Charles revitalizedthe medieval concept ofuniversal 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 theProtestant Reformation, the expansion of theOttoman Empire, and inwars 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 fromNew Spain andPeru, brought under his rule following theSpanish conquest of the Aztec andInca empires, which causedwidespread inflation.
Ultimately, Charles conceded thePeace 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 sonPhilip II of Spain, and Austrian Habsburgs, headed by his brotherFerdinand. In 1557, Charles retired to theMonastery of Yuste inExtremadura and died there a year later.
From the moment he becameKing 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 theAustrian hereditary lands.[25] Even though it is often implied (among others, byErasmus of Rotterdam[26][page needed]) that Charles V and the Habsburgs gained their vast empire through peaceful policies (exemplified by the sayingBella 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 byMathias Corvinus[27][28]), Maximilian and his descendants fought wars aplenty (Maximilian alone fought 27 wars during his four decades of ruling).[29][30] 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 coercingBohemia,Hungary andPoland into acquiescence in the Habsburgs' expansionist plan.[30][31][32]
The fact that the marriages between the Habsburgs and the Trastámaras, originally conceived as a marital alliance against France, would bring the crowns ofCastile andAragon to Maximilian's male line, however, was unexpected.[33][34]
The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was alreadyDuke of Burgundy (although theDuchy of Burgundy itself had been lost to the French crown), given Mary's death in 1482, and alsoheir apparent of Austria as honorificarchduke. Joanna, in contrast, was only third in the Spanishline of succession, preceded by her older brotherJohn, Prince of Asturias and older sisterIsabella of Aragon. Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandsonMiguel da Paz asheir presumptive of Spain by naming himPrince of Asturias; but he died as a baby in 1500.[35][page needed]
Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour ofCharles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn theBurgundian 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.[24]
Given the dynastic situation, the newborn was originallyheir apparent only of the Burgundian Low Countries as the honorificDuke of Luxembourg and second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as "Charles of Ghent". He was baptised at theChurch of Saint John by theBishop of Tournai. The Burgundian noblesCharles I de Croÿ andJohn III of Glymes were his godfathers, andMargaret of York andMargaret 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.[36][page needed] 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.
A painting byBernhard 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 inMechelen 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 CastilianCortes, which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna becameQueen of Castile.[37] Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 (after giving birth toFerdinand in Spain). The Spanish AmbassadorGutierre 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.[38]
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 ofTordesillas. 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 withGermaine 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).[39]
The Burgundian inheritance included theHabsburg Netherlands, which consisted of a large number of the lordships that formed theLow Countries and covered modern-dayBelgium,Netherlands andLuxembourg. It excludedBurgundy proper, annexed by France in 1477, with the exception ofFranche-Comté. At the death of Philip in 1506, Charles was recognized Lord of the Netherlands with the title ofCharles II of Burgundy. During his childhood and teen years, Charles lived inMechelen together with his sistersMary,Eleanor, andIsabella at the court of his auntMargaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy.William de Croÿ (later prime minister) and Adrian of Utrecht (laterPope 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 BurgundianOrder 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.[40] The Low Countries were very rich during his reign, botheconomically andculturally. Charles was very attached to his homeland and spent a large part of his life inBrussels and various Flemish cities.
The Spanish inheritance, resulting from adynastic union of the crowns ofCastile andAragon, included Spain as well as the Castilian possessions in the Americas (theSpanish West Indies and theProvince of Tierra Firme) and the Aragonese kingdoms ofNaples,Sicily, andSardinia. Joanna inherited these territories in 1516 while confined, allegedly because she was mentally ill. Charles, therefore, claimed the crowns for himselfjure matris, thus becoming co-monarch with Joanna with the title ofCharles I of Castile and Aragon orCharles I of Spain. Castile and Aragon together formed the largest of Charles's personal possessions, and they also provided a great number of generals andtercios (the formidable Spanish infantry of the time), while Joanna remained confined inTordesillas 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.[41]
Two rebellions, theRevolt of the Germanies and theRevolt 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. Indeed, his son and heir, laterPhilip 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 the country's interest.[41]
Charles inherited theAustrian hereditary lands in 1519, asCharles I of Austria, and obtained theelection asHoly Roman Emperor against the candidacy of the French king. Since the Imperial election, he was known asEmperor Charles V even outside of Germany. The dynastic motto of the House of Habsburg used by Charles wasA.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 ofimperial diets to maintain religious and political unity.[42][43]
He was frequently in Northern Italy, often taking part in complicated negotiations with thePopes to address the rise of Protestantism. It is important to note, though, that the German Catholics supported the Emperor. Charles had a close relationship with important German families, like theHouse of Nassau, many of which were represented at his imperial court. Many German princes, noblemen and generals led his military campaigns against France and theOttomans or accompanied him in his travels, and the bulk of his army was generally composed of German troops, especially the ImperialLandsknechte.[42][43]
In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories that includedFranche-Comté and, most notably, theLow Countries. The latter territories mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire and its borders, but were formally divided between fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire andFrench fiefs such as Charles's birthplace ofFlanders, the last remnant of theBurgundian State, a powerful player in theHundred Years' War. 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 payhomage to the French king for Flanders, as his father had done. The outcome was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders in 1528.
From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion ofFrisian peasants (led byPier Gerlofs Donia andWijard 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 ofTournai,Artois,Utrecht,Groningen, andGuelders. TheSeventeen Provinces had been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but nominally werefiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. Charles eventually won theGuelders Wars and united all provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders. In 1549, Charles issued aPragmatic Sanction, declaring the Low Countries to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs.[46][page needed]
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 Low Countries also represented a significant income for the Imperial treasury.
The Burgundian territories were generally loyal to Charles throughout his reign. The important city of Ghentrebelled in 1539 due to heavy tax payments demanded by Charles. The rebellion did not last long, however, as Charles's military response, with reinforcement fromFernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba,[46][page needed] was swift and humiliating to the rebels of Ghent.[47][48]
In the CastilianCortes of Valladolid in 1506 and of Madrid in 1510, Charles was sworn as thePrince of Asturias, heir-apparent to his mother QueenJoanna.[51] On the other hand, in 1502, theAragoneseCorts gathered inZaragoza and pledged an oath to Joanna as heiress-presumptive, butAlonso 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 theCorts and the King.[52][53] So, upon the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, on 23 January 1516, Joanna inherited theCrown of Aragon, which consisted ofAragon,Majorca,Catalonia,Valencia,Naples,Sicily andSardinia, while Charles became governor general.[54] Nevertheless, the Flemings wished Charles to assume the royal title, and this was supported by Emperor Maximilian I andPope Leo X.
Thus, after the commemoration of Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, Charles was proclaimed king of the crowns of Castile and Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, when the Castilianregent CardinalJiménez de Cisneros accepted thefait accompli, he acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and imposed his instatement throughout the kingdom.[55] Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and he died before reaching the King.[56]
Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive, the negotiations with the CastilianCortes inValladolid (1518) proved difficult.[57] In the end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speakCastilian; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile beyond theQuinto 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.[58]
He managed to overcome the resistance of the AragoneseCortes andCatalanCorts,[59] 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.[58] TheKingdom of Navarre had beeninvaded 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.[60] By contrast, in the Crown of Aragon, and especially in the Pyrenean Kingdom of Navarre, law prevailed, and the monarchy was seen asa contract with the people.[61] 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 theRevolt 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 KingHenry II attempted toreconquer the kingdom. Main military operations lasted until 1524, whenHondarribia surrendered to Charles's forces, but frequent cross-border clashes in the western Pyrenees only stopped in 1528 (Treaties of Madrid andCambrai).
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 theJuly Revolution in 1830). Charles wanted his son and heirPhilip II to marry the heiress of Navarre,Jeanne d'Albret. Jeanne was instead forced to marryWilliam, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg, but that childless marriage was annulled after four years. She next marriedAntoine de Bourbon, and both she and their sonHenry of Navarre would oppose Philip II in theFrench 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 theOttoman Empire andBarbary 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.[62] The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles's reign, along with theinflation that affected the kingdom, resulted in declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II.[63]
Imperial-Papal troops succeeded in re-installingFrancesco 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 theBattle of Bicocca 1522. In 1524,Francis I of France retook the initiative, crossing intoLombardy 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 byCharles de Lannoy captured Francis and crushed his army in theBattle of Pavia.
In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs, and Charles V annexed the territory as a vacant Imperial state with the help ofMassimiliano Stampa, one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke.[64][page needed] Charles successfully held on to all of its Italian territories, though they were invaded again on multiple occasions during theItalian Wars.
In addition, Habsburg trade in the Mediterranean was consistently disrupted by theOttoman Empire and its vassalBarbary pirates. In 1538 aHoly League consisting of all the Italian states and the Spanish kingdoms was formed to drive the Ottomans back, but it was defeated at theBattle of Preveza. Decisive naval victory eluded Charles; it would not be achieved until after his death, at theBattle of Lepanto in 1571.
After the death of his paternal grandfather,Maximilian, in 1519, Charles inherited theHabsburg monarchy. He was also the natural candidate of theelectors to succeed his grandfather asHoly Roman Emperor. He defeated the candidacies ofFrederick III of Saxony,Francis I of France, andHenry VIII of England in the1519 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, on24 February 1530, he was crownedHoly Roman Emperor byPope Clement VII inBologna, the last emperor to receive apapal coronation.[22][65][66] 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.[67] 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.[68][69][70][71]
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 theReformation. It was exactly during this crucial period, Charles V and Ferdinand were too busy with non-German affairs to preventImperial Cities in Upper Germany from becoming estranged from Imperial power.[72]
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 asArchduke of Austria in 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princeselect Ferdinand asKing 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 ofBohemia,Croatia, andHungary, with support from local nobles and his German vassals.[73][74][75]
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.
Francis I and Charles V made peace at theTruce of Nice in 1538. Francis refused to meet Charles in person, and the treaty was signed in separate rooms.Charles V in the 1550s afterTitian
Thefirst war with Charles's great nemesisFrancis I of France began in 1521. Charles allied with England andPope Leo X against the French and theVenetians, and was highly successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at theBattle of Pavia in 1525.[77][page needed] To gain his freedom, Francis cededBurgundy to Charles in theTreaty of Madrid, as well as renouncing his support of Henry II's claim overNavarre.
When he was released, however, Francis had theParlement of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress. France then joined theLeague of Cognac thatPope Clement VII had formed with Henry VIII of England, the Venetians, theFlorentines, and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles'ssack of Rome (1527) and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in 1527 prevented the Pope fromannulling the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, so Henry eventually broke with Rome, thus leading to theEnglish Reformation.[78][79] In other respects, the war was inconclusive. In theTreaty 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.
Athird war erupted in 1536. Following the death ofFrancesco II Sforza, Charles installed his sonPhilip in theDuchy of Milan, despite Francis' claims on it. 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 capitalTurin. A truce atNice in 1538 on the basis ofuti possidetis ended the war but lasted only a short time.War resumed in 1542, with Francis now allied with Ottoman SultanSuleiman the Magnificent and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite theconquest of Nice by aFranco-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 thestatus quo ante bellum in 1544.
Afinal war erupted with Francis' son and successor,Henry II, in 1551. Henry won early success inLorraine, where hecaptured Metz, but French offensives in Italy failed. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of the war to his son,Philip II, and his brother,Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Suleiman won the contest for mastery of the Mediterranean, in spite of Christian victories such as theconquest of Tunis in 1535.[82] The regular Ottoman fleet came to dominate theEastern Mediterranean after its victories atPreveza in 1538 andDjerba in 1560 (shortly after Charles's death), which severely decimated theSpanish Navy. At the same time, the MuslimBarbary 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 aFranco-Ottoman alliance. In 1543, Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign theTruce of Crépy-en-Laonnois. Later, in 1547, Charles signed a humiliating[83]treaty with the Ottomans to gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of their war.[84][page needed]
Charles V made overtures to theSafavid Empire to open a second front against the Ottomans, in an attempt at creating aHabsburg–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 theOttoman–Safavid War, forcing it to split its military resources.[85]
During the 1541expedition of Algiers, the losses amongst the invading force were heavy with 150 ships lost, plus large numbers of sailors and soldiers.[86] A Turkishchronicler confirmed that theBerber tribes massacred 12,000 invaders.[87] 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 themarkets of Algiers were filled with slaves.
Summons forMartin Luther to appear at theDiet of Worms signed by Charles V; the text on the left was on the reverse side.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 byLucas de Heere in the second half of the 16th century. Preserved in theGhent University Library.[88]
The issue of theReformation was first brought to the imperial attention under Charles V. AsHoly Roman Emperor, Charles calledMartin Luther to theDiet of Worms in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. After Luther defended theNinety-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, otherwiseunified only in his person, and perceived Luther's teachings as a disruptive form ofheresy. He outlawed Luther and issued theEdict of Worms, declaring:
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 ... 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 inWartburg. There, he began to work on hisGerman translation of the bible. The spread ofLutheranism led to two major revolts: that of the knights in 1522–1523 and that of the peasants led byThomas Muntzer in 1524–1525. While the pro-ImperialSwabian 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.[89]
Following this, Charles V took a tolerant approach and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutherans. The 1530 ImperialDiet of Augsburg was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: first, the defence of the Empire against theOttoman 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.[90] 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 theAugsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana), a central document of Lutheranism. Luther's assistantPhilip Melanchthon went even further and presented it to Charles V. The Emperor strongly rejected it, and in 1531 theSchmalkaldic League was formed by Protestant princes. In 1532, Charles V recognized the League and effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with thestandstill ofNuremberg. Thestandstill required the Protestants to continue to take part in the Imperial wars against the Turks and the French, and postponed religious affairs until anecumenical 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 theColloquy of Regensburg between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was achieved. In 1545, theCouncil of Trent was finally opened and theCounter-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.[91] Therefore, Charles V outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546.[92] The next year his forces drove the League's troops out of southern Germany, and defeatedJohn Frederick, Elector of Saxony, andPhilip of Hesse at theBattle of Mühlberg, capturing both. At theAugsburg 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 inInnsbruck, Austria, sufficiently close to Trent for him to follow the evolution of the debates. In 1552 Protestant princes, in alliance withHenry II of France, rebelled again and theSecond Schmalkaldic War began.Maurice of Saxony, instrumental for the Imperial victory in the first conflict, switched side to the Protestant cause and bypassed theImperial 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 toVillach in a state of semi-consciousness carried in a litter. After failing to recaptureMetz 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 thePeace of Augsburg in his name. The agreements led to the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms.[93]
InAllegory 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 betweenPhilip II of Spain andEmperor Ferdinand IHabsburg dominions in the centuries following their partition by Charles V
Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg empire and theHouse of Habsburg between a senior Spanish line and a German-Austrian branch. His abdications all occurred at thePalace of Coudenberg inBrussels. First he abdicated the thrones ofSicily andNaples, the latter a Papal fief, and the ImperialDuchy of Milan, in favour of his sonPhilip 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 byPope Julius III with the Kingdom of Naples on 2 October and with the Kingdom of Sicily on 18 November.[94]
The most famous – and only public – abdication took place a year later, on 25 October 1555, when Charles announced to theStates 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.[94] During the ceremony, the gout-afflicted Emperor Charles V leaned on the shoulder of his advisorWilliam the Silent and, crying, pronounced hisresignation speech:
When I was nineteen ... 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 ... 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...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 ... 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 ... 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.[95]
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 theSpanish 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 theprince-electors assembled atFrankfurt only in 1558, and by the Pope only in 1559.[96][97][98] The Imperial abdication also marked the beginning of Ferdinand's legal andsuo jure rule in the Austrian possessions, that he governed in Charles's name since 1521–1522 and were attached to Hungary and Bohemia since 1526.[99]
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 ofgout such as the one that forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz where he was later defeated.
In September 1556, Charles left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by his sisters,Mary of Hungary andEleanor of Austria. He arrived at theMonastery of Yuste ofExtremadura 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 byTitian and with clocks lining every wall, which some historians believe were symbols of his reign and his lack of time.[100] In August 1558, Charles was taken seriously ill with what was revealed in the twenty-first century to bemalaria.[101] 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.[102] 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 and some 30,000 gold ducats that he had set aside for the ransom of prisoners, poor virgins, and paupers were distributed, but he owed huge debts from his constant warfare far beyond the funds on hand, which his heirs spent decades paying off.[103]
Charles was originally buried in the chapel of the Monastery of Yuste, but he left acodicil in his last will and testament asking for the establishment of a new religious foundation in which he would be reburied with Isabella.[104] 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 deEl 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. 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-grandsonPhilip IV, the remains of Charles and Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings, which lies directly under the Basilica.[105] On one side of the Basilica are bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella, with effigies of their daughterMaria of Austria and Charles's sistersEleanor of Austria andMaria of Hungary behind them. Exactly 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 grandsonCarlos, Prince of Asturias.
Overall, Charles V travelled ten times to the Low Countries, nine to Germany,[107] seven to Spain,[108] seven to Italy,[109] four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa.[110] 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 further spent 195 days in France, 99 in North Africa and 44 days in England. For only 260 days his exact location is unrecorded, all of them being days spent at sea travelling between his dominions.[111] As he put it in his last public speech: "my life has been one long journey".[110]
Charles never traveled to his overseas possessions in the Americas, since such a transatlantic crossing to a place not central to his political interests at the time was unthinkable.
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 bankinghouse 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 theImperium 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
In 1534, Charles accepted a personal audience with Maxixcatzin, a nobleman fromTlaxcala who demanded and received several special privileges for his city and its people.[112] TheTlaxcallans 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.[113]
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 beingNuremberg,Augsburg,Milan, andBrescia.[115][116][117] Charles V continued with the development of mass production (and standardization of gun caliber), which greatly affected warfare.[118][119]
TheHelmschmied of Augsburg and theNegroli of Milan were among the foremost families of armourers of the time. Under Charles V, the Spanish arms industry was also significantly expanded, with significant improvements of themuskets.[120][121]
TheLandsknechte, originally recruited and organized by Maximilian andGeorg von Frundsberg, formed the bulk of Charles V's army. They surpassed theSwiss mercenaries in quality and quantity as the "best and most easily available mercenaries in Europe" and 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".[122][123][124][125] 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, would leave 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.[126]
Charles V also favoured German heavy cavalry, although costly.[127] Many cavalrymen and noblemen fighting for Charles V were of Burgundian extraction, often part of theOrder of the Golden Fleece. Italiancondottieri were also recruited.
In Spain, inheriting the reform work ofGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, in 1536, Charles reorganized his infantry and created the first units of thetercios.[128][129][130][131][132] Later they would become "the most formidable fighting force of the sixteenth century".[133][134] The original tercios were exclusively Spanish and this situation remained until Philip II organized the Italian tercios in 1584.[129]
Charles's main sources of revenue were fromCastile,Naples and theLow Countries, which yielded in total an annual amount of around 2.8 million Spanishducats 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 in total 10 million gold ducats in 1527–1528 and also did not suffer from deficit.[135][136]
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 theFuggers and 4.2 million from theWelsers ofAugsburg. Other creditors were fromGenoa,Antwerp and Spain.[137]
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 andFranz von Taxis [de] (from theThurn und Taxis family) developed theNiederländische Postkurs, a postal system that connected theLow Countries withInnsbruck. The system quickly converged with the European trade system and an emerging market for news,[138] spurring a pan-Europe communication revolution[139][140]
The system was developed further byPhilip 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 inGranada,Toledo,Blois,Paris andLyon in 1505.[141]
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."[142] He confirmed Jannetto's sonGiovanni 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."[138]
Charles V also 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 also began to employ permanent envoys (earlier than other secular powers). The Habsburg network developed in parallel to their postal system.[143][144][145] Charles V combined the Spanish and the Imperial systems into one.[144]
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.[146] Moreover, 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.[147]
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 theTunis campaign, Emperor Charles V possessed a network of spies based in theKingdom of Naples that watched over all the corners of the Ottoman Empire."[148]
Several notable men were recognized with patronage by Charles. Noted Spanish poetGarcilaso de la Vega, a nobleman and ambassador in the Imperial court of Charles, was first appointedcontino (imperial guard) of the Emperor in 1520.Alfonso de Valdés, twin brother of the humanistJuan de Valdés andsecretary of the Emperor, was a Spanish humanist.Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, an Italianhistorian at the service of Spain, wrote the first accounts of explorations inCentral andSouth America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the originalLatin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called "decades". HisDecades are of great value in the history of geography and discovery. HisDe Orbe Novo (On the New World, 1530) describes the first contacts of Europeans andNative Americans, Native American civilizations in the Caribbean and North America, as well as Mesoamerica, and includes, for example, the firstEuropean reference toIndia rubber.
Martyr was given the post of chronicler (cronista) in the newly formedCouncil of the Indies (1524), commissioned by Charles V to describe what was occurring in the explorations of theNew World. In 1523 Charles gave him the title ofCount Palatine, and in 1524 called him once more into the Council of the Indies. Martyr wasinvested byPope Clement VII, as proposed by Charles V, asAbbot ofJamaica.Juan Boscán Almogáver was a poet who participated withGarcilaso de la Vega in giving naval assistance to theIsle of Rhodes during aTurkish 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.[149]
Charles commissioned several portraits from the painterTitian, including thePortrait of Charles V and theEquestrian 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 enlightenedRenaissance ruler.
The building of thePalace of Charles V was commissioned by Charles, who wished to establish his residence close to theAlhambra palaces. Although theCatholic 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 toPedro Machuca, an architect whose life and development are poorly documented. At the time, Spanish architecture was immersed in thePlateresque style, with traces ofGothic architecture still visible. Machuca built a palace corresponding stylistically toMannerism, a mode then in its infancy inItaly. The exterior of the building uses a typically Renaissance combination ofrustication on the lower level andashlar on the upper. The building has never been a home to a monarch and stood roofless until 1957.[150][151]
Frontispiece of the 1542New Laws issued by Charles V, Emperor and King of Spain
From his maternal grandmother,Isabella I of Castile, who had fundedChristopher 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 andSpanish Main were marginal to Charles's European empire and not the focus of his attention.[152] Through theTreaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain andPortugal had agreed on a division of overseas territories, so that with the exception ofBrazil, which Portugal could claim, Charles could claim the rest of theNew World.
The realm of his known possessions expanded with theSpanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–21) underconquistadorHernán Cortés and byMagellan's circumnavigation of the globe in 1522. These successes convinced Charles of his divine mission to become the leader ofChristendom, which still perceived a significant threat from Islam.[153] 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 existingCouncil of Castile, established by the Catholic Monarchs. Indicating the Americas' importance, he founded theCouncil 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 nonetheless 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 courtaudiencia to administer justice. He formalized conversion of indigenous populations to Christianity, the so-called "spiritual conquest", by sendingFranciscan,Dominican, andAugustinian friars starting in the mid-1520s. With the discovery of large deposits of silver innorthern Mexico in the 1540s and in 1545 in Peru atPotosí, 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 theViceroyalty of New Spain inMexico City (1535), the Spanish capital founded on the ruins of the Aztec capital ofTenochtitlan. After theSpanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 1530s, Charles established theViceroyalty of Peru in the newly founded Spanish capital ofLima (1544). As it became clear that establishing royal control was important, Charles sought to undermine growing power of the group of conquistadors in Mexico and Peru, awardedpersonal grants of indigenous labor in perpetuity, by issuing theNew Laws of 1542, ending grant holders' rights in perpetuity. Dominican friarBartolomé 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 donAntonio 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."[154] The violent uprising necessitated a major military response, organized byPedro de la Gasca, to whom Charles granted sweeping powers in order to re-establish royal authority. Therebellion in Peru coincided withone 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 ofGonzalo 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 ofcomunero rebels early in his Iberian rule. Pizarro's execution marks the end of Spanish rebellion against the crown.[155][156][157] Relatively early in his rule, Charles assigned a concession (1528) inVenezuela Province toBartholomeus V. Welser, in compensation for his inability to repay debts owed. The concession, known asKlein-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 ofAfrican 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.[158]
Protection of indigenous populations against Spaniards' exploitation was the key motivation behind Charles's issuance of the1542 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,[159][160][161] Charles ordered the Council of the Indies to stop all the conquests until it was certain that Spain was acting in accordance with themoral law, so penetration into the American continent was suspended until1556.[162] This was because philosophical questions arose, especially fromCatholicjurists andscholasticphilosophers, about whether the Hispanic Monarchy had the moral right tolegally conquer theIndies.
Since the year 1542, a moral crisis was developing in the government because of the Spanish colonization in America, while theCrown of Castile was overwhelmed by the constant denunciations of abuses it was receiving, especially from the conquests in Peru and those that occurred in theNew Kingdom of Granada, which could cause anguish in people of allEstates, even if they wereprelates orknights of theSpanish nobility.[163] Thus, Charles, influenced by the reflections ofFrancisco de Vitoria and theSchool of Salamanca, together with the pressure ofmissionaries, 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 aconference at Valladolid in order to consider the morality of the force used against the indigenous populations of theNew World, which included figures such asBartolomé de las Casas,[164] from which conceptions of the human rights of the Indians would arise according to theThomisticnatural law, making the Hispanic Monarchy a pioneer, both in theory and in practice, on how to approach respect for the conquered.[159]Theologians and jurists from all parts of the empire began to arrive in the capital, presenting themselves with the best souls of Spain, such asDomingo de Soto,Bartolomé Carranza,Melchor Cano, and alsoPedro de la Gasca (Peru's first peacemaker afterCivil Wars between the conquerors of Peru) together with the jurisconsults of the Council of the Indies. Bartolomé de las Casas would defend that the wars of conquest were unjust, whileJuan Ginés de Sepúlveda would defend 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 theeternal Law that are prior to anypositive 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]
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."[162] 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 thepapal bullSublimis 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:[163]
-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 (TheAntilles).
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 artistsBernard van Orley andAlbrecht Dürer and master tapestry-makerPieter van Aelst, she taught her nephew "above all that a court could be a salon."[171] She saw to his education, securing as tutorAdrian of Utrecht, a member of theBrethren of the Common Life, which advocated simplicity and promoted a cult of indigence and deprivation. The Brethren had many important members, includingThomas à Kempis. Adrian later became Pope Adrian VI.[172] A third major influence in Charles's early life wasWilliam de Croÿ, Sieur de Chièves, who became his "governor and grand chamberlain", giving Charles a chivalrous education. He was 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."[173]
Charles spoke several languages from political necessity, though he does not seem to have been a very natural linguist. He was raised speakingFrench, which remained his most natural language, and is used in most surviving letters handwritten by him. He learned someDutch, being given lessons from the age of thirteen. He later added an acceptableCastilian Spanish, which he was required to learn by the CastilianCortes Generales. He could also speak someBasque, acquired by the influence of theBasque secretaries serving in the royal court.[174] He gained a decent command ofGerman following the Imperial election, though he never spoke it as well as French.[175] By 1532, Charles was proficient inPortuguese, and spoke Latin.[176] 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."[177] A variant of the quote is attributed to him byJonathan Swift in his 1726Gulliver's Travels, but there are no contemporary accounts referencing the quotation (which has many other variants) and it is often attributed instead toFrederick the Great.[178]
Charles suffered from an enlargedlower jaw (mandibular prognathism), a congenital deformity that became considerably worse in later Habsburg generations, giving rise to the termHabsburg 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.[179]
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.[180] He suffered from fainting spells, which might have beenepilepsy.[181] He was seriously afflicted withgout, presumably caused by a diet consisting mainly of red meat.[182]
As he aged, his gout progressed from painful to crippling. In his retirement, he was carried around theMonastery of Yuste in asedan chair. A ramp was specially constructed to allow him easy access to his rooms.[citation needed]
Isabella of Portugal depicting Charles' wife, a 1548 portrait byTitianThe bronze effigies of Charles and Isabella at the Basilica inEl EscorialDonJohn of Austria, the natural son of Charles during his widowhood
On 21 December 1507, Charles was betrothed to 11-year-oldMary, the daughter of KingHenry VII of England and younger sister to the future KingHenry VIII of England, who was to take the throne in two years. However, the engagement was called off in 1513, on the advice of CardinalThomas Wolsey, and Mary was instead married to KingLouis 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 cousinIsabella of Portugal, the daughter of KingManuel I of Portugal and Charles's auntMaria 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. However, the 18-year-old King was in no hurry to marry and ignored the nobles' advice, exploring other marriage options.[183] Instead of marrying Isabella, he sent his sisterEleanor to marry Isabella's widowed father, King Manuel, in 1518.
In 1521, on the advice of his Flemish counsellors, especiallyWilliam de Croÿ, Charles became engaged to his other first cousin,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, KingJohn III of Portugal, making a double marriage contract – Charles would marry Isabella and John would marry Charles's youngest sister,Catherine. 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 900,000doblas 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.[184] Ultimately this union would result in their son Philip having the strongest claim to the Portuguese throne when theHouse of Aviz died out in 1580, resulting in theIberian Union.
On 10 March 1526, Charles and Isabella met at theAlcázar 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 theAlhambra inGranada. Charles began the construction of thePalace 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.[185]
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.[186] 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.[187] 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 painterTitian to paint several posthumous portraits of Isabella; the finished portraits included Titian'sPortrait of Isabella of Portugal andLa Gloria.[188] Charles kept these paintings with him whenever he travelled, and they were among those that he brought with him after his retirement to theMonastery of Yuste in 1557.[189] In 1540, Charles paid tribute to Isabella's memory when he commissioned the Flemish composerThomas Crecquillon to compose new music as a memorial to her. Crecquillon composed hisMissa '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.[190]
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, Isabel.[191] After the death of his wife, Charles "seducedBarbara 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 asJohn 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.[192]
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.
Infanta Isabella of Castile (20 August 1518 – 1537), perhaps daughter of Charles's maternal step-grandmother,Germaine of Foix,[191] but strongly disputed by biographerGeoffrey Parker;[193] Isabella died at the age of 19, never married, and had no issue.
Joanna of Austria (1522–1530), daughter of Catalina de Rebolledo (or de Xériga), lady-in-waiting of Queen Joanna I of Castile and Aragon[196] or attached to the household ofHenry of Nassau. She was brought up in an Augustinian convent in Madrigal de las Altas Torres.[194]
Equestrian armour of Emperor Charles V. Piece drawn from the collection of theRoyal Armoury of Madrid
Charles V styled himself as Holy Roman Emperor after his election, according to a Papal dispensation conferred to the Habsburg family byPope Julius II in 1508 and confirmed in 1519 to the prince-electors by the legates ofPope Leo X. Although Papal coronation was no longer necessary to confirm the Imperial title, Charles Vwas crowned in the city of Bologna byPope 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.[199] Nevertheless, according to the agreements, Charles continued to style himself as archduke of Austria and maintained that Ferdinand acted as his vassal and vicar.[200][201] Furthermore, 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".[202] 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 ofLouis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, at theBattle of Mohacs in 1526, Charles V favoured the election of Ferdinand as king ofHungary (andCroatia) andBohemia. 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".[203]
Therefore, although he had agreed on the future division of the dynasty between Ferdinand andPhilip 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.[204] 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 toCarlos, Prince of Asturias and son of Philip II). However, Charles's Imperial abdication marked the beginning of Ferdinand'ssuo 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 theOnate treaty of 1617.
Below is the coat of arms of Charles V according to the description: Arms of Charles added to those ofCastile,Leon,Aragon,Two Sicilies andGranada present in the previous coat, those ofAustria,ancient Burgundy, modern Burgundy,Brabant,Flanders andTyrol. Charles I also incorporates thepillars of Hercules with the inscription "Plus Ultra", representing the overseas Spanish empire and surrounding coat with thecollar 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 theCross of Burgundy. From 1520 added to the corresponding quarter to Aragon and Sicily, one in which the arms of Jerusalem, Naples andNavarre are incorporated.
Coat of arms of Charles I as king of Spain before becoming Holy Roman Emperor.
Coat of Arms of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor.
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 NobleOrder of the Garter.
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.[208][209][210][211] 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.[212]
Charles V as a ruler has been commemorated over time in many parts of Europe. An imperial resolution ofFranz 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 sculptorEmanuel Max, located at theMuseum of Military History, Vienna.[213] The 400th anniversary of his death, celebrated in 1958 inFrancoist Spain, brought together the localnational catholic intelligentsia and a number of European (Catholic) conservative figures, underpinning an imperial nostalgia for Charles V's Europe and theUniversitas Christiana, also propelling a peculiar brand ofeuropeanism.[214] In 2000, celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Charles's birth took place in Belgium.[215]
InDe 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, inCharles De Coster's masterpieceThyl Ulenspiegel (1867), after his death Charles V is consigned to Hell as punishment for the acts of theInquisition 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 ofOudenaarde, the one about a paysant ofBerchem inHet geuzenboek (1979) byLouis Paul Boon, whileAbraham Hans [nl] (1882–1939) included both tales inDe liefdesavonturen van keizer Karel in Vlaanderen.
Charles V appears as a character in the playDoctor Faustus by the Elizabethan playwrightChristopher Marlowe. In Act 4 Scene 1 of the A Text, Faustus attends Court by the Emperor's request and with the assistance ofMephistopheles conjures up spirits representingAlexander the Great and his paramour as a demonstration of his magical powers.
Ernst Krenek's operaKarl V (opus 73, 1930) examines the title character's career via flashbacks.
In the third act ofGiuseppe Verdi's operaErnani, the election of Charles as Holy Roman Emperor is presented. Charles (Don Carlo in the opera) prays before the tomb ofCharlemagne. 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 theVictor Hugo playHernani, 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 fatherPhilip II and the Inquisition, by taking Carlo with him to his hermitage at the monastery in Yuste.
^The chronology of his abdications has been disputed since early scholarship.[1] His public abdication to theStates General of the Netherlands certainly took place on 25 October 1555.[1][2] His abdication as Spanish king is generally dated to 16 January 1556, although some give other dates.[1] This was ratified in a document dated 17 February.[1] 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.[3][4] On 27 August, Charles wrote a document to the Imperial court inSpeyer (referred to as aConstitutio orRescriptum) renouncing the Empire in favour of Ferdinand.[5][6] Then, on 7 September, he sent anedict to all States of the Empire urging them to recognize Ferdinand as their new ruler.[5][7] The abdication was not recognized by the electors until 24[14] (or 28)[20] February 1558. Ferdinand was finally proclaimed and crowned Emperor-elect on 14 March,[12] after sworing theElectoral capitulation.[21]
^Archiv für österreichische Geschichte (in German). Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 1901. pp. 314–316.Instruktion für die Abdikationsgesandtschaft (Instruction for the Abdication Mission)
^Lünig, Johann Christian (1720).Das deutsche Reichs-Archivs (in German). Vol. 4. pp. 355–356.Rescriptum to the Chamber-Judges and Assessors of the Holy Imperial Chamber Court in Speyer, in which he refers them to the Roman KingFerdinandum I as their future ruler.
^Lünig, Johann Christian (1711).Das deutsche Reichs-Archiv (in German). Vol. 6. pp. 288–289.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.
^abSkjelver, Danielle Mead; Wiesflecker, Hermann (18 March 2021)."Maximilian I".Encyclopedia Britannica.Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved7 January 2022.
^Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Castilian cortes in 1504 and 1510.Colmeiro, Manuel (1884)."Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla; Manuel Colmeiro (1883)".Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved23 August 2012.,Colmeiro, Manuel (1884)."XXIII".Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved23 August 2012.
^Heath, Richard (2018).Charles V: Duty and Dynasty – The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 23.ISBN978-1725852785.
^Martínez Gil, Fernando (2007). "Corte renacentista".La invención de Toledo. Imágenes históricas de una identidad urbana. Almud, ediciones de Castilla-La Mancha. pp. 113–121.ISBN978-8493414078.
^Martínez Gil, Fernando (1999). "Toledo es Corte (1480–1561)".Historia de Toledo. Azacanes. pp. 259–308.ISBN8488480199.
^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.Online[dead link]
^Elliot, J.H.Imperial Spain 1469–1716. Penguin Books (New York: 2002), p. 208.
^Litta, Count Pompeo.Famous Italian Families, Stampa di Milano.
^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
^Cohn, H.J. (1 January 2001). "Did Bribes Induce the German Electors to Choose Charles V as Emperor in 1519?".German History.19 (1):1–27.doi:10.1191/026635501672200203.
^Bruce Ware Allen, "Emperor vs. Pirate Tunis, 1535."MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History (Winter 2014) 26#2 pp 58–63.
^In particular, in thisTruce of Adrianople (1547) Charles was only referred to as "King of Spain" instead of by his extensive titulature. (see Crowley, p. 89)
^"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" inThe Indian Ocean in world history? Milo Kearney – 2004 – p. 112
^Gottfried G. Krodel, "Law, Order, and the Almighty Taler: The Empire in Action at the 1530 Diet of Augsburg."Sixteenth Century Journal (1982): 75–106onlineArchived 7 April 2022 at theWayback Machine.
^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.
^Paula Sutter Fichtner, "When Brothers Agree: Bohemia, The Habsburgs, and the Schmalkaldic Wars, 1546–1547."Austrian History Yearbook (1975), Vol. 11, pp. 67–78.
^Alonso, Jordi; J. de Zulueta; et al. (August 2006). "The severe gout of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V".N. Engl. J. Med.355 (5):516–520.doi:10.1056/NEJMon060780.PMID16885558.
^de Zulueta, J. (June 2007). "The cause of death of Emperor Charles V".Parassitologia.49 (1–2):107–109.PMID18412053.
^Puype, Jan Piet (2018). "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)".Arms & Armour. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt: 4.doi:10.1080/17416124.2020.1791406.S2CID227060405.
^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
^Behringer, Wolfgang (2011). "Core and Periphery: The Holy Roman Empire as a Communication(s) Universe".The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806(PDF). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 350, 351.ISBN978-0199602971.Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved7 August 2022.
^Hanke, Lewis (1974).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. Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press. p. 67.
^Heath, Richard (2018).Charles V: Duty and Dynasty – The Emperor and his Changing World 1500–1558. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. pp. 269–272.ISBN978-1725852785.
^Cornelius August Wilkens (1897)."VIII. Juan de Valdés".Spanish Protestants in the Sixteenth Century. William Heinemann. p. 66. Retrieved24 July 2015.
^Burke, "Languages and communities in early modern Europe" p. 28; Holzberger, "The letters of George Santayana" p. 299
^Francisco C. Ceballos, and G. Álvarez, "Royal dynasties as human inbreeding laboratories: the Habsburgs."Heredity 111.2 (2013): 114–121onlineArchived 4 May 2021 at theWayback Machine.
^Heymans, Frans (4 June 2007)."Keizer Karel in de literatuur".Overzichten (in Dutch). Literair Gent, an initiative by the Municipal Public Library of Ghent and 'Gent Cultuurstad'. Archived fromthe original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved20 July 2007.
^Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Museum of Military History in Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms. Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981,ISBN3702301135, p. 30.
^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.
Boone, Rebecca Ard (2021)."Charles V, Emperor".Oxford Bibliographies Online (obo).Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved8 February 2022.
Enepekides, P. K. (1960). "Das Wiener Testament des Andreas Palaiologos vom 7. April 1502" [The Vienna Testament of Andreas Palaiologos from 7 April 1502].Akten des 11. Internat. Byzantinisten-Kongresses 1958 (in German). Munich: C.H. Beck. pp. 138–143.OCLC761003148.
Atkins, Sinclair. "Charles V and the Turks",History Today (Dec 1980) 30#12 pp. 13–18
Blockmans, W. P., and Nicolette Mout.The World of Emperor Charles V (2005)
Blockmans, Wim.Emperor Charles V, 1500–1558. (Oxford University Press, 2002).online
Brandi, Karl.The Emperor Charles V: The growth and destiny of a man and of a world-empire (1939)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. 239–283.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.JSTOR20477694.
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).ISBN978-1843836995
MacDonald, Stewart.Charles V: Ruler, Dynast and Defender of the Faith 1500–58Access to History series (1992; 2nd ed. 2000)ISBN978-0340749227
Merriman, Roger Bigelow.The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and the New: Volume 3 The Emperor (1925)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;
Salvatore Agati (2009).Carlo V e la Sicilia. Tra guerre, rivolte, fede e ragion di Stato, Giuseppe Maimone Editore, Catania 2009,ISBN978-8877512871(in Italian)
D'Amico, Juan Carlos.Charles Quint, Maître du Monde: Entre Mythe et Realite 2004, 290p.(in French)
Norbert Conrads:Die Abdankung Kaiser Karls V. Abschiedsvorlesung, Universität Stuttgart, 2003 (textArchived 17 July 2011 at theWayback Machine)(in German)
Stephan Diller, Joachim Andraschke, Martin Brecht:Kaiser Karl V. und seine Zeit. Ausstellungskatalog. Universitäts-Verlag, Bamberg 2000,ISBN3933463068(in German)
Alfred Kohler:Karl V. 1500–1558. Eine Biographie. C. H. Beck, München 2001,ISBN3406453597(in German)
Alfred Kohler:Quellen zur Geschichte Karls V. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1990,ISBN3534048202(in German)
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,ISBN3700130546(in German)
Ernst Schulin:Kaiser Karl V. Geschichte eines übergroßen Wirkungsbereichs.Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1999,ISBN3170156950(in German)
Ferdinant Seibt:Karl V. Goldmann, München 1999,ISBN3442755115(in German)
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
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