-date=9 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mahan |first1=J. Alexander |title=Maria Theresa of Austria |year= 2011 |publisher=Read Books Ltd |isbn=978-1446545553 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzJ8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 |access-date=9 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Joseph |title=The Administration of Spain Under Charles V, Spain's New Charlemagne |date=2010 |publisher=LAP Lambert Acad. Publ. |isbn=978-3838339641 |pages=20–40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaujcQAACAAJ |access-date=9 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Lucas Cranach - Hofjagd in Torgau zu Ehren Karls V. (1544, Museo del Prado)FXD.jpg|thumb|Hunting scene near [[Torgau]] with Charles V and [[John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony]], by [[Lucas Cranach the Younger]], 1544]]
Although even at the beginning of his reign, his position was more powerful than that of any of his predecessors, the decentralized structure of the Empire proved resilient, not least because of the [[Reformation]]. It was exactly during this crucial period, Charles V and Ferdinand were too busy with non-German affairs to prevent [[Imperial Cities]] in Upper Germany from becoming estranged from Imperial power.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whaley |first1=Joachim |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 |date= 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0191617218 |pages=239, 284 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgFREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Due to Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in the face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant Princes and France, the defense of central Europe,  as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the Empire, was subcontracted to Ferdinand. Charles V abdicated as [[Archduchy of Austria|Archduke of Austria]] in 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes [[1531 imperial election|elect Ferdinand]] as [[King of the Romans]], who thus became his designated successor as emperor, a move that "had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe". Afterwards, Ferdinand managed to gain control of [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemia]], [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Croatia]], and [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)|Hungary]], with support from local nobles and his German vassals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simms |first1=Brendan |title=Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, from 1453 to the Present |date=2013 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0465065950 |page=1737 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GypWDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1737 |access-date=30 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hendrix |first1=Scott H. |title=Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization |date=2004 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0664227135 |page=165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W9gDMsRka9sC&pg=PA165 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Potter |first1=Philip J. |title=Monarchs of the Renaissance: The Lives and Reigns of 42 European Kings and Queens |date= 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0786491032 |page=334 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39hKrtqiDcIC&pg=PA334 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Charles abdicated as emperor in 1556 in favour of his brother Ferdinand; however, due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure, the Imperial Diet did not accept the abdication (and thus make it legally valid) until 24 February 1558. Up to that date, Charles continued to use the title of emperor.

====Wars with France====
[[File:Truce of Nice 1538.jpg|thumb|[[Francis I of France|Francis I]] and Charles V made peace at the [[Truce of Nice]] in 1538. Francis refused to meet Charles in person, and the treaty was signed in separate rooms.]]
[[File:Elderly Karl V.jpg|thumb|Charles V in the 1550s after [[Titian]]]]

Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts with [[Kingdom of France|France]], which found itself encircled by Charles's empire while it still maintained ambitions in Italy. In 1520, Charles visited [[Kingdom of England|England]], where his aunt, [[Catherine of Aragon]], urged her husband, [[Henry VIII]], to ally himself with the Emperor. In 1508 Charles had been nominated by [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] to the [[Order of the Garter]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Royal Collection – The Knights of the Garter under Henry VIII |url=http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/knightsofthegarter/MicroObject.asp?row=21&themeid=455&item=22 |website=royalcollection.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232647/http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/knightsofthegarter/MicroObject.asp?row=21&themeid=455&item=22 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |access-date=16 December 2015}}</ref> His [[Garter stall plate]] survives in [[Saint George's Chapel]].

The [[Italian War of 1521|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 [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]], and was highly successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at the [[Battle of Pavia]] in 1525.<ref>Angus Konstam, ''Pavia 1525: the climax of the Italian Wars'' (Osprey, 1996).</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} To gain his freedom, Francis agreed to cede the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] to Charles in the [[Treaty of Madrid (1526)|Treaty of Madrid]], as well as renouncing his support of Henry II's claim over [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]].

When he was released, however, Francis had the [[Parlement of Paris]] denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress, thus refusing to hand over the Duchy of Burgundy. France then joined the [[War of the League of Cognac|League of Cognac]] that [[Pope Clement VII]] had formed with Henry VIII of England, the Venetians, the [[Republic of Florence|Florentines]], and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles's [[sack of Rome (1527)]] and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in 1527 prevented the Pope from [[Annulment (Catholic Church)|annulling]] the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, so Henry eventually broke with Rome, thus leading to the [[English Reformation]].<ref name="Holmes1993a">Holmes (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=BsV-qSRKAnAC&pg=PA192 p. 192]</ref><ref name="Froude1891a">Froude (1891), [https://books.google.com/books?id=n-Ecc8SnlC0C&pg=PA480 pp. 35, 90–91, 96–97]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Note: the link goes to p. 480, then click the View All option</ref> 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' mother, Francis renounced his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy.

A [[Italian War of 1536–38|third war]] erupted in 1536. Following the death of [[Francesco II Sforza]], Charles installed his son [[Philip II of Spain|Philip]] in the [[Duchy of Milan]], despite Francis' claims on it. Already in the summer of 1536, the emperor personally led the invasion of [[Provence]], and took [[Aix-en-Provence]] on August 5, affirming there his imperial rights over the ancient [[Kingdom of Arles]], but those gains were soon lost.{{sfn|Parker|2019|p=252-260}} This war too was inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but he succeeded in conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally, [[Charles III, Duke of Savoy]], including his capital [[Turin]]. The [[Treaty of Nice (1538)|Truce of Nice]] was concluded in 1538, on the basis of ''[[uti possidetis]]''. It ended the war, but lasted only a short time.

[[Italian War of 1542–46|War resumed in 1542]], with Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite the [[Siege of Nice|conquest of Nice]] by a [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|Franco-Ottoman fleet]], the French could not advance toward 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 bellum'' in 1544.

A [[Italian War of 1551–1559|final war]] erupted with Francis' son and successor, [[Henry II of France|Henry II]], in 1551. Henry won early success in [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]], where he [[Siege of Metz (1552)|captured Metz]], but French offensives in Italy failed. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of the war to his son, [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], and his brother, [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]].

====Conflicts with the Ottoman Empire====
{{Further|Ottoman–Habsburg wars|Habsburg–Ottoman wars in Hungary (1526–1568)|Ottoman wars in Europe|Barbary slave trade}}
[[File:Real Alcázar. Salón de los Tapices. Paño VII. Toma de la Goleta.jpg|thumb|Detail of a tapestry depicting the [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|conquest of Tunis]] in the Tapestry Room of the [[Alcázar of Seville|Alcázar Palace]] in Seville]]

Charles fought continually with the [[Ottoman Empire]] and its sultan, [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. The defeat of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] at the [[Battle of Mohács]] in 1526 "sent a wave of terror over Europe."<ref>Quoted from: [[Bryan W. Ball]]. ''A Great Expectation''. Brill Publishers, 1975. {{ISBN|9004043152}}. p. 142.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Life Span of Suleiman The Magnificent, 1494–1566 |url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sarhaus/larimore02/suleiman.html |last=Sandra Arlinghaus |publisher=Personal.umich.edu |access-date=8 June 2012 |archive-date=21 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121014030/http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sarhaus/larimore02/suleiman.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Muslim advance in Central Europe was halted at the [[Siege of Vienna (1529)]], followed by a counter-attack of Charles V across the [[Danube]] river. However, by 1541, central and southern Hungary [[Ottoman Hungary|fell under Ottoman control]].

Suleiman won the contest for mastery of the Mediterranean, in spite of Christian victories such as the [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|conquest of Tunis]] in 1535.<ref>Bruce Ware Allen, "Emperor vs. Pirate Tunis, 1535." ''MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History'' (Winter 2014) 26#2 pp 58–63.</ref> The regular Ottoman fleet came to dominate the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] after its victories at [[Battle of Preveza|Preveza]] in 1538 and [[Battle of Djerba|Djerba]] in 1560 (shortly after Charles's death), which severely decimated the [[Spanish Navy]]. At the same time, the Muslim [[Barbary corsairs]], acting under the general authority and supervision of the sultan, regularly devastated the Spanish and Italian coasts and crippled Spanish trade. The advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe chipped at the foundations of Habsburg power and diminished Imperial prestige.

In 1536, Francis I allied France 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 a [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]]. In 1543, Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign the [[Peace of Crépy|Truce of Crépy-en-Laonnois]]. Later, in 1547, Charles signed a humiliating<ref name="treaty">In particular, in this [[Truce of Adrianople (1547)]] Charles was only referred to as "King of Spain" instead of by his extensive titulature. (see Crowley, p. 89)</ref> [[Truce of Adrianople (1547)|treaty]] with the Ottomans to gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of their war.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_xxOM85bD8C&pg=PT423 |title=Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia, Volume 1 |year=2002 |publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=1576077330 |editor-last=Stanley Sandler}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Charles V made overtures to the [[Safavid Empire]] to open a second front against the Ottomans, in an attempt at creating a [[Habsburg–Persian alliance]]. Contacts were positive, but rendered difficult by enormous distances. In effect, however, the Safavids did enter in conflict with the Ottoman Empire in the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555)|Ottoman–Safavid War]], forcing it to split its military resources.<ref>"A Habsburg–Persian alliance against the Ottomans finally brought a respite from the Turkish threat in the 1540s. This entanglement kept Suleiman tied down on his eastern border, relieving the pressure on Carlos V" in ''The Indian Ocean in world history?'' Milo Kearney – 2004 – p. 112</ref>

During the 1541 [[Algiers expedition (1541)|expedition of Algiers]], the losses amongst the invading force were heavy with 150 ships lost, plus large numbers of sailors and soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of the Barbary Corsairs, by Stanley Lane-Poole. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22169/22169-h/22169-h.htm#Page_112 |access-date=18 April 2024 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> A Turkish [[chronicler]] confirmed that the [[Berbers|Berber tribes]] massacred 12,000 invaders.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garcés |first=María Antonia |title=Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's Tale |publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |year=2005 |isbn= 0826514707 |edition=2nd |page=24}}</ref> Leaving war materiel, including 100 to 200 guns which would be recovered to furnish the ramparts of Algiers, Charles' army was taken prisoner in such numbers that the [[Barbary slave trade|markets of Algiers]] were filled with slaves.

====Protestant Reformation====
[[File:Summons for Luther to appear at the Diet of Worms.jpg|thumb|Summons for [[Martin Luther]] to appear at the [[Diet of Worms]] signed by Charles V; the text on the left was on the reverse side.]]
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2 DS-263 (cropped).jpg|thumb|16th-century perception of German soldiers during Charles's reign (1525) portrayed in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by [[Lucas de Heere]] in the second half of the 16th century. Preserved in the [[Ghent University Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel par Luc Dheere peintre et sculpteur Gantois [manuscript]|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=31&xywh=-3472,286,12410,6929|access-date=25 August 2020|website=lib.ugent.be|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029015419/https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=31&xywh=-3472,286,12410,6929|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The issue of the [[Reformation]] was first brought to the imperial attention under Charles V. As [[Holy Roman Emperor]], Charles called [[Martin Luther]] to the [[Diet of Worms]] in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. After Luther defended the ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'' and his writings, the Emperor commented: "that monk will never make me a heretic". Charles V relied on religious unity to govern his various realms, otherwise [[Personal union|unified only in his person]], and perceived Luther's teachings as a disruptive form of [[heresy]]. He outlawed Luther and issued the [[Edict of Worms]], declaring:

{{blockquote|You know that I am a descendant of the Most Christian Emperors of the great German people, of the Catholic Kings of Spain, of the Archdukes of Austria, and of the Dukes of Burgundy. All of these, their whole life long, were faithful sons of the Roman Church&nbsp;... After their deaths they left, by natural law and heritage, these holy catholic rites, for us to live and die by, following their example. And so until now I have lived as a true follower of these our ancestors. I am therefore resolved to maintain everything which these my forebears have established to the present.}}

Charles V, however, kept his word, and left Martin Luther free to leave the city. [[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony]] and protector of Luther, lamented the outcome of the Diet. On the road back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hidden in a distant castle in [[Wartburg]]. There, he began to work on his [[Luther Bible|German translation of the bible]]. The spread of [[Lutheranism]] led to two major revolts: that of the knights in 1522–1523 and that of the peasants led by [[Thomas Muntzer]] in 1524–1525. While the pro-Imperial [[Swabian League]], in conjunction with Protestant princes afraid of social revolts, restored order, Charles V used the instrument of pardon to maintain peace. Conflict with the pope led Charles' agents to remind the pope of the bad position that the Protestants were putting the Vatican in.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor'', 245–246</ref>
[[File:Andreas Nunzer Übergabe der Augsburger Konfession 1530.jpg|thumb|Charles V receives the [[Augsburg Confession]] at the [[Diet of Augsburg]] on 25 June 1530]]
Following this, Charles V took a tolerant approach and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutherans. The 1530 Imperial [[Diet of Augsburg]] was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: first, the defence of the Empire against the [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars in Hungary (1526–1568)|Ottoman]] threat; second, issues related to policy, currency and public well-being; and, third, disagreements about Christianity, in attempt to reach some compromise and a chance to deal with the German situation.<ref>Gottfried G. Krodel, "Law, Order, and the Almighty Taler: The Empire in Action at the 1530 Diet of Augsburg." ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' (1982): 75–106 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540054 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407025412/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540054 |date=7 April 2022 }}.</ref> The Diet was inaugurated by the emperor on 20 June. It produced numerous outcomes, most notably the 1530 declaration of the Lutheran estates known as the [[Augsburg Confession]] (''Confessio Augustana''), a central document of Lutheranism. Luther's assistant [[Philip Melanchthon]] went even further and presented it to Charles V. The Emperor strongly rejected it, and in 1531 the [[Schmalkaldic League]] was formed by Protestant princes. In 1532, Charles V recognized the League and effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with the ''standstill of [[Nuremberg]]''. The ''standstill'' required the Protestants to continue to take part in the Imperial wars against the Turks and the French, and postponed religious affairs until an [[ecumenical council]] of the Catholic Church was called by the Pope to solve the issue.

Due to Papal delays in organizing a general council, Charles V decided to organize a German summit and presided over the ''[[Diet of Regensburg (1541)|Colloquy of Regensburg]]'' between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was achieved. In 1545, the [[Council of Trent]] was finally opened and the [[Counter-Reformation]] began. The Catholic initiative was supported by a number of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the Schmalkaldic League refused to recognize the validity of the council and occupied territories of Catholic princes.<ref>Christopher W. Close, "Estate Solidarity and Empire: Charles V's Failed Attempt to Revive the Swabian League." ''Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte'' (2013 104#1 pp. 134–157), in English.</ref> Therefore, Charles V outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546.<ref>Paula Sutter Fichtner, "When Brothers Agree: Bohemia, The Habsburgs, and the Schmalkaldic Wars, 1546–1547." ''Austrian History Yearbook'' (1975), Vol. 11, pp. 67–78.</ref> The next year his forces drove the League's troops out of southern Germany, and defeated [[John Frederick, Elector of Saxony]], and [[Philip of Hesse]] at the [[Battle of Mühlberg]], capturing both. At the [[Augsburg Interim]] in 1548, he created a solution giving certain allowances to Protestants until the Council of Trent would restore unity. However, members of both sides resented the Interim and some actively opposed it.

The council was re-opened in 1550 with the participation of Lutherans, and Charles V set up the Imperial court in [[Innsbruck]], Austria, sufficiently close to Trent for him to follow the evolution of the debates. In 1552 Protestant princes, in alliance with [[Henry II of France]], rebelled again and the [[Second Schmalkaldic War]] began. [[Maurice of Saxony]], instrumental for the Imperial victory in the first conflict, switched side to the Protestant cause and bypassed the [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|Imperial army]] by marching directly into Innsbruck with the goal of capturing the Emperor. Charles V was forced to flee the city during an attack of gout and barely made it alive to [[Villach]] in a state of semi-consciousness carried in a litter. After failing to recapture [[Metz]] from the French, Charles V returned to the Low Countries for the last years of his emperorship. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the [[Peace of Augsburg]] in his name. The agreements led to the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms.{{sfn|Tracy|2002|pp=229–248}}

==Abdications and death==

===Division of the Habsburgs===
[[File:Allegorie op de troonsafstand van keizer Karel V te Brussel Rijksmuseum SK-A-112.jpeg|thumb|In ''Allegory on the abdication of Emperor Charles V in Brussels'', [[Frans Francken the Younger]]'s depiction of Charles V in the allegorical act of dividing the entire world between [[Philip II of Spain]] and [[Emperor Ferdinand I]]]]
[[File:Habsburg dominions 1700.png|thumb|Habsburg dominions in the centuries following their partition by Charles V]]

Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg empire between a senior Spanish line and an Austrian branch of the [[House of Habsburg]]. His abdications all occurred at the [[Palace of Coudenberg]] in [[Brussels]]. First he abdicated the thrones of [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]] and [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], the latter a Papal fief, and the Imperial [[Duchy of Milan]], in favour of his son [[Philip II of Spain|Philip]] on 25 July 1554. Philip was secretly invested with Milan already in 1540 and again in 1546, but only in 1554 did the Emperor make it public. Upon the abdications of Naples and Sicily, Philip was invested by [[Pope Julius III]] with the Kingdom of Naples on 2 October and with the Kingdom of Sicily on 18 November.<ref name="Braudel">{{Cite book |last=Fernand Braudel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPp63EKb9moC&pg=PA935 |title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II |publisher=University of California Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-520-20330-3 |pages=935–936 |access-date=23 February 2016}}</ref>

The most famous{{snd}}and only public{{snd}}abdication took place a year later, on 25 October 1555, when Charles announced to the [[States General of the Netherlands]] (reunited in the great hall where he was emancipated forty years before by Emperor Maximilian) his abdication of those territories in favour of his son Philip as well as his intention to step down from all of his positions and retire to a monastery.<ref name=Braudel /> During the ceremony, the gout-afflicted Emperor Charles V leaned on the shoulder of his advisor [[William the Silent]] and, crying, pronounced his [[resignation speech]]:

{{Blockquote|When I was nineteen&nbsp;... I undertook to be a candidate for the Imperial crown, not to increase my possessions but rather to engage myself more vigorously in working for the welfare of Germany and my other realms&nbsp;... and in the hopes of thereby bringing peace among the Christian peoples and uniting their fighting forces for the defense of the Catholic faith against the Ottomans.&nbsp;... I had almost reached my goal, when the attack by the French king and some German princes called me once more to arms. Against my enemies I accomplished what I could, but success in war lies in the hands of God, Who gives victory or takes it away, as He pleases.&nbsp;... I must for my part confess that I have often misled myself, either from youthful inexperience, from the pride of mature years, or from some other weakness of human nature. I nonetheless declare to you that I never knowingly or willingly acted unjustly.&nbsp;... If actions of this kind are nevertheless justly laid to my account, I formally assure you now that I did them unknowingly and against my own intention. I therefore beg those present today, whom I have offended in this respect, together with those who are absent, to forgive me.<ref>Alfred Kohler, ed., Quellen zur Geschichte Karls V. Darmstadt: WBG, 1990, pp. 466–468, 480–482</ref>}}

He concluded the speech by mentioning his voyages: ten to the Low Countries, nine to Germany, seven to Spain, seven to Italy, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. His last public words were, "My life has been one long journey."

With no fanfare, in 1556 he finalised his abdications. On 16 January 1556, he gave Spain and the [[Spanish Empire]] in the Americas to Philip. On 27 August 1556, he abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor in favour of his brother Ferdinand, elected King of the Romans in 1531. The succession was recognized by the [[prince-electors]] assembled at [[Frankfurt]] only in 1558, and by the Pope only in 1559.<ref name=Setton>{{Cite book |last=Setton |first=K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUwLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA716|title=The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume IV: The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V |date=1984 |publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]] |isbn=978-0-87169-162-0 |series=Memoirs |volume=162 |location=Philadelphia |page=716|issn=0065-9738 |author-link=Kenneth Setton}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url={{google books|nPwQAAAAIAAJ|plainurl=yes}} |title=Zurich Letters |date=1846 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-last=Robinson |editor-first=H. |page=[{{google books|nPwQAAAAIAAJ|pg=182|plainurl=yes}} 182] }}</ref><ref name="Whaley2012">{{Cite book |last=Joachim Whaley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXdPzWXCphkC&pg=PA343 |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-873101-6 |page=343 |access-date=23 February 2016}}</ref> The Imperial abdication also marked the beginning of Ferdinand's legal and [[suo jure]] rule in the Austrian possessions, that he governed in Charles's name since 1521–1522, and were territorially linked with his rule over Hungary and Bohemia since 1526.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book |last=Kanski |first=Jack J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GwV_DwAAQBAJ&q=Ferdinand+archduke+of+austria+1521&pg=PA50 |title=History of the German speaking nations |date=2019 |publisher=Troubador Publishing |isbn=978-1-78901-718-2 |language=en}}</ref>

According to scholars, Charles decided to abdicate for a variety of reasons: the religious division of Germany sanctioned in 1555; the state of Spanish finances, bankrupted with inflation by the time his reign ended; the revival of Italian Wars with attacks from Henry II of France; the never-ending advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe; and his declining health, in particular attacks of [[gout]] such as the one that forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz where he was later defeated.

===Retirement, death and burial===
[[File:Dormitorio del emperador Carlos V en el palacio de Yuste, Cáceres.jpg|thumb|The deathbed of the Emperor at the [[Monastery of Yuste]], Cáceres]]
In September 1556, Charles left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by his sisters, [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary of Hungary]] and [[Eleanor of Austria]]. He arrived at the [[Monastery of Yuste]] of [[Extremadura]] in 1557. He continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in the situation of the empire, while suffering from severe gout. He lived alone in a secluded monastery, surrounded by paintings by [[Titian]] and with clocks lining every wall, which some historians believe were symbols of his reign and his lack of time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alonso |first1=Jordi |last2=J. de Zulueta |display-authors=etal |date=August 2006 |title=The severe gout of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V |journal=N. Engl. J. Med. |volume=355 |issue=5 |pages=516–520 |doi=10.1056/NEJMon060780 |pmid=16885558}}</ref> In August 1558, Charles was taken seriously ill, with what was diagnosed in the twenty-first century as [[malaria]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=de Zulueta |first=J. |date=June 2007 |title=The cause of death of Emperor Charles V |journal=Parassitologia |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=107–109 |pmid=18412053}}</ref> 

He died in the early hours of the morning on 21 September 1558, at the age of 58, holding in his hand the cross that his wife Isabella had been holding when she died.{{sfn|Kamen|1997|p=65}} Following his death, there were a plethora of commemorations in his empire, including in Mexico and Peru. Some 30,000 masses were arranged for the soul of the Emperor. Some 30,000 gold ducats that he had set aside for the ransom of prisoners, poor virgins, and paupers were distributed. He still owed huge debts from his constant warfare far beyond the funds on hand, which his heirs spent decades paying off.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor'', 490–494</ref>

[[File:Eduardo Rosales - Juan de Austria's presentation to Emperor Carlos V in YusteFXD.jpg|thumb|Charles's illegitimate son [[John of Austria]] being presented to Charles in Yuste, by [[Eduardo Rosales]]]]
Charles was originally buried in the chapel of the Monastery of Yuste, but he left a [[codicil (will)|codicil]] in his last will and testament asking for the establishment of a new religious foundation in which he would be reburied with Isabella.<ref>{{Cite web |title=El Escorial History – El Escorial |url=http://el-escorial.com/el-escorial-history/ |publisher=el-escorial.com |access-date=19 July 2017 |archive-date=16 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716153018/http://el-escorial.com/el-escorial-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Following his return to Spain in 1559, their son Philip undertook the task of fulfilling his father's wish when he founded the Monastery of San Lorenzo de [[El Escorial]]. After the Monastery's Royal Crypt was completed in 1574, the bodies of Charles and Isabella were relocated and re-interred into a small vault directly underneath the altar of the Royal Chapel, in accordance with Charles's wishes to be buried "half-body under the altar and half-body under the priest's feet" side by side with Isabella.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A-Panteo.Pdf |url=https://www.delacuadra.net/escorial/textos/1997c-a-panteo.pdf |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127053401/https://www.delacuadra.net/escorial/textos/1997c-a-panteo.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 

They remained in the Royal Chapel while the famous Basilica of the Monastery and the Royal tombs were still under construction. In 1654, after the Basilica and Royal tombs were finally completed during the reign of their great-grandson [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]], the remains of Charles and Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings, which lies directly under the Basilica.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A-Panteo.Pdf |url=https://www.delacuadra.net/escorial/textos/1997c-a-panteo.pdf |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127053401/https://www.delacuadra.net/escorial/textos/1997c-a-panteo.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> On one side of the Basilica are bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella, with effigies of their daughter [[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|Maria of Austria]] and Charles's sisters [[Eleanor of Austria]] and [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Maria of Hungary]] behind them. Adjacent to them on the opposite side of the Basilica are effigies of their son Philip with three of his wives and their ill-fated grandson [[Carlos, Prince of Asturias]].

==Administration==

[[File:Habsburg Empire of Charles V.png|thumb|The Empire of Charles V at its peak, with [[The Americas]] an ocean away from his European realms]]

Given the vast dominions of the House of Habsburg, Charles was often on the road and needed [[Regent|deputies]] to govern his realms for the times he was absent from his territories. His first [[Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands|Governor of the Netherlands]] was [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret of Austria]], succeeded by his sister [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary of Hungary]] and [[Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy]]. His first [[Regent of Spain]] was [[Adrian of Utrecht]] (succeeded by [[Isabella of Portugal]] and [[Philip II of Spain]]). For the regency and governorship of the [[Austrian hereditary lands]], Charles named his brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]] archduke in the Austrian lands under his authority at the [[Diet of Worms]] (1521).<ref name="auto2" />

Charles agreed to favor the election of Ferdinand as [[King of the Romans]] in Germany, [[Imperial election, 1531|which took place in 1531]]. By virtue of these agreements Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and obtained [[hereditary rights]] over Austria at the abdication of Charles in 1556.<ref name="auto2" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Emperor Charles V |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsQeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |last=Rady |first=Martyn |year=2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn = 978-1317880820|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} [[Charles de Lannoy]], [[Ettore Pignatelli e Caraffa, 1st Duke of Monteleone|Carafa]] and [[Antonio Folc de Cardona y Enriquez]] were viceroys of the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, respectively.

Charles V travelled ten times to the Low Countries, nine to Germany,<ref>Including Austria</ref> seven to Spain,<ref>including his last voyage after the abdication</ref> seven to Italy,<ref>Including one visit to Sicily and Sardinia</ref> four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite book |title=The Muslim Diaspora (Volume 2, 1500–1799): A Comprehensive Chronology of the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSYkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |last=Jenkins |first=Everett Jr. |year=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn = 978-1476608891|via=Google Books}}</ref> During all his travels, the Emperor left a documentary trail in almost every place he went, allowing historians to surmise that he spent 10,000 days in the Low Countries, 6,500 days in Spain, 3,000 days in Germany, and 1,000 days in Italy. He spent 195 days in France, 99 in North Africa and 44 days in England. For 260 days his exact location is unrecorded, all of them being days spent at sea travelling between his dominions.<ref>Emperor, a new life of Charles V, by Geoffrey Parker, p. 8.</ref> As he put it in his last public speech: "my life has been one long journey".<ref name="auto3"/>

Charles never traveled to his overseas possessions in the Americas, since a transatlantic crossing to a place not central to his political interests at the time was unthinkable.

{{blockquote|The New World was an increasingly important part of the balance of power, but it was completely subordinate to European considerations. The Spanish colonial empire took up relatively little of Charles V's time. Its principal function was to provide resources to support his ambitions on the near side of the Atlantic: again and again, it was bullion from the Indies – a fifth of total revenue – which either funded campaigns against the French, Turks, and German princes directly, or provided the security against which the Emperor could borrow the great banking [[house of Fugger]] in Augsburg. For example, of nearly 2 million escudos' worth of treasury, the largest recipient was Germany, followed by the Low Countries. Charles's travels throughout his reign also show his priority quite clearly: he visited Italy on seven occasions, France on four, and England and Africa on two, and spent six long stays in Spain itself, but he travelled to Flanders and Germany on no fewer than nineteen occasions; he never visited the Americas. His imperial status stemmed from the ''Imperium Romanum'', not the global sweep of his lands. In short, the Holy Roman Empire, not the emerging Spanish empire, provided the Imperial context in which the ambitions of Charles V played out.|Europe, the Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present, p.87, Brendan Simms}}

He did, however, establish strong administrative structures to rule them, including the European-based [[Council of the Indies]] in 1524 and the establishment of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]] and the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]] when the [[Aztec Empire|Aztec]] and [[Inca]] civilizations were conquered in his name.

In 1534, Charles accepted a personal audience with Maxixcatzin, a nobleman from [[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]] who demanded and received several special privileges for his city and its people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Royal Writ of the Foundation of the City of Tlaxcala. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667588/ |access-date=18 May 2024 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> The [[Tlaxcaltec|Tlaxcallans]] had formed an alliance with Spain and were instrumental in the overthrow of the Aztecs and other conquests in the Americas. Charles' decrees recognized their contributions and promised that Tlaxcala's autonomy would be preserved. His treatment of the Tlaxcallans and other friendly native peoples as important allies rather than conquered subjects ensured strong support from Tlaxcala and other allied native groups for the next three centuries.<ref>{{Citation |title=Tlaxcalan Vassals of the North |date=2012 |work=From Colony to Nationhood in Mexico: Laying the Foundations, 1560–1840 |pages=21–56 |editor-last=McEnroe |editor-first=Sean F. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/from-colony-to-nationhood-in-mexico/tlaxcalan-vassals-of-the-north/6B58402089348F61A53A20F55617F69D |access-date=18 May 2024 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139026253.002 |isbn=978-1-107-00630-0|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Europe===

==== Military system====
{{See also|Landsknecht|Tercio}}
[[File:La batalla de Pavía, tapiz basado en una pintura de Bernard van Orley.jpg|thumb|The second tapestry in the series ''Battle of Pavia'' by [[Bernard van Orley]]: The [[Marquis of Pescara]] leading an Imperial attack on the French cavalry and [[Georg von Frundsberg]] leading the Landsknechte against the French artillery<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paredes |first1=Cecilia |title='The Confusion of the Battlefield: A New Perspective on the Tapestries of the Battle of Pavia (c. 1525–1528)', RIHA Journal 0102 |date=28 December 2014 |page=6 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11727892 |access-date=5 September 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033042/https://www.academia.edu/11727892 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:Manif. di bruxelles su dis.di bernart von orley, IGMN144483, 1526-31.JPG|thumb|[[Heavy cavalry]] at the [[Battle of Pavia]]]]

Under the organization and patronage of Maximilian I, Southern Germany had become the leading arms industry region of the 16th century, rivalled only by Northern Italy with the chief centers being [[Nuremberg]], [[Augsburg]], [[Milan]], and [[Brescia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Loades |first1=Mike |title=Swords and Swordsmen |date=2011 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=978-1848847033 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbbNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT260 |page=260|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Puype |first1=Jan Piet |title=Wilfried Tittmann, Die Nürnberger Handfeuerwaffen vom Spätmittelalter bis zum Frühbarock: Der Beitrag Nürnbergs zur Militärischen Revolution der frühen Neuzeit (= The Portable Firearms of Nuremberg from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern Age)|journal=Arms & Armour |date=2018 |publisher=Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt |location=Graz |page=4 |doi=10.1080/17416124.2020.1791406 |s2cid=227060405}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Springer |first1=Carolyn |title=Armour and Masculinity in the Italian Renaissance |date=2010 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442699021 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0td4Klz9VgC&pg=PT17 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Charles V continued with the development of mass production and standardization of gun caliber, which greatly affected warfare.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jaeger |first1=Friedrich |title=Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit: Band 11: Renaissance–Signatur |date=2017 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3476000606 |page=480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAm1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA480 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zunckel |first1=Julia |title=Rüstungsgeschäfte im dreissigjährigen Krieg: Unternehmerkräfte, Militärgüter und Marktstrategien im Handel zwischen Genua, Amsterdam und Hamburg |date=1997 |publisher=Duncker & Humblot |isbn=978-3428088072 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-cpmAAAAMAAJ |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=de}}</ref>

The [[Helmschmied]] of Augsburg and the [[Filippo Negroli|Negroli]] of Milan were among the foremost families of armourers of the time. Under Charles V, the Spanish arms industry was significantly expanded, with significant improvements of [[musket]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer |last2=Arnold |first2=James R. |last3=Wiener |first3=Roberta |title=The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History |date= 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1851096978 |page=526 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JsM4A0GSO34C&pg=PA526 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Famous Makers of Arms and Armors and European Centers of Production |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/make/hd_make.htm |website=www.metmuseum.org |date=October 2002 |access-date=5 September 2022 |archive-date=5 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905183438/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/make/hd_make.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Landsknechte]], originally recruited and organized by Maximilian and [[Georg von Frundsberg]], formed the bulk of Charles V's army. They surpassed the [[Swiss mercenaries]] in quality and quantity as the "best and most easily available mercenaries in Europe". They were considered  best fighting troops in the first half of the 16th century for their brutal and ruthless efficiency, with a French saying going "a Landsknecht thrown out heaven couldn't get in hell because he would frighten the devil".<ref>Jean-Marie Le Gall, « Les Combattants de Pavie. Octobre 1524 – 24 février 1525 », Revue historique, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, no 671, juillet 2014, pp. 567–596</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Major |first1=Ralph Hermon |title=Fatal Partners, War and Disease |date=1941 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran, Incorporated |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9QSgAAAAMAAJ |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kortüm |first1=Hans-Henning |title=Transcultural Wars: from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century |date=2010 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3050049953 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obFJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT65 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Singer |first1=P. W. |title=Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0801459603 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IOQjNuxMrOEC&pg=PA27 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> 

Terrence McIntosh notes that, Charles V, like his grandfather, "relied heavily on German military manpower, fearsome landsknechts, as well as redoubtable Swiss-German mercenaries. Maximilian invaded northern Italy in 1496, 1508, and repeatedly between 1509 and 1516. Soon after the Imperial election in 1519, Charles V was waging war there. His overwhelmingly German troops won the [[Battle of Pavia]] and captured the French king in 1525; two years later they sacked the city of Rome, murdering between six and twelve thousand residents and pillaging for eight months."

His expansionist and aggressive policy, in combination with the brutal behaviours of the Landsknechte, which incidentally happened right at the formation of the early modern German nation, left an indelible mark on his neighbours' impression of the German polity, despite the fact that in the long term, it was in general not belligerent.<ref>{{cite web |title=H-German Roundtable on Smith, Germany: A Nation in Its Time Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500–2000 H-German H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/discussions/9589141/h-german-roundtable-smith-germany-nation-its-time-during-and |website=networks.h-net.org |access-date=5 February 2022 |archive-date=26 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126125927/https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/discussions/9589141/h-german-roundtable-smith-germany-nation-its-time-during-and |url-status=live }}</ref>

Charles V also favoured German heavy cavalry, although costly.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James |title=The Founding of the Dutch Republic: War, Finance, and Politics in Holland, 1572–1588 |date=2008 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0191607288 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAteUrADx0wC&pg=PA27 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Many cavalrymen and noblemen fighting for Charles V were of Burgundian extraction, often part of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]]. Italian [[condottieri]] were also recruited.

In Spain, inheriting the reform work of [[Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba]], in 1536, Charles reorganized his infantry and created the first units of the [[tercio]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=López |first1=Ignacio J. N. |title=The Spanish Tercios 1536–1704 |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1780968735 |pages=7–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SzDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT7 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Boydell & Brewer Ltd">{{cite book |last1=Mesa |first1=Eduardo de |title=The Irish in the Spanish Armies in the Seventeenth Century |date=2014 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1843839514 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24GfBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sandberg |first1=Brian |title=War and Conflict in the Early Modern World: 1500–1700 |date=2016 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1509503025 |page=178 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4elhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT178 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kamen |first1=Henry |title=The War of Succession in Spain, 1700–15 |date=1969 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253190253 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVVpAAAAMAAJ |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Maltby |first1=William |title=The Reign of Charles V |date= 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0230629080 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=upNKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Later they became "the most formidable fighting force of the sixteenth century".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fuentes |first1=Carlos |title=The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World |date=1999 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0395924990 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyj5PK-15UwC&pg=PA168 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Andrew |title=War, Religion and Empire: The Transformation of International Orders |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1139494014 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMBJsRyRUlgC&pg=PA95 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> The original tercios were exclusively Spanish and this situation remained until Philip II organized the Italian tercios in 1584.<ref name="Boydell & Brewer Ltd"/>

==== Finance ====
[[File:Anton Fugger burning the debenture bonds of Charles V in 1535 by Carl Ludwig Friedrich Becker.jpg|thumb|[[Anton Fugger]] burning the debenture bonds of Charles V in 1535, a portrait by [[Karl Becker (painter)|Karl Ludwig Friedrich Becker]]]]

Charles's main sources of revenue were from [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Low Countries]], which yielded in total an annual amount of around 2.8 million Spanish [[ducat]]s in the 1520s and about 4.8 million Spanish ducats in the 1540s. Ferdinand I's annual revenue totalled between 1.7 million and 1.9 million Venetian ducats (2.15–2.5 million florin or Rhine gulden). Their chief enemy, the Ottomans, had a more streamlined and profitable system, yielding 10 million gold ducats in 1527–1528 and did not suffer from deficit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ágoston |first1=Gábor |title=The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe |date=2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691205380 |pages=273–275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXALEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA273 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherer |first1=Idan |title=Warriors for a Living: The Experience of the Spanish Infantry during the Italian Wars, 1494–1559 |date=2017 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004337725 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xd3zDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

He often had to depend on loans from bankers. He borrowed 28 million ducats in total during his reign, of which 5.5 million ducats came from the [[Fuggers]] and 4.2 million from the [[Welsers]] of [[Augsburg]]. Other creditors were from [[Genoa]], [[Antwerp]] and Spain.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Häberlein |first1=Mark |title=The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany |date=2012 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0813932446 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hv_Lxx3Gxs8C&pg=PT67 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Communication, diplomatic, and espionage systems ====
{{See also|Kaiserliche Reichspost}}
[[File:Allegorie du regne de Charles Quint 16th century.jpg|thumb|''Allegory of the reign of Charles V'', a 16th-century painting by anonymous French painter. Charles V and his enemies (from left to right): Suleiman I; Pope Clement VII; Francis I; the Duke of Cleves; the Duke of Saxony; and Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse]]

The Habsburg expansion and consolidation of rule was accompanied by remarkable development of communication, diplomatic and espionage systems. In 1495, Emperor Maximilian and {{ill|Franz von Taxis|de}} (from the [[House of Thurn und Taxis|Thurn und Taxis]] family) developed the ''Niederländische Postkurs'', a postal system that connected the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Low Countries]] with [[Innsbruck]]. The system quickly converged with the European trade system and an emerging market for news,{{sfn|Behringer|2011|p=349}} spurring a pan-Europe communication revolution<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meinel |first1=Christoph |last2=Sack |first2=Harald |title=Digital Communication: Communication, Multimedia, Security |date=2014 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3642543319 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-date=26 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926235052/https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pavlac |first1=Brian A. |last2=Lott |first2=Elizabeth S. |title=The Holy Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes] |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1440848568 |page=255 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arSYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA255 |access-date=7 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The system was developed further by [[Philip the Handsome]], who negotiated new standards for the systems with the Taxis, and unified communication between Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain by adding stations in [[Granada]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], [[Blois]], [[Paris]] and [[Lyon]] in 1505.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brisman |first1=Shira |title=Albrecht Dürer and the Epistolary Mode of Address |date= 2017 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226354897 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dECvDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |access-date=16 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

After his father's death, Charles, as Duke of Burgundy, continued to develop the system. Behringer notes that, "Whereas the status of private mail remains unclear in the treaty of 1506, it is obvious from the contract of 1516 that the Taxis company had the right to carry mail and keep the profit as long as it guaranteed the delivery of court mail at clearly defined speeds, regulated by time sheets to be filled in by the post riders on the way to their destination. In return, imperial privileges guaranteed exemption from local taxes, local jurisdiction, and military service. 21 The terminology of the early modern communications system and the legal status of its participants were invented at these negotiations."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Behringer |first1=Wolfgang |contribution=Core and Periphery: The Holy Roman Empire as a Communication(s) Universe |title=The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806 |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199602971 |pages=350, 351 |url=https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |access-date=7 August 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> He confirmed Jannetto's son [[Giovanni Battista de Tassis|Giovanni Battista]] as Postmaster General (''chief et maistre general de noz postes par tous noz royaumes, pays, et seigneuries'') in 1520. By Charles V's time, "the Holy Roman Empire had become the centre of the European communication(s) universe."{{sfn|Behringer|2011|p=349}}

Charles V inherited efficient multinational diplomatic networks from both the Trastámara and Habsburg-Burgundian dynasties. Following the example of the papal curia, in the late fifteenth century, both dynasties began to employ permanent envoys, earlier than other secular powers. The Habsburg network developed in parallel to their postal system.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cauchies |first1=Jean-Marie |title=Bibliographie Maximilien d'Autriche, cinq cents ans après. Diplomatie et propagande |journal=Le Moyen Âge |date=5 September 2020 |issue=1 |pages=99–105 |doi=10.3917/rma.261.0099 |s2cid=242643244 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-moyen-age-2020-1-page-99.htm |access-date=3 June 2022 |language=fr |issn=0027-2841 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603164056/https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-moyen-age-2020-1-page-99.htm |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Mainka>{{cite journal |last1=Mainka |first1=Peter Johann |title=Diplomacia e Estado na primeira modernidade |journal=Revista Brasileira de História |date=April 2022 |volume=42 |issue=89 |pages=39–60 |doi=10.1590/1806-93472022v42n89-04 |s2cid=247214976 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Metzig |first1=Gregor |title=Kommunikation und Konfrontation: Diplomatie und Gesandtschaftswesen Kaiser Maximilians I. (1486–1519) |date=2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3110454574|pages=48, 53, 98, 99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBWyDQAAQBAJ |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=de}}</ref> Charles V combined the Spanish and the Imperial systems into one.<ref name=Mainka/>

His opponents, chiefly France, found a counterweight though, by the alliance with the Ottoman Empire, which Francis I admitted to be the only force that could prevent the Habsburgs from transforming European states into a Europe-wide empire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yurdusev |first1=A. Nuri |title=Ottoman Diplomacy: Conventional or Unconventional? |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0230554436 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjB6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Charles V's military might frightened other European rulers, thus while he was able to make the pope a reluctant agent like his grandfather Ferdinand had done, no lasting alliance could be achieved. After the Battle of Pavia, the European rulers united to prevent harsh terms from being placed upon France.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Knutsen |first1=Torbjørn L. |title=The Rise and Fall of World Orders |date=1999 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0719040580 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYn_f1jxNDoC&pg=PA33 |access-date=5 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

In the 1530s, in the context of the conflict between the Habsburg empire and their greatest opponent, the Ottomans, an espionage network was built by Charles and Don Alfonso Granai Castriota, the marquis of Atripalda, who conducted its operations. Naples became the main rearguard of the system. Gennaro Varriale writes that, "on the eve of the [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|Tunis campaign]], Emperor Charles V possessed a network of spies based in the [[Kingdom of Naples]] that watched over all the corners of the Ottoman Empire."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Varri̇ale |first1=Gennaro |title=The Power of the Quill: Espionage under Charles V during the Tunisian Campaign |journal=Osmanlı Araştırmaları |date=2021 |volume=58 |issue=58 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.18589/oa.1041507 |s2cid=245485372 |url=https://www.academia.edu/65919933 |access-date=5 September 2022 |issn=0255-0636 |doi-access=free |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033704/https://www.academia.edu/65919933 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Patronage of the arts and architecture ====
Several notable men were recognized with patronage by Charles. Noted Spanish poet [[Garcilaso de la Vega (poet)|Garcilaso de la Vega]], a nobleman and ambassador in the Imperial court of Charles, was first appointed ''contino'' (imperial guard) of the Emperor in 1520. [[Alfonso de Valdés]], twin brother of the humanist [[Juan de Valdés]] and [[Secretary of State (Ancient Regime in Spain)|secretary of the Emperor]], was a Spanish humanist. [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera]], an Italian [[historian]] at the service of Spain, wrote the first accounts of explorations in [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]] in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original [[Latin]] publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called "decades". His ''Decades'' are of great value in the history of geography and discovery. His ''De Orbe Novo'' (On the New World, 1530) describes the first contacts of Europeans and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], Native American civilizations in the Caribbean and North America, as well as Mesoamerica, and includes, for example, the first [[Europe]]an reference to [[India rubber]].

Martyr was given the post of chronicler (''cronista'') in the newly formed [[Council of the Indies]] (1524), commissioned by Charles V to describe what was occurring in the explorations of the [[New World]]. In 1523 Charles gave him the title of [[Count Palatine]], and in 1524 called him once more into the Council of the Indies. Martyr was [[investiture|invested]] by [[Pope Clement VII]], as proposed by Charles V, as [[Abbot]] of [[Jamaica]]. [[Juan Boscán Almogáver]] was a poet who participated with [[Garcilaso de la Vega (poet)|Garcilaso de la Vega]] in giving naval assistance to the [[Isle of Rhodes]] during a [[Siege of Rhodes (1522)|Turkish invasion]]. Boscà fought against the Turks again in 1532 with Álvarez de Toledo and Charles in Vienna. During this period, Boscán had made serious progress in his mastery of verse in the Italian style.<ref>Goodwin, Robert, ''Spain, the Center of the World''.</ref>

Charles commissioned several portraits from the painter [[Titian]], including the ''[[Portrait of Charles V (Titian, Munich)|Portrait of Charles V]]'' and the ''[[Equestrian Portrait of Charles V]]'', becoming a friend of the artist. These portraits helped to spread the image of Charles as a powerful ruler and protector of Christendom, promoting his image as an enlightened [[Renaissance]] ruler.

The building of the [[Palace of Charles V]] was commissioned by Charles, who wished to establish his residence close to the [[Alhambra]] palaces. Although the [[Catholic Monarchs]] had already altered some rooms of the Alhambra after the conquest of the city in 1492, Charles V intended to construct a permanent residence befitting an emperor. The project was given to [[Pedro Machuca]], an architect whose life and development are poorly documented. At the time, Spanish architecture was immersed in the [[Plateresque]] style, with traces of [[Gothic architecture]] still visible. Machuca built a palace corresponding stylistically to [[Mannerism]], a mode then in its infancy in [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]]. The exterior of the building uses a typically Renaissance combination of [[Rustication (architecture)|rustication]] on the lower level and [[ashlar]] on the upper. The building has never been a home to a monarch and stood roofless until 1957.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://granadainfo.com/alhambra/carlos.htm|title=The Alhambra in Granada: Carlos V Palace|website=granadainfo.com|language=EN|access-date=22 February 2018|archive-date=11 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111065311/http://granadainfo.com/alhambra/carlos.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alhambra.org/eng/index.asp?secc=/alhambra/alhambras_guide/carlos_v_palace|title=La Alhambra de Granada - alhambra.org|last=SL|first=Alhambra Valparaiso Ocio y Cultura|website=La Alhambra de Granada|language=es-es|access-date=22 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019020400/http://www.alhambra.org/eng/index.asp?secc=%2Falhambra%2Falhambras_guide%2Fcarlos_v_palace|archive-date=19 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Americas===
[[File:Leyes_Nuevas1.jpg|thumb|The frontispiece of the 1542 [[New Laws]] issued by Charles V, Emperor and King of Spain]]

From his maternal grandmother, [[Isabella I of Castile]], who had funded [[Christopher Columbus]]'s first voyage in 1492, Charles inherited Castile's overseas territories in the Americas. [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]] began in 1493, but these permanent settlements in the Caribbean and [[Spanish Main]] were marginal to Charles's European empire and not the focus of his attention.<ref>Simms, Brendan, ''Europe, the Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present'', p. 87</ref> Through the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] (1494), Spain and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] had agreed on a division of overseas territories, so that with the exception of [[Colonial Brazil|Brazil]], which Portugal could claim, Charles could claim the rest of the [[New World]].

The realm of his known possessions expanded with the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] (1519–1521) under [[conquistador]] [[Hernán Cortés]] and by [[Timeline of Magellan's circumnavigation|Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe]] in 1522. These successes convinced Charles of his divine mission to become the leader of [[Christendom]], which still perceived a significant threat from Islam.<ref name="Prescott">{{Cite book |last=Prescott |first=William Hickling |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html |title=History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes |publisher=Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library |year=1873 |isbn=1152295705 |edition=3rd |access-date=11 December 2008 |archive-date=29 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829093011/http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The conquest of central Mexico, bringing a high indigenous civilization under Spanish rule, compelled Charles to grapple with creating structures of institutional rule in the Americas. Charles had begun creating councils to oversee aspects of his realms, first reorganizing the existing [[Council of Castile]], established by the Catholic Monarchs. Indicating the Americas' eventual importance, he founded the [[Council of the Indies]] in 1524 to deal with the complexities of Castile's overseas possessions.

Unlike his European possessions that were not consolidated geographically but were all relatively near each other, ruling the Americas had to take into account the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to the creation of the viceroyalties, he established a high court ''[[Real Audiencia|audiencia]]'' to administer justice. He formalized conversion of indigenous populations to Christianity, the so-called "spiritual conquest", by sending [[Franciscan]], [[Dominican Order|Dominican]], and [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] friars starting in the mid-1520s. With the discovery of large deposits of silver in [[New Spain|northern Mexico]] in the 1540s and in 1545 in Peru at [[Cerro Rico|Potosí]], Charles's advisors urged regulation of mining to ensure that bullion was directed to crown coffers.

Ad hoc administrative solutions of the early conquest period gave way to Charles's establishment of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]] in [[Mexico City]] (1535), the Spanish capital founded on the ruins of the Aztec capital of [[Tenochtitlan]]. After the [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire]] in the 1530s, Charles established the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]] in the newly founded Spanish capital of [[Lima]] (1544). As it became clear that establishing royal control was important, Charles sought to undermine the growing power of the group of conquistadors in Mexico and Peru, awarded [[Encomienda|personal grants of indigenous labor in perpetuity]], by issuing the [[New Laws]] of 1542, ending grant holders' rights in perpetuity.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor: A New Life of Charles V'', 361.</ref>

Dominican friar [[Bartolomé de las Casas]]'s long term campaign to protect indigenous populations from Spanish conquerors' exploitation influenced Charles's new policy. In Peru, it resulted in a major Spanish rebellion against the crown when the newly appointed viceroy, [[Blasco Núñez Vela]], attempted to implement the measure. In Mexico, Viceroy don [[Antonio de Mendoza]] prudently did not. In Peru, the new viceroy was murdered. "To many Spanish settlers the New Laws seemed like a declaration of war, and their hostile reaction was swift and overwhelming."<ref>Parker, ''Emperor: A New Life of Charles V'', 361.</ref> 

The violent uprising necessitated a major military response, organized by [[Pedro de la Gasca]], to whom Charles granted sweeping powers in order to re-establish royal authority. The {{ill|Uprising of the Encomenderos|lt=rebellion in Peru|es|Gran Rebelión de Encomenderos}} coincided with [[Schmalkaldic War|one in Germany]]. In the Americas, Charles was forced to temper the initial order ending inheritance, allowing grants to be passed on to one further generation, but he refused to yield on the question of allowing enslavement of the indigenous.

Regarding the Spanish rebels supporting the cause of [[Gonzalo Pizarro]], who might have set up a kingdom of Peru with himself as ruler, Charles fully supported Pizarro's beheading and his supporters' execution and confiscation of property. This was similar to the treatment of ''comunero'' rebels early in his Iberian rule. Pizarro's execution marks the end of Spanish rebellion against the crown.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor: A New Life of Charles V'', pp. 364–367</ref><ref>Burkholder, Mark A. "New Laws of 1542" in ''[[Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture]]'', v. 4, p. 177</ref><ref>Cook David Noble, "Gonzalo Pizarro" in ''[[Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture]]'', v. 4, 417–418</ref> Relatively early in his rule, Charles assigned a concession (1528) in [[Venezuela Province]] to [[Bartholomeus V. Welser]], in compensation for his inability to repay debts owed. The concession, known as [[Klein-Venedig]] (''little Venice''), was revoked in 1546 during the rebellion in Peru by Spanish colonists against Charles.

The question of labor and treatment of indigenous populations had occupied Charles's maternal grandparents, and as indigenous populations in the Caribbean were decimated by disease and overwork, transshipment of [[Atlantic slave trade|African slaves]] to replace the labor force began. On 28 August 1518, Charles issued a charter authorizing the transportation of slaves directly from Africa to the Americas. Up until that point (since at least 1510), African slaves had usually been transported to Castile or Portugal and had then been transshipped to the Caribbean. Charles's decision to create a direct, more economically viable Africa to America slave trade fundamentally changed the nature and scale of the transatlantic slave trade.<ref name="Independent">{{Cite news |last=Keys |first=David |date=17 August 2018 |title=Details of horrific first voyages in transatlantic slave trade revealed |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/transatlantic-slave-trade-voyages-ships-log-details-africa-america-atlantic-ocean-deaths-disease-a8494546.html |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821003108/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/transatlantic-slave-trade-voyages-ships-log-details-africa-america-atlantic-ocean-deaths-disease-a8494546.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Protection of indigenous populations against Spaniards' exploitation was the key motivation behind Charles's issuance of the 1542 New Laws. With Gasca's suppression of Spanish colonists' rebellion in Peru, Charles was still concerned about the welfare of his indigenous subjects. So, on 3 July 1549,<ref name="auto5">{{Cite web |last=admin |date=7 August 2018 |title=La Efeméride : 3 de Julio de 1549 |url=https://centrocovarrubias.org/cdc/2018/08/07/la-efemeride-3-de-julio-de-1549/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=Centro Diego de Covarrubias |language=es}}</ref><ref name="Hernandez">{{cite journal |title=The Las Casas-Sepúlveda Controversy: 1550–1551 |url=https://sfsu.app.box.com/s/e961v1d3547vrxjf0i9q5o50hubdr5fj/file/915878862153 |journal=Ex Post Facto |publisher=[[San Francisco State University]] |volume=10 |pages=95–104 |access-date=13 April 2021 |author-last=Hernandez |author-first=Bonar Ludwig}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Hanke, Lewis |title=All Mankind is One: A study of the Disputation Between Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda in 1550 on the Intellectual and Religious Capacity of the American Indian |publisher=Northern Illinois University Press |year=1974 |location=Illinois |pages=67}}</ref> Charles ordered the Council of the Indies to stop all the conquests until it was certain that Spain was acting in accordance with the [[Science of morality|moral law]], so penetration into the American continent was suspended until 1556.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Indígenas sin explotación, esclavitud y exclusión |url=https://www.corsarios.net/indice-hispanoamerica-unida-el-poder-de-latinoamerica/indigenas-explotacion-esclavitud-y-exclusion/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |language=es-ES}}</ref> This was because philosophical questions arose, especially from [[Catholic]] [[jurist]]s and [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] [[List of Catholic philosophers and theologians|philosophers]], about whether the Hispanic Monarchy had the moral right to [[legally]] conquer the [[West Indies|Indies]].

Since 1542, a moral crisis was developing in the government because of the Spanish colonization in America. The [[Crown of Castile]] was overwhelmed by the constant denunciations of abuses it was receiving, especially from the conquests in Peru and those that occurred in the [[New Kingdom of Granada]], which could cause anguish in people of all [[Estates of the realm|Estates]], even if they were [[prelate]]s or [[knight]]s of the [[Spanish nobility]].<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Salmoral |first=Manuel Lucena |title=Planteamiento de la 'duda indiana' (1534–1549). Crisis de la conciencia nacional: las dudas de Carlos V |date=9 November 2017 |url=http://books.openedition.org/pupvd/2931 |work=Bartolomé de Las Casas : Face à l'esclavage des Noir-e-s en Amériques/Caraïbes. L'aberration du Onzième Remède (1516) |pages=159–183 |editor-last=Lavou Zoungbo |editor-first=Victorien |access-date=3 June 2023 |series=Études |place=Perpignan |publisher=Presses universitaires de Perpignan |language=es |isbn=978-2-35412-284-3}}</ref> Thus, Charles, influenced by the reflections of [[Francisco de Vitoria]] and the [[School of Salamanca]], together with the pressure of [[missionaries]], wanted to be sure that their power was beyond reproach. Therefore, it was ordered to stop all military companies in the overseas domains until a board of wise men ruled on the fairest way to carry them out, seriously considering the total or partial abandonment of the New World until the imperial doubt was resolved, regarding how to avoid in the future the possibility of abusive discoveries, overwhelming conquests and predatory colonizations that were based on the oppressive exploitation of indigenous labor.

In 1550, Charles convened a [[Valladolid debate|conference at Valladolid]] in order to consider the morality of the force used against the indigenous populations of the [[New World]], which included figures such as [[Bartolomé de las Casas]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Richard |title=Charles V: Duty and Dynasty – The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558 |year=2018 |isbn=978-1725852785 |pages=269–272|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}</ref> from which conceptions of the human rights of the Indians would arise according to the [[Thomistic]] [[natural law]], making the Hispanic Monarchy a pioneer, both in theory and in practice, on how to approach respect for the conquered.<ref name="auto5"/> [[Theologians]] and jurists from all parts of the empire began to arrive in the capital, presenting themselves with the best souls of Spain, such as [[Domingo de Soto]], [[Bartolomé Carranza]], [[Melchor Cano]], and also [[Pedro de la Gasca]] (Peru's first peacemaker after [[:es:Guerras civiles entre los conquistadores del Perú|Civil Wars between the conquerors of Peru]]) together with the jurisconsults of the Council of the Indies. 

Bartolomé de las Casas defended the position that the wars of conquest were unjust, while [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda]] defended the opposite. The court, after long debates, voted and tied, so there was no official sentence, but there were several binding reports in which the purpose was to ensure that the treatment given to the natives was correct. It was the first time that kings and philosophers conceded that men have fundamental rights for the mere fact of being men ([[Ius gentium]]), rights of the [[Eternal law|eternal Law]] that are prior to any [[positive law]] written in the treaties. Never before had a European people wondered in such depth where their own rights of the victor ended, and where the rights of the defeated begin.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Finally, Spain did not abandon the Indies, largely based on the sayings of Vitoria: "After many barbarians have converted there, it would not be convenient or lawful for the prince to abandon the administration of those provinces."<ref name=":0" /> Therefore, Spanish rule was maintained as Sepúlveda claimed, but it was recognized that the Indians were people with their own rights as de las Casas paid for and enshrined in the New Laws, together with the [[papal bull]] [[Sublimis Deus]]. Given this, there was no longer talks about conquest, but about pacification, so urbanization was resumed, with specific instructions to avoid harm to the Indians. The regulations on how to act in the future, in terms of discoveries and colonizations, were the following:<ref name=":1" />

{{Blockquote|text=-In the discoveries: They would be made with a license from the Audiencia and carrying at least one religious designated by it. On these trips it was forbidden to steal the goods from the natives and take them by force, except for some of them who wanted to go as interpreters. No Viceroy or Governor would undertake new voyages of discovery on their own. Neither by sea nor by land.

-In the colonizations: parcels would be prohibited from the first life; Indian slaves would be freed (it was forbidden to make them slaves in the future); a revision of the repartimientos de indios (to the Audiencias) would be ordered so that those that some Spaniards had in excess would pass to the Crown; All the Indians that private individuals had without legitimate title would be transferred to the Crown; it would be forbidden to charge the natives (except where it was inexcusable); moderate rates would be imposed on taxes and services; Rates and tributes would be completely abolished in those places where the Indians had been subjected to fierce exploitation (the [[Antilles]]).}}

==Dynasty and private life==
===Ancestors===
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor'''
|2= 2. [[Philip I of Castile]]
|3= 3. [[Joanna I of Castile]]
|4= 4. [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip">{{BLKO |wstitle=Habsburg, Philipp I. der Schöne von Oesterreich |volume=7 |year=1861 |page=112}}</ref>
|5= 5. [[Mary, Duchess of Burgundy]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip" />
|6= 6. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Joanna">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Joanna |volume=15 |page=421}}</ref>
|7= 7. [[Isabella I of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Joanna" />
|8= 8. [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]]<ref name="1911-Maximilian I">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Maximilian I. (emperor) |display=Maximilian I. |volume=17 |pages=922–932 |first=Arthur William |last=Holland}}</ref>
|9= 9. [[Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress|Eleanor of Portugal]]<ref name="1911-Maximilian I" />
|10= 10. [[Charles I, Duke of Burgundy]]<ref name="1911-Charles the Bold">{{cite EB1911 |last=Poupardin |first=René |author-link=René Poupardin |wstitle=Charles (Duke of Burgundy)|display=Charles, called The Bold, duke of Burgundy |volume=5 |pages=932–933}}</ref>
|11= 11. [[Isabella of Bourbon]]<ref name="1911-Charles the Bold" />
|12= 12. [[John II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand V">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ferdinand V. of Castile and Leon and II. of Aragon |volume=10 |pages=266–267}}</ref>
|13= 13. [[Juana Enriquez]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand V" />
|14= 14. [[John II of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Isabella">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Isabella of Castile |volume=14 |page=859}}</ref>
|15= 15. [[Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile|Isabella of Portugal]]<ref name="1911-Isabella" />
}}

===Education===
[[File:Portret van Adrianus VI (1459-1523) - naar Jan van Scorel - KU Leuven Kunstpatrimonium - S017.jpg|thumb|right|Adrian of Utrecht as Pope Adrian VI, after a portrait by Jan van Scorel (Art collection KU Leuven)]]
His father's sister Margaret was the mother figure in his life. She was a huge influence on Charles. A canny, learned, and artistic woman, with a court that included artists [[Bernard van Orley]] and [[Albrecht Dürer]] and master tapestry-maker [[Pieter van Aelst III|Pieter van Aelst]], she taught her nephew "above all that a court could be a salon."<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 26</ref>  She saw to his education, securing as tutor [[Adrian of Utrecht]], a member of the [[Brethren of the Common Life]], which advocated simplicity and promoted a cult of indigence and deprivation. Adrian later became Pope Adrian VI. The Brethren had many important members, including [[Thomas à Kempis]].<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 26–27</ref> A third major influence in Charles's early life was [[William de Croÿ]], Sieur de Chièves, who became his "governor and grand chamberlain", giving Charles a chivalrous education.  He was a tough taskmaster, and when questioned about it he said "Cousin, I am the defender and guardian of his youth. I do not want him to be incapable because he has not understood affairs nor been trained to work."<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 28</ref>

===Languages===
Charles spoke several languages from political necessity, though he does not seem to have been a very natural linguist. He was raised speaking [[French language|French]], which remained his most natural language, and is used in most surviving letters handwritten by him. He learned some [[Dutch language|Dutch]], being given lessons from the age of thirteen. He later added an acceptable [[Spanish language|Castilian Spanish]], which he was required to learn by the Castilian {{lang|es|[[Cortes Generales]]}}. He could also speak some [[Basque language|Basque]], acquired by the influence of the [[History of the Basques|Basque]] secretaries serving in the royal court.<ref name="Madariaga 712">{{Cite book |last=Madariaga Orbea, Juan |title=Sociedad y lengua vasca en los siglos XVII y XVIII |publisher=Euskaltzaindia |year=2014 |page=712}}</ref> He gained a decent command of [[German language|German]] following the Imperial election, though he never spoke it as well as French.<ref>''Charles V'', Pierre Chaunu and Michèle Escamilla</ref> 

By 1532, Charles was proficient in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and spoke Latin.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor: A New Life of Charles V'', p. 377</ref> A witticism sometimes attributed to Charles is: "I speak Spanish/Latin (depending on the source) to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse."<ref name="Wilkens1897">{{Cite book |last=Cornelius August Wilkens |title=Spanish Protestants in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=William Heinemann |year=1897 |page=66 |chapter=VIII. Juan de Valdés |access-date=24 July 2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBg1AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA66}}</ref> A variant of the quote is attributed to him by [[Jonathan Swift]] in his 1726 ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'', but there are no contemporary accounts referencing the quotation, which has many other variants and it is often attributed instead to [[Frederick the Great]].<ref>Burke, "Languages and communities in early modern Europe" p. 28; Holzberger, "The letters of George Santayana" p. 299</ref>

===Appearance and health===
Charles suffered from an enlarged [[lower jaw]] ([[mandibular prognathism]]), a congenital deformity that became considerably worse in later Habsburg generations, giving rise to the term [[Habsburg jaw]]. This deformity may have been caused by the family's long history of repeated intermarriages between close family members, as commonly practiced in royal families of that era to maintain dynastic control of territory.<ref>Francisco C. Ceballos, and G. Álvarez, "Royal dynasties as human inbreeding laboratories: the Habsburgs." ''Heredity'' 111.2 (2013): 114–121 [https://www.nature.com/articles/hdy201325 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504161334/https://www.nature.com/articles/hdy201325 |date=4 May 2021 }}.</ref>

Some advisors considered him physically weak and used that as a reason for him to delay his marriage to Mary Tudor.  A diplomat in Charles's court described him as "not much of a womaniser" and did not have out of wedlock children during his marriage.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor'', 67</ref> He suffered from fainting spells, which might have been [[epilepsy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=German Epilepsy Museum Kork |url=http://www.epilepsiemuseum.de/english/prominente.html |last=H. Schneble |publisher=Epilepsiemuseum.de |access-date=8 June 2012 |archive-date=28 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128172436/http://www.epilepsiemuseum.de/english/prominente.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was seriously afflicted with [[gout]], presumably caused by a diet consisting mainly of red meat.<ref>"Tests confirm old emperor's gout diagnosis." His The Record. 4 August 2006, Nation.</ref>

As he aged, his gout progressed from painful to crippling. In his retirement, he was carried around the [[Monastery of Yuste]] in a [[Litter (vehicle)|sedan chair]]. A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his rooms.{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}

=== Siblings ===
[[File:Children of Joanna and Philip.JPG|thumb|The children of Philip and Joanna]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
|-
|[[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor]]||15 November 1498||{{Death date and age|1558|2|25|1498|11|15|df=y}}|| first marriage in 1518, [[Manuel I of Portugal]] and had children;<br/>second marriage in 1530, [[Francis I of France]] and had no children.
|-
|[[Isabella of Austria|Isabella]]||18 July 1501||{{Death date and age|1526|1|19|1501|7|18|df=y}}||married in 1515, [[Christian II of Denmark]] and had children.
|-
|[[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]]||10 March 1503||{{Death date and age|1564|7|25|1503|3|10|df=y}}||married in 1521, [[Anna of Bohemia and Hungary]] and had children.
|-
|[[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary]]||15 September 1505||{{Death date and age|1558|10|18|1505|9|18|df=y}}||married in 1522, [[Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia]] and had no children.
|-
|[[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine]]||14 January 1507||{{Death date and age|1578|2|12|1507|1|14|df=y}}||married in 1525, [[John III of Portugal]] and had children.
|}

===Marriage===
[[File:La emperatriz Isabel de Portugal, por Tiziano.jpg|thumb|''[[Isabella of Portugal]]'' depicting Charles' wife, a 1548 portrait by [[Titian]]]]
[[File:Cenotafio de Carlos I de España y su familia.jpg|thumb|The bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella at the Basilica in [[El Escorial]]]]
[[File:Don_Juan_d'Austria_1.JPG|thumb|Don [[John of Austria]], the natural son of Charles during his widowhood]]
On 21 December 1507, Charles was betrothed to 11-year-old [[Mary Tudor, Queen of France|Mary]], the daughter of King [[Henry VII of England]] and younger sister to the future King [[Henry VIII]] of England, who was to take the throne in two years. The engagement was called off in 1513, on the advice of Cardinal [[Thomas Wolsey]]. Mary was instead married to King [[Louis XII]] of France in 1514.

After his ascension to the Spanish thrones of Castile and Aragon, negotiations for Charles's marriage began shortly after his arrival in Castile, with the Castilian nobles expressing their wishes for him to marry his first cousin [[Isabella of Portugal]], the daughter of King [[Manuel I of Portugal]] and Charles's aunt [[Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Maria of Aragon]]. The nobles desired Charles's marriage to a princess of Castilian blood, and a marriage to Isabella would have secured an alliance between Castile and Portugal. The 18-year-old King was in no hurry to marry and ignored the nobles' advice, exploring other marriage options.<ref>{{cite web |title=Henry VIII: June 1518, 1–15 pp. 1302–1311 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2, 1515–1518. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1864. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol2/pp1302-1311 |website=British History Online |access-date=11 June 2020 |archive-date=11 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611104710/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol2/pp1302-1311 |url-status=live }}</ref> Instead of marrying Isabella, he sent his sister [[Eleanor of Austria|Eleanor]] to marry Isabella's widowed father, King Manuel, in 1518.

In 1521, on the advice of his Flemish counsellors, especially [[William de Croÿ]], Charles became engaged to his other first cousin, [[Mary I of England|Mary]], daughter of his aunt, [[Catherine of Aragon]], and King Henry VIII, in order to secure an alliance with England. However, this engagement was very problematic because Mary was only six years old at the time, sixteen years Charles's junior, which meant that he would have to wait for her to be old enough to marry.

By 1525, Charles could not wait any longer to marry and have legitimate children as heirs. He had abandoned the idea of an English alliance, cancelled his engagement to Mary and decided to marry Isabella and form an alliance with Portugal. He wrote to Isabella's brother, King [[John III of Portugal]], making a double marriage contract – Charles would marry Isabella and John would marry Charles's youngest sister, [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine]].<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 84, 88</ref>

A marriage to Isabella was more beneficial for Charles, as she was closer to him in age, was fluent in Spanish and provided him with a very handsome dowry of 900,000 ''doblas de oro castellanas'' would help to solve the financial problems brought on by the Italian Wars. The marriage brought him the additional titles as "monarch of the Canaries [Canary Islands] and of the [Portuguese] Indies, the isles of mainland, and the Ocean Sea." Marrying Isabella would allow Charles to have her serve as regent in Spain whenever he left.<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 84, 88</ref> Ultimately this union would result in their son Philip having the strongest claim to the Portuguese throne when the [[House of Aviz]] died out in 1580, resulting in the [[Iberian Union]].

On 10 March 1526, Charles and Isabella met at the [[Alcázar of Seville]]. The marriage was originally a political arrangement, but on their first meeting, the couple fell deeply in love: Isabella captivated the Emperor with her beauty and charm. They were married that very same night in a quiet ceremony in the Hall of Ambassadors, just after midnight. Following their wedding, Charles and Isabella spent a long and happy honeymoon at the [[Alhambra]] in [[Granada]]. Charles began the construction of the [[Palace of Charles V]] in 1527, wishing to establish a permanent residence befitting an emperor and empress in the Alhambra palaces. However, the palace was not completed during their lifetimes and remained roofless until the late 20th century.<ref>[http://www.alhambra.org/eng/index.asp?secc=/alhambra/history_alhambra/palacio_carlos_v Palace of Charles V] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924081126/http://www.alhambra.org/eng/index.asp?secc=%2Falhambra%2Fhistory_alhambra%2Fpalacio_carlos_v |date=24 September 2016 }}, Alhambra.org</ref>

Despite the Emperor's long absences due to political affairs abroad, the marriage was a happy one, as both partners were always devoted and faithful to each other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamen |first=H. |url=https://archive.org/details/philipofspain00kame/page/2 |title=Philip of Spain |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300070811 |page=[https://archive.org/details/philipofspain00kame/page/2 2] |author-link=Henry Kamen}}</ref> The Empress acted as regent of Spain during her husband's absences, and she proved herself to be a good politician and ruler, thoroughly impressing the Emperor with many of her political accomplishments and decisions.

The marriage lasted for 13 years until Isabella's death in 1539. The Empress contracted a fever during the third month of her seventh pregnancy, which resulted in antenatal complications that caused her to miscarry a stillborn son. Her health further deteriorated due to an infection, and she died two weeks later on 1 May 1539, aged 35. Charles was left so grief-stricken by his wife's death that for two months he shut himself up in a monastery, where he prayed and mourned for her in solitude.{{sfn|Kamen|1997|pp=6–7}} 

Charles never recovered from Isabella's death, dressing in black for the rest of his life to show his eternal mourning, and, unlike most kings of the time, he never remarried. In memory of his wife, the Emperor commissioned the painter [[Titian]] to paint several posthumous portraits of Isabella. The finished portraits included Titian's ''[[Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (Titian)|Portrait of Isabella of Portugal]]'' and ''[[La Gloria (Titian)|La Gloria]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Glory – The Collection |url=https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-glory/66149817-6f88-4e5f-a09a-81f63a84d145 |website=Museo Nacional del Prado |access-date=28 July 2017 |archive-date=7 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807064418/https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-glory/66149817-6f88-4e5f-a09a-81f63a84d145 |url-status=live }}</ref> Charles kept these paintings with him whenever he travelled, and they were among those that he brought with him after his retirement to the [[Monastery of Yuste]] in 1557.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Empress Isabella of Portugal – The Collection |url=https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/empress-isabella-of-portugal/d4eddf35-c76c-4c11-8f2b-099f7b71d696 |website=Museo Nacional del Prado |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308203311/https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/empress-isabella-of-portugal/d4eddf35-c76c-4c11-8f2b-099f7b71d696 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

In 1540, Charles paid tribute to Isabella's memory when he commissioned the Flemish composer [[Thomas Crecquillon]] to compose new music as a memorial to her. Crecquillon composed his ''Missa 'Mort m'a privé'' in memory of the Empress. It expresses the Emperor's grief and great wish for a heavenly reunion with his beloved wife.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Crecquillon: Missa 'Mort m'a privé', motets and chansons |url=https://www.brabantensemble.com/discography/thomas-crecquillon-missa-mort-ma-prive-motets-and-chansons/ |website=The Brabant Ensemble |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224142853/https://www.brabantensemble.com/discography/thomas-crecquillon-missa-mort-ma-prive-motets-and-chansons/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his lifetime, Charles V had several nonmarital liaisons, including some that produced children. One relationship was with his step-grandmother, [[Germaine de Foix]], which may have produced a child, [[Isabella of Castile (born 1518)|Isabel]].<ref name="Thomas, The Golden Empire, 38">Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 38</ref> After the death of his wife, Charles "seduced [[Barbara Blomberg]], a teenager exactly the same age as his son Philip." He kept the relationship and the existence of this out-of-wedlock son secret, "no doubt because he felt ashamed of his affair with a teenager when he was forty-six." The child named Gerónimo, later became known as [[John of Austria]]; the emperor made provisions for the child in a secret codicil to his will. As with his other out-of-wedlock children, the baby was taken from the mother. He met this son once. The relationship was not revealed to his legitimate children in his lifetime, but they became aware of the relationship after his death.<ref>Parker, ''Emperor'', pp. 400–401</ref>

===Issue===
Charles and Isabella had seven legitimate children, but only three of them survived to adulthood. Charles also had natural children before he married and after he was widowed.
{| style="text-align:center" class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! style="width:100px;"| Portrait !! Lifespan !! Notes
|-
| '''[[Philip II of Spain]]'''<br />
|| [[File:Portrait of Philip II of Spain by Sofonisba Anguissola - 002b.jpg|120px]]
|| 21 May 1527 –<br/> 13 September 1598
|| Only surviving son, successor of his father in the Spanish crowns and became king of Portugal.
|-
| '''[[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|Maria]]'''<br />
|| [[File:Maria of Spain 1557.jpg|120px]]
|| 21 June 1528 –<br/>26 February 1603
|| Married her first cousin [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor]].
|-
| '''Ferdinand'''<br />
|| [[File:Greater Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556).svg|120px]]
|| 22 November 1529 –<br/> 13 July 1530
|| Died in infancy.
|-
| '''Son'''<br />
|| [[File:Greater Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556).svg|120px]]
|| 29 June 1534
|| Stillborn.
|-
| '''[[Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal|Joanna]]'''<br />
|| [[File:Alonso Sánchez Coello - Portrait of Juana of Austria, Princess of Portugal - Google Art Project.jpg|120px]]
|| 24 June 1535 –<br/>7 September 1573
|| Married her first cousin [[João Manuel, Prince of Portugal]].
|-
| '''John'''<br />
|| [[File:Greater Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556).svg|120px]]
|| 19 October 1537 –<br/> 20 March 1538
|| Died in infancy.
|-
| '''Son'''<br />
|| [[File:Greater Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556).svg|120px]]
|| 21 April 1539
|| Stillborn.
|}

Due to Philip II being a grandson of [[Manuel I of Portugal]] through his mother, he was in the line of succession to the throne of Portugal, and claimed it after his uncle's death, [[Henry, King of Portugal|Henry, the Cardinal-King]], in 1580, establishing the [[Iberian Union|personal union between Spain and Portugal]].

Charles also had six children out of wedlock:

* Infanta [[Isabella of Castile (born 1518)|Isabella of Castile]] (20 August 1518 – 1537), perhaps daughter of Charles's maternal step-grandmother, [[Germaine of Foix]],<ref name="Thomas, The Golden Empire, 38"/> but strongly disputed by biographer [[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Geoffrey Parker]].<ref>Parker, ''Emperor'', 545–546</ref> Isabella died at the age of 19, never married, and had no issue.
* [[Margaret of Parma|Margaret of Austria]] (1522–1586), daughter of [[Johanna van der Gheynst]],<ref name="Thomas, The Golden Empire, 37">Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 37</ref>{{sfn|Fletcher|2016|p=50}} a servant of [[Charles I de Lalaing]], Seigneur de Montigny, daughter of Gilles Johann van der Gheynst and wife Johanna van der Caye van Cocamby. Married firstly with [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence]], and secondly with [[Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma]].
* Joanna of Austria (1522–1530), daughter of Catalina de Rebolledo (or de Xériga), a lady-in-waiting of Queen [[Joanna I of Castile]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hoy.es/extremadura/hija-secreta-carlos-20200112003531-ntvo.html|title=La hija secreta de Carlos V|language=es|work=hoy.es|date=12 January 2020|access-date=31 May 2021|archive-date=21 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221124659/https://www.hoy.es/extremadura/hija-secreta-carlos-20200112003531-ntvo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> or attached to the household of [[Henry of Nassau]]. She was brought up in an Augustinian convent in Madrigal de las Altas Torres.<ref name="Thomas, The Golden Empire, 37"/>
* [[Tadea of Austria]] (1523 – {{Circa|1562}}), daughter of Orsolina della Penna. Married to Sinibaldo di Copeschi.<ref>Thomas, ''The Golden Empire'', 37–38</ref>
* [[Cornelis de Hooghe]] (1541–1583), [[Dutch people|Dutch]] cartographer{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
* [[John of Austria]] (1547–1578), victor of the [[Battle of Lepanto]], son of [[Barbara Blomberg]].<ref>Parker, Geoffrey. ''Emperor'', pp. 400–401, 483–484, 560</ref>

<gallery>
File:Anthonis Mor - Margaret, Duchess of Parma - WGA16182.jpg|{{Center|Margaret of Parma}}
File:John of Austria portrait.jpg|{{Center|John of Austria}}
</gallery>

===Titles and coat of arms===
{{Further|Coat of arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}

[[File:Armadura de Carlos V a caballo.jpg|thumb|The equestrian armour of Emperor Charles V. Piece drawn from the collection of the [[Royal Armoury of Madrid]]]]
Charles V styled himself as Holy Roman Emperor after his election, according to a Papal dispensation conferred to the Habsburg family by [[Pope Julius II]] in 1508 and confirmed in 1519 to the prince-electors by the legates of [[Pope Leo X]]. Although Papal coronation was no longer necessary to confirm the Imperial title, Charles V [[Coronation of Charles V|was crowned]] in the city of Bologna by [[Pope Clement VII]] in the medieval fashion.

Charles V accumulated a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Following the Pacts of Worms (21 April 1521) and Brussels (7 February 1522), he secretly gave the Austrian lands to his younger brother Ferdinand and elevated him to the status of archduke.<ref>[https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd118532502.html#ndbcontent Ferdinand I.] ''[[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]]''</ref> Nevertheless, according to the agreements, Charles continued to style himself as archduke of Austria and maintained that Ferdinand acted as his vassal and vicar.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5OcgAwAAQBAJ&q=Ferdinand+younger+brother+vassal+of+Charles&pg=PA210|title=German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400–1650|isbn=978-1139481151|author1=Thomas A Brady JR|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5T6uAAAAMAAJ&q=Ferdinand+lieutenant+1521|title = A Treatise on International Law: With an Introductory Essay on the Definition and Nature of the Laws of Human Conduct|last1 = Foulke|first1 = Roland Roberts|year = 1920}}</ref> The pacts of 1521–1522 imposed restrictions on the governorship and regency of Ferdinand. For example, all of Ferdinand's letters to Charles V were signed "your obedient brother and servant".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZVHAAAAIAAJ&q=Ferdinand+Charles+v+muy+poderoso&pg=PA487|title=Memoirs of the Court, Aristocracy, and Diplomacy of Austria|last1=Vehse|first1=Carl Eduard|year=1856}}</ref> Nonetheless, the same agreements promised Ferdinand the designation as future emperor and the transfer of hereditary rights over Austria at the imperial succession.

Following the death of [[Louis II of Hungary|Louis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia]], at the [[Battle of Mohacs]] in 1526, Charles V favoured the election of Ferdinand as king of [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526-1867)|Hungary]] (and [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Croatia]]) and [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]]. Despite this, Charles also styled himself as king of Hungary and Bohemia and retained this titular use in official acts (such as his testament) as in the case of the Austrian lands. As a consequence, cartographers and historians have described those kingdoms both as realms of Charles V and as possessions of Ferdinand, not without confusion. Others, such as the Venetian envoys, reported that the states of Ferdinand were "all held in common with the Emperor".<ref>''Relazione di Germania 1526'' in ''Relazioni degli ambasciatori Veneti al Senato: Germania''</ref>

Therefore, although he had agreed on the future division of the dynasty between Ferdinand and [[Philip II of Spain]], during his own reign Charles V conceived the existence of a single "House of Austria" of which he was the sole head.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsQeBAAAQBAJ&q=House+of+Austria&pg=PA53|title = The Emperor Charles V|isbn = 978-1317880820|last1 = Rady|first1 = Martyn|year= 2014| publisher=Routledge }}</ref> In the abdications of 1554–1556, Charles left his personal possessions to Philip II and the Imperial title to Ferdinand. The titles of king of Hungary, Croatia, etc., were also nominally left to the Spanish line (in particular to [[Carlos, Prince of Asturias]] and son of Philip II). However, Charles's Imperial abdication marked the beginning of Ferdinand's ''[[suo jure]]'' rule in Austria and his other lands: despite the claims of Philip and his descendants, Hungary and Bohemia were left under the nominal and substantial rule of Ferdinand and his successors. Formal disputes between the two lines over Hungary and Bohemia were to be solved with the [[Onate treaty]] of 1617.

As part of [[Andreas Palaiologos]]' will, he theoretically inherited the title of [[Eastern Roman Emperor]] from [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella I of Castille]],{{Sfn|Setton|1978|p=463}}{{Sfn|Enepekides|1960|p=|pp=138–143}}{{Sfn|Freiberg|2014|p=152}} therefore cementing the [[Problem of two emperors|claim of the Holy Roman Empire]] [[Succession of the Roman Empire#Modern-era nationalist revivals|of inheriting the Roman legacy]] since the [[Fall of Constantinople]]. However, the Byzantine imperial title was never formally hereditary and rested on possession of that city, which led to imperial status being claimed by the Ottoman sultans.

Charles's full titulature went as follows:{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

''Charles, [[by the grace of God]], [[Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor of the Romans]], [[Andreas Palaiologos#Later life and death|forever]] [[Augustus (honorific)|August]], [[Kingdom of Germany|King in (of) Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|King of Italy]], King of all Spains, of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Kingdom of León|León]], of [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)|Hungary]], of [[Kingdom of Dalmatia|Dalmatia]], of [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Croatia]], [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarra]], [[Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile)|Grenada]], [[Kingdom of Toledo (Crown of Castile)|Toledo]], [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Kingdom of Majorca|Mallorca]], [[Kingdom of Seville|Sevilla]], [[Kingdom of Córdoba|Cordova]], [[Kingdom of Murcia|Murcia]], [[Kingdom of Jaén|Jaén]], [[Kingdom of the Algarve|Algarves]], [[Taifa of Algeciras|Algeciras]], [[Kingdom of Gibraltar|Gibraltar]], the [[Canary Islands]], King of both [[Kingdom of Naples|Hither]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Ultra Sicily]], of [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Sardinia]], [[Corsica]], [[King of Jerusalem]], [[King of the Indies]], of the Islands and Mainland of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Ocean Sea]], [[Archduchy of Austria|Archduke of Austria]], [[Duke of Burgundy]], [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]], [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]], [[Duchy of Styria|Styria]], [[Duchy of Carinthia|Carinthia]], [[Duchy of Carniola|Carniola]], [[Duchy of Limburg|Limburg]], [[Duchy of Luxembourg|Luxembourg]], [[Duchy of Guelders|Gelderland]], [[Neopatria]], [[Duchy of Württemberg|Württemberg]], [[Landgrave]] of [[Upper Alsace|Alsace]], Prince of [[Swabia]], [[Prince of Asturias|Asturia]], [[County of Flanders|Count of Flanders]], [[Habsburg Castle|Habsburg]], [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]], [[County of Gorizia|Gorizia]], [[County of Barcelona|Barcelona]], [[County of Artois|Artois]], [[County of Burgundy|Burgundy Palatine]], [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]], [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[County of Zeeland|Seeland]], [[County of Ferrette|Ferrette]], [[County of Kyburg|Kyburg]], [[County of Namur|Namur]], [[County of Roussillon|Roussillon]], [[County of Cerdanya|Cerdagne]], [[County of Drenthe|Drenthe]], [[County of Zutphen|Zutphen]], [[Margrave]] of the Holy Roman Empire, [[Burgau]], [[Judge of Arborea|Oristano]] and [[Gociano]], Lord of [[Seignory of Frisia|Frisia]], the [[Windic March|Wendish March]], [[Pordenone]], [[Lordship of Biscay|Biscay]], [[Molina de Aragón|Molina]], [[Salins, Switzerland|Salins]], [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] and [[Mechelen]].''

{| class="wikitable sortable noresize"
|-
!colspan=2|Title!!From!!To!!Regnal name
|-
|[[File:Blason fr Bourgogne.svg|40px]] || Titular [[Duke of Burgundy]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Coat of arms of Brabant.svg|40px]] || [[Duke of Brabant]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of the Duke of Limburg.svg|40px]] || [[Duke of Limburg]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Austria coat of arms simple.svg|40px]] || [[Duke of Lothier]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of the Count of Luxembourg.svg|40px]] || [[Counts, Dukes and Grand Dukes of Luxembourg|Duke of Luxemburg]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles III
|-
|[[File:Namur Arms.svg|40px]] || [[Marquis of Namur|Margrave of Namur]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of County of Burgundy.svg|40px]] || [[Count Palatine of Burgundy]] || 25 September 1506 || 5 February 1556 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of Robert dArtois.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Artois]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Blason Charolais.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Charolais]] || 25 September 1506 || 21 September 1558 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of Flanders.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Flanders]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles III
|-
|[[File:Hainaut Modern Arms.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Hainault]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Counts of Holland Arms.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Holland]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Coatofarmszeeland.PNG|40px]] || [[Count of Zeeland]] || 25 September 1506 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Arms of the Crown of Castile (15th Century).svg|40px]] || [[List of Castilian monarchs|King of Castile and León]] || 14 March 1516 || 16 January 1556 || Charles I
|-
|[[File:Royal arms of Aragon (Crowned).svg|40px]] || [[King of Aragon]] || 14 March 1516 || 16 January 1556 || Charles I
|- 
|[[File:Arms of the Aragonese Kings of Sicily(Crowned).svg|40px]] || [[King of Sicily]] || 14 March 1516 || 16 January 1556 || Charles I (II)
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Catalonia.svg|40px]] || [[Count of Barcelona]] || 14 March 1516 || 16 January 1556 || Charles I
|-
|[[File:Arms of Ferdinand I of Naples.svg|40px]] || [[Kingdom of Naples|King of Naples]] || 14 March 1516 || 25 July 1554 || Charles IV
|-
|[[File:Austria coat of arms simple.svg|40px]] || [[List of rulers of Austria|Archduke of Austria]] || 12 January 1519 || 12 January 1521 || Charles I
|-
|[[File:Arms of the Holy Roman Empire (after 1433).svg|40px]] || [[Holy Roman Emperor]] || 28 June 1519 || 27 August 1556 || Charles V
|-
|[[File:Blason DE saint empire (une tête).svg|40px]] || [[King of the Romans]] || 23 October 1520 || 24 February 1530 || Charles V
|-
||[[File:Escudo de Zutphen 1581.png|40px]] || [[Count of Zutphen]] || 12 September 1543 || 25 October 1555 || Charles II
|-
|[[File:Guelders-Jülich Arms.svg|40px]] || [[Duke of Guelders]] || 12 September 1543 || 25 October 1555 || Charles III
|}

Below is the coat of arms of Charles V according to the description: Arms of Charles added to those of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], [[Kingdom of Leon|Leon]], [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Kingdom of Sicily|Two Sicilies]] and [[Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile)|Granada]] present in the previous coat, those of [[List of rulers of Austria|Austria]], [[Duchy of Burgundy|ancient Burgundy]], modern Burgundy, [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]], [[County of Flanders|Flanders]] and [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]]. Charles I also incorporates the [[pillars of Hercules]] with the inscription "{{Lang|la|[[Plus Ultra]]|italic=no}}", representing the overseas Spanish empire and surrounding coat with the [[Order of the Golden Fleece|collar of the Golden Fleece]], as sovereign of the Order ringing the shield with the imperial crown and Acola double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire and behind it the [[Cross of Burgundy]]. From 1520 added to the corresponding quarter to Aragon and Sicily, one in which the arms of Jerusalem, Naples and [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] are incorporated.

<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px">
File:Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain (1516-1518).svg|Coat of arms of Charles I as king of Spain before becoming Holy Roman Emperor.
File:Greater Coat of Arms of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1530-1556).svg|Coat of Arms of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor.
File:Coat of arms of Charles, Infant of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy.png|Arms of Charles, [[Infante]] of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, KG at the time of his installation as a knight of the Most Noble [[Order of the Garter]].
File:Royal Bend of Charles V.svg|Variant of the [[Royal Bend of Castile]] used by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
</gallery>

==Historiography, commemoration, and popular culture==
{{Main|Cultural depictions of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}

[[File:Charles V and Empress Isabella of Portugal, by Peter Paul Rubens.jpg|thumb|Emperor Charles V and Empress Isabella. [[Peter Paul Rubens]] after [[Titian]], 17th century]]
Charles V has traditionally attracted considerable scholarly attention. There are differences among historians regarding his character, his rule and achievements (or failures) in the countries in his personal empire as well as various social movements and wider problems associated with his reign. Historically seen as a great ruler by some or a tragic failure of a politician by others, he is generally seen by modern historians as an overall capable politician, a brave and effective military leader, although his political vision and financial management tend to be questioned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dixon |first1=C. Scott |title=The Histories of Emperor Charles V: Nationale Perspektiven Von Persönlichkeit und Herrschaft |date=2005 |publisher=Aschendorff |isbn=978-3402065747 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gBoAAAAMAAJ |access-date=10 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Boone|2021}}{{sfn|Ferdinandy|2021}}<ref name=Kohler>{{cite web |last1=Kohler |first1=Alfred |title=Kohler on Tracy, 'Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics' |website=Habsburg – H-Net reviews |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/19384/reviews/19830/kohler-tracy-emperor-charles-v-impresario-war-campaign-strategy |access-date=10 February 2022 |archive-date=10 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210132751/https://networks.h-net.org/node/19384/reviews/19830/kohler-tracy-emperor-charles-v-impresario-war-campaign-strategy |url-status=live }}</ref> References to Charles in popular culture include a large number of legends and folk tales; literary renderings of historical events connected to his life and romantic adventures, his relationship to Flanders, and his abdication; and products marketed in his name.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Keizer Karel in de literatuur |url=http://www.literair.gent.be/html/overzichtdetail.asp?AID=724 |last=Heymans, Frans |date=4 June 2007 |website=Overzichten |publisher=Literair Gent, an initiative by the Municipal Public Library of Ghent and 'Gent Cultuurstad' |language=nl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200908/http://www.literair.gent.be/html/overzichtdetail.asp?AID=724 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=20 July 2007}}</ref><!--2007-07-20 CHAPTER TO BE FURTHER HANDLED, GIVE ME A FEW DAYS PLEASE - e.g. GHENT 'Stroppendragers'; Boon, Louis Paul // De bestraffing van Gent – Uit: Louis Paul Boon: Het Geuzenboek (1979), p. 140-143 -->

Charles V as a ruler has been commemorated over time in many parts of Europe. An imperial resolution of [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]], dated 28 February 1863, included Charles V in the list of the "''most famous Austrian rulers and generals worthy of everlasting emulation''", and honored him with a life-size statue, made by the Bohemian sculptor [[Emanuel Max]], located at the [[Museum of Military History, Vienna]].<ref>Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Museum of Military History in Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms. Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, {{ISBN|3702301135}}, p. 30.</ref> The 400th anniversary of his death, celebrated in 1958 in [[Francoist Spain]], brought together the local [[National Catholicism|National Catholic]] intelligentsia and a number of European (Catholic) conservative figures, underpinning an imperial nostalgia for Charles V's Europe and the ''Universitas Christiana'', also propelling a peculiar brand of [[europeanism]].<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Gustavo|last=Alares|title=Nostalgias de Europa. La conmemoración del IV Centenario de la muerte de Carlos V en 1958|url=https://journals.openedition.org/mcv/13837|year=2020|journal=Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez|volume=50|issue=2|pages=117–140|publisher=[[Casa de Velázquez]]|location=Madrid|access-date=20 March 2021|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417184241/https://journals.openedition.org/mcv/13837|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2000, celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Charles's birth took place in Belgium.<ref>Dixon, C. Scott (1 January 2003). "Charles V and the Historians: Some Recent German Works on the Emperor and his Reign". German History. 21 (1): 104–124. {{doi|10.1191/0266355403gh277xx}}. Retrieved 11 February 2022.</ref>

===Public monuments===
[[File:Monumento a Carlos V.jpg|thumb|A statue of Charles V in [[Granada]], Spain]]
[[File:Escutcheon of Charles V of Spain MET DT287185.jpg|thumb|''Escutcheon of Charles V'', a 1912 watercolour portrait [[John Singer Sargent]], now housed at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City]]]]
Unusually among major European monarchs, Charles V discouraged monumental depictions of himself during his lifetime. 
* The [[Charles V Monument (Palermo)|Charles V Monument in Palermo]] was erected in 1631 and depicts him triumphant following the [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|Conquest of Tunis]].
* Among other posthumous depictions, there are statues of Charles on the façade of the [[Ghent City Hall]] and the [[Royal Palace of Caserta]]. 
* A statue of Charles, donated by the city of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], was erected in 1966 in the [[Prinsenhof (Ghent)|Prinsenhof in Ghent]] where he was born.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prinsenhof: Medieval gem in the city centre |url=https://visit.gent.be/en/see-do/prinsenhof |website=VisitGent |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230123723/https://visit.gent.be/en/see-do/prinsenhof |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The [[Plaza del Emperador Carlos V]] is a square in the city of [[Madrid]] that is named after Charles V.
* A bust of Charles V is located at the [[Walhalla (memorial)]] in Germany.

===Literature===
* In {{lang|nl|De heerelycke ende vrolycke daeden van Keyser Carel den V}}, published by Joan de Grieck in 1674, the short stories, anecdotes, citations attributed to the emperor, and legends about his encounters with famous and ordinary people, depict a noble Christian monarch with a perfect cosmopolitan personality and a strong sense of humour. Conversely, in [[Charles De Coster]]'s masterpiece ''[[The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak|Thyl Ulenspiegel]]'' (1867), after his death Charles V is consigned to Hell as punishment for the acts of the [[Inquisition]] under his rule, his punishment being that he would feel the pain of anyone tortured by the Inquisition. De Coster's book also mentions the story on the spectacles in the coat of arms of [[Oudenaarde]], the one about a paysant of [[Berchem]] in ''Het geuzenboek'' (1979) by [[Louis Paul Boon]], while {{Interlanguage link|Abraham Hans|nl}} (1882–1939) included both tales in ''De liefdesavonturen van keizer Karel in Vlaanderen''.
* [[Lord Byron]]'s ''Ode to [[Napoleon Buonaparte]]'' refers to Charles as "The Spaniard".
* Charles V is a notable character in [[Simone de Beauvoir]]'s ''[[All Men Are Mortal]]''.

===Plays===
* Charles V appears as a character in the play ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' by the Elizabethan playwright [[Christopher Marlowe]]. In Act 4 Scene 1 of the A Text, Faustus attends Court by the Emperor's request and with the assistance of [[Mephistopheles]] conjures up spirits representing [[Alexander the Great]] and his paramour as a demonstration of his magical powers.

===Opera===
* [[Ernst Krenek]]'s opera ''[[Karl V (opera)|Karl V]]'' (opus 73, 1930) examines the title character's career via flashbacks.
* In the third act of [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Ernani]]'', the election of Charles as Holy Roman Emperor is presented. Charles (Don Carlo in the opera) prays before the tomb of [[Charlemagne]]. With the announcement that he is elected as Carlo Quinto he declares an amnesty including the eponymous bandit Ernani who had followed him there to murder him as a rival for the love of Elvira. The opera, based on the [[Victor Hugo]] play ''[[Hernani (drama)|Hernani]]'', portrays Charles as a callous and cynical adventurer whose character is transformed by the election into a responsible and clement ruler.
* In another Verdi opera, ''[[Don Carlo]]'', the final scene implies that it is Charles V, now living the last years of his life as a hermit, who rescues his grandson, Don Carlo, from his father [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] and the Inquisition, by taking Carlo with him to his hermitage at the monastery in Yuste.

===Television and film===
* Charles V is portrayed by Hans Lefebre and is figured prominently in the 1953 film ''[[Martin Luther (1953 film)|Martin Luther]]'', covering Luther's years from 1505 to 1530.
* Charles V is portrayed by [[Torben Liebrecht]] and is figured prominently in the 2003 film ''[[Luther (2003 film)|Luther]]'' covering the life of [[Martin Luther]] up until the [[Diet of Augsburg]].
* Charles V is portrayed by [[Sebastian Armesto]] in one episode of the Showtime series ''[[The Tudors]]''.
* Charles V is the main subject of the [[Televisión Española|TVE]] series ''[[Carlos, Rey Emperador]]'' and is portrayed by [[Álvaro Cervantes]].
*Charles V is played by [[Adrien Brody]] in the upcoming{{when|date=October 2025}} movie ''Emperor''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Every Upcoming Adrien Brody Movie & TV Show |url=https://screenrant.com/adrien-brody-upcoming-tv-show-movie-release/ |access-date=8 February 2022 |work=ScreenRant |date=23 August 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208143251/https://screenrant.com/adrien-brody-upcoming-tv-show-movie-release/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*Charles V is portrayed by [[Rupert Everett]] in ''[[The Serpent Queen]]''.

==Male-line family tree==
{{Habsburg family tree}}

==See also==
*[[Royal Armoury of Madrid]]
*[[Museum of Military History, Vienna]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite web |last1=Boone |first1=Rebecca Ard |title=Charles V, Emperor |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0460.xml |website=Oxford Bibliographies Online (obo) |date=2021 |access-date=8 February 2022 |language=en |archive-date=9 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209060215/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0460.xml |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Enepekides |first=P. K. |date=1960 |chapter=Das Wiener Testament des Andreas Palaiologos vom 7. April 1502 |trans-chapter=The Vienna Testament of Andreas Palaiologos from 7 April 1502 |pages=138–143 |language=de |title=Akten des 11. Internat. Byzantinisten-Kongresses 1958 |location=Munich |publisher=C.H. Beck |oclc=761003148}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ferdinandy |first1=Michael de |title=Charles V: Holy Roman emperor |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-V-Holy-Roman-emperor |date=2021 |access-date=14 October 2022 |language=en |archive-date=9 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509115658/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107009/Charles-V |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Fletcher |first=Catherine |title=The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de' Medici |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Freiberg |first=Jack |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X760BAAAQBAJ&q=Constantinople |title=Bramante's Tempietto, the Roman Renaissance, and the Spanish Crown |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1107042971 |location=New York}}
* {{The Papacy and the Levant |volume=2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Parker|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Parker (historian)|title=Emperor: A New Life of Charles V|year=2019|location=New Haven and London|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-19652-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eaaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR3}}
* {{cite book |last=Tracy |first=James D. |title=Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics |publisher=Cambridge UP |year=2002}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}

=== English ===
* Atkins, Sinclair. "Charles V and the Turks", ''[[History Today]]'' (Dec 1980) 30#12 pp.&nbsp;13–18
* Blockmans, W. P., and Nicolette Mout. ''The World of Emperor Charles V'' (2005)
* [[Wim Blockmans|Blockmans, Wim]]. ''Emperor Charles V, 1500–1558.'' (Oxford University Press, 2002). [https://archive.org/details/emperorcharlesv10000bloc online]
* [[Karl Brandi|Brandi, Karl]]. ''The Emperor Charles V: The growth and destiny of a man and of a world-empire'' (1939) [https://archive.org/details/emperorcharlesvg0000bran online]
* Espinosa, Aurelio. "The Grand Strategy of Charles V (1500–1558): Castile, War, and Dynastic Priority in the Mediterranean", ''Journal of Early Modern History'' (2005) 9#3 pp.&nbsp;239–283. [https://www.academia.edu/download/47577260/GrandStrategy.pdf online]
* Espinosa, Aurelio. "The Spanish Reformation: Institutional Reform, Taxation, and the Secularization of Ecclesiastical Properties under Charles V", ''[[Sixteenth Century Journal]]'' (2006) 37#1 pp 3–24. {{JSTOR|20477694}}.
* Espinosa, Aurelio. ''The Empire of the Cities: Emperor Charles V, the Comunero Revolt, and the Transformation of the Spanish System'' (2008)
* Ferer, Mary Tiffany. ''Music and Ceremony at the Court of Charles V: The Capilla Flamenca and the Art of Political Promotion'' (Boydell & Brewer, 2012). {{ISBN|978-1843836995}}
* {{Cite book |last=Froude |first=James Anthony |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33113/pg33113-images.html |title=The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon |publisher=Kessinger, reprint 2005 |year=1891 |isbn=1417971096 |author-link=James Anthony Froude |access-date=20 November 2022 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120183125/https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33113/pg33113-images.html |url-status=live}}
* Grant, Neil. ''Charles V: Holy Roman Emperor''. London: Franklin Watts (1970)
* {{Cite book |last=Headley |first=John M. |title=The Emperor and His Chancellor: A Study of the Imperial Chancellery Under Gattinara |year=1983 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24444-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQA9AAAAIAAJ}}
* Heath, Richard. ''Charles V: Duty and Dynasty: The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558.'' (2018) {{ISBN|978-1725852785}}
* {{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsV-qSRKAnAC |title=A Brief History of the Episcopal Church |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=1993 |isbn=1563380609 |author-link=David L. Holmes |access-date=23 February 2016}}
* Kleinschmidt, Harald. ''Charles V: The World Emperor'' {{ISBN|978-0750924047}}
* MacDonald, Stewart. ''Charles V: Ruler, Dynast and Defender of the Faith 1500–58'' [[Access to History]] series (1992; 2nd ed. 2000) {{ISBN|978-0340749227}}
* [[Merriman, Roger Bigelow]]. ''The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and the New: Volume 3 The Emperor'' (1925) [https://archive.org/details/risesofspanishem0003unse online]
* [[Norwich, John Julius]]. ''Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe'' (2017), popular history;
* [[James Reston Jr.|Reston Jr., James]]. ''Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520–1536'' (2009), popular history.
* Richardson, Glenn. ''Renaissance Monarchy: The Reigns of Henry VIII, Francis I and Charles V'' (2002) 246 pp., covers 1497 to 1558.
* [[William Robertson (historian)|Robertson, William]]. ''History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V, with a View of the Progress of Society in Europe'' (1769). 
* Rodriguez-Salgado, Mia. ''Changing Face of Empire: Charles V, Philip II and Habsburg Authority, 1551–1559'' (1988), 375 pp. 
* Rosenthal, Earl E. ''Palace of Charles V in Granada'' (1986) 383 pp.
* Saint-Saëns, Alain, ed. ''Young Charles V''. (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2000).
* [[Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton|Thomas, Hugh]]. ''The Golden Empire: Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America''. New York: Random House 2010. {{ISBN|978-1400061259}}

===Other languages===
* Salvatore Agati (2009). ''Carlo V e la Sicilia. Tra guerre, rivolte, fede e ragion di Stato'', Giuseppe Maimone Editore, Catania 2009, {{ISBN|978-8877512871}} {{in lang|it}}
* D'Amico, Juan Carlos. ''Charles Quint, Maître du Monde: Entre Mythe et Realite'' 2004, 290p. {{in lang|fr}}
* Norbert Conrads: ''Die Abdankung Kaiser Karls V.'' Abschiedsvorlesung, Universität Stuttgart, 2003 ([http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/opus/volltexte/2004/1935/ text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717000041/http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/opus/volltexte/2004/1935/ |date=17 July 2011 }}) {{in lang|de}}
* Stephan Diller, Joachim Andraschke, Martin Brecht: ''Kaiser Karl V. und seine Zeit''. Ausstellungskatalog. Universitäts-Verlag, Bamberg 2000, {{ISBN|3933463068}} {{in lang|de}}
* Alfred Kohler: ''Karl V. 1500–1558. Eine Biographie''. C. H. Beck, München 2001, {{ISBN|3406453597}} {{in lang|de}}
* Alfred Kohler: ''Quellen zur Geschichte Karls V.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1990, {{ISBN|3534048202}} {{in lang|de}}
* Alfred Kohler, Barbara Haider. Christine Ortner (Hrsg): ''Karl V. 1500–1558. Neue Perspektiven seiner Herrschaft in Europa und Übersee''. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2002, {{ISBN|3700130546}} {{in lang|de}}
* Ernst Schulin: ''Kaiser Karl V. Geschichte eines übergroßen Wirkungsbereichs''. [[Kohlhammer Verlag]], Stuttgart 1999, {{ISBN|3170156950}} {{in lang|de}}
* Ferdinant Seibt: ''Karl V.'' Goldmann, München 1999, {{ISBN|3442755115}} {{in lang|de}}
* [[Manuel Fernández Álvarez]]: ''Imperator mundi: Karl V. – Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation.''. Stuttgart 1977, {{ISBN|3763011781}} {{in lang|de}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}
{{Commons category|Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Charles V. (Roman Emperor) |display=Charles V. |volume=5 |pages=899–905 |first=Edward |last=Armstrong |author-link=Edward Armstrong (historian)}}
* {{Cite NSRW |wstitle=Charles V |volume=1 |editor-link=Chandler Beach }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110907140352/http://www.habsburg.webs.com/ Genealogy history of Charles V and his ancestors]
* [https://www.emperorcharlesv.com The Life and Times of Emperor Charles V 1500–1558]
* [http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/collection/a1080 The Library of Charles V preserved in the National Library of France]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/charles5.htm ''Luminarium Encyclopedia'' biography of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03625a.htm ''New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia'' biography of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150501175509/http://www.mozalearn.com/Extra-Videos-Charles_V_the_Habsburg_emperor-210494 Charles V the Habsburg emperor, video]

{{S-start}}
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{{Holy Roman Emperors}}
{{Monarchs of Spain}}
{{Aragonese monarchs}}
{{Counts of Barcelona}}
{{Castilian monarchs}}
{{Galician monarchs}}
{{Leonese monarchs}}
{{Navarrese monarchs}}
{{Spanish Empire}}
{{German monarchs}}
{{Antique Kings of Italy}}
{{Kings of Naples}}
{{Monarchs of Sicily}}
{{Monarchs of Luxembourg}}
{{Rulers of Austria}}
{{Princes of Asturias}}
{{Princes of Girona}}
{{Austrian archdukes}}
{{Infantes of Aragon}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles 05, Holy Roman Emperor}}
[[Category:Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]
[[Category:1500 births]]
[[Category:1558 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Holy Roman Emperors]]
[[Category:16th-century Aragonese monarchs]]
[[Category:16th-century Castilian monarchs]]
[[Category:16th-century kings of Sicily]]
[[Category:16th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:16th-century archdukes of Austria]]
[[Category:16th-century Spanish monarchs]]
[[Category:16th-century monarchs of Naples]]
[[Category:16th-century Navarrese monarchs]]
[[Category:16th-century dukes of Brabant]]
[[Category:16th-century dukes of Limburg]]
[[Category:16th-century monarchs of Luxembourg]]
[[Category:16th-century counts of Flanders]]
[[Category:16th-century counts of Hainaut]]
[[Category:16th-century margraves of Namur]]
[[Category:Aragonese infantes]]
[[Category:Burials in the Pantheon of Kings at El Escorial]]
[[Category:Castilian infantes]]
[[Category:Counts of Barcelona]]
[[Category:Counts of Burgundy]]
[[Category:Counts of Charolais]]
[[Category:Deaths from malaria]]
[[Category:Dukes of Burgundy]]
[[Category:Dukes of Montblanc]]
[[Category:Grand masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in Spain]]
[[Category:Knights of Santiago]]
[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece]]
[[Category:Child monarchs from Europe]]
[[Category:Monarchs who abdicated]]
[[Category:Nobility from Ghent]]
[[Category:Princes of Asturias]]
[[Category:Spanish exploration in the Age of Discovery]]
[[Category:Spanish infantes]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Counts of Malta]]
[[Category:Royal reburials]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]
[[Category:Sons of queens regnant]]
[[Category:Children of Joanna of Castile]]
[[Category:Rulers of the Habsburg Netherlands]]