Charles V (February 24, 1500-September 21, 1558) [1], Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg dynasty (1520-1556), Prince of Netherland (1506-1555), King of Germany (1519-1556), First King of the Habsburg dynasty in Spain (known as Carlos I, 1516-1556) [3], He was also a member of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria.
Prior to his accession, he was commonly known as Charles of Austria. As the king of Spain, he appointed Magellan, a navigator who had been neglected in Portugal, in 1518 and provided funding to help Magellan navigate the world. He successively came to South America, occupied modern Chile and Peru, expanded the colonies of Western America, and made Spain the maritime hegemon of the time. In order to expand the scope of the empire's rule, he broke out wars with the Kingdom of France and the Ottoman Empire, both of which ultimately ended in victory. He also expanded the influence of the European continent, making the Spanish Empire prosperous at that time. Charles V ruled in Spain (including Naples, Sardinia, Sicily and the American colonies in addition to the mainland), Austria, low-lying countries and the nominally Holy Roman Empire, as well as Tunisia and Oran in Africa. His empire spanned two hemispheres and was called the "the empire on which the sun never sets". After the failure of efforts to defeat Protestant lords in 1555, he began to fade out of court. Given that his territory was too vast and scattered, he entrusted the land to his younger brother Ferdinand I and son Felipe II for inheritance. In 1558, Charles V passed away in Ulster, Spain.
Charles V utilized social contradictions and adopted a series of reform measures to establish a unified authoritarian monarchy, enabling Spain to dominate Europe. He himself became one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe in the 16th century.

Eminent family background
Charles V was born on February 24, 1500 in Ghent, Flanders (now Belgium). It was the final product of the extensive royal marriage of the Habsburg dynasty. He is the son of Austrian Archduke Philip I and Castile Queen Joanna (Mad Woman), who came from the Habsburg family. He is the grandson of Fernando II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, and the grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Duchess Mary of Burgundy. He was raised in a lowland country from a young age, and his childhood teacher was Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope Hadrian VI).
Due to the complex situation at that time, it was difficult to specify the specific nationality of Charles V. From his father's perspective, he is a member of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria, but he is not of pure Austrian ancestry. His mother was Spanish, and Spain was also the core of his empire, but he often felt like an outsider in Spain. His mother tongue is French, which was the language spoken by the nobles of the "lowland countries" where he grew up (including present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands), but France was his lifelong enemy.
In 1501, Philip and Juana handed over Charlie to his aunt, Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, to take care of him, and then went to Spain. They rarely came back to visit their son, so Charlie and his sister Eleanore, sister Mary, and Isabella grew up in the Duchess' court in Mechelen without parents. He received education from William II of Crowe and Adrian of Utrecht. In 1504, Isabella I passed away and Juana became Queen of Castile. Philip was recognized as king in 1506, but soon after he passed away, which caused the mentally unstable Juana to become completely insane. She secluded from the world in a monastery in Todsyla. With the death of his father and the imprisonment of his mother, Charlie became the Duke of Burgundy and was recognized as the Prince of Asturias (presumed heir to Spain).

Inheriting the Empire
Running for Emperor
Charlie inherited the Low Countries and Franch Conte in 1506 (the year his father died). When his powerful grandfather Fernando II passed away in 1516, he became the owner of a vast territory that included his mother's Castile and Fernando II's Aragon, Navarra, Granada, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, as well as the entire Western America (during his reign, Spain's colonies in the Americas expanded several times due to the conquest of Mexico and Peru).
On March 22, 1518, Charles V signed an agreement with navigator Ferdinand Magellan to fund his first global voyage in human history.
After the death of his grandfather Maximilian I, Charlie was able to inherit the Habsburg family's estate in Austria. By bribing the Elector (with the financial support of the Fugger family of the Deutsche Bank family), he was elected the Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 after defeating the French King Francois I.
Suppression of urban riots in Spain
At the beginning of Charlie's reign, Spain's politics were not unified, and various forces divided the power of the country. In the eight century long anti Arab Moors struggle, the feudal nobility obtained many privileges, and a large number of urban communes emerged. In places such as Casti, Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, hierarchical councils composed of nobles, clergy, and the upper echelons of the city have great power and even have the power to consider succession to the throne. The king's accession to the throne requires an oath to the parliament, which has the power to depose the king and can form an alliance to declare war on the king. After Charles ascended the throne, he was determined to eradicate various opposing forces against monarchy, strengthen authoritarian regimes, and suppress those who opposed monarchy.
He directly appointed administrative officials representing the king to settle in important villages and towns, abolished the privilege of legislators being inviolable, imposed compulsory loans on cities, arbitrarily increased taxes, and established heretical courts to suppress those who dared to resist monarchy with heretical charges. All of this sparked strong dissatisfaction from all sectors of the city, ultimately leading to the 1519 Urban Commune Uprising. Eleven cities in Castile formed a military alliance in Avila to engage in armed struggle with the royal army. Some noble monks also participated in the uprising, with Juan de Baptilia, a nobleman from Toledo, serving as the leader of the uprising. The urban uprising quickly swept through central and northern Spain. In the face of the flames of the city fighting for freedom, Charlie, on the one hand, adopted the policy of disintegration, on the other hand, attracted the feudal nobility, appointed two new regents among them, and made various concessions to the nobility, so that the nobility withdrew from the ranks of the uprising, and then mobilized a large number of troops with the nobility to suppress the citizens fighting for freedom.
In July 1522, Charlie returned to Spain with 4000 German mercenaries, and in late October, he completely suppressed the urban uprising and executed 290 insurgents. The monarchy defeated the local council. However, Charlie continued to pursue a policy of alliance with the nobility, defending their privileged interests, encouraging the import of foreign goods and the export of domestic raw materials, which dealt a heavy blow to Spain's industry and commerce. But on the other hand, a obedient and powerful Spain formed the foundation for his future galloping in Europe.
The Italian War
Main term: Italian War
The Aragon crown inherited by Charlie includes the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. As the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles enjoyed sovereignty in several northern Italian states and held the Iron Crown of Lombardy (obtained in 1530). However, the Duchy of Milan was controlled by France. In 1515, France defeated Switzerland in the Battle of Mariniano and took Milan from the hands of the Sforza family. In 1521, against the backdrop of an alliance between Charles V and Pope Leo X, the papal army successfully resettled Sforza in Milan. A year later, a French Swiss army was finally expelled from Lombardy at the Battle of Bicocca. However, in 1524, Francis I of France regained the initiative and crossed to Lombardy, where Milan and several other cities were once again attacked by him. Only Pavia persevered, and on February 24, 1525 (Charlie's 25th birthday), Charlie Delano's army captured Francis and suppressed his army in the Battle of Pavia. In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs. Charles V annexed the land with the help of Maximiliano Stampa, one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke, making it an empty imperial country. Despite multiple invasions of these territories during the Italian War, Charlie successfully occupied all of its Italian territories.
In addition, Habsburg's trade in the Mediterranean has always been disrupted by the Ottoman Empire. In 1538, a sacred alliance consisting of all Italian countries and the Kingdom of Spain was established with the aim of driving the Ottoman Empire back, but was defeated in the Battle of Preveza. Charlie did not achieve a decisive naval victory; It was not until the death of Charles in 1571 that this victory was achieved in the Battle of Lebanto.

Two line combat
Most of Charles' rule was occupied by conflicts with France, where France found itself surrounded by Charles' empire while still maintaining its ambitions in Italy. In 1520, Charlie visited England and his aunt Catherine of Aragon urged her husband Henry VIII to form an alliance with the emperor. In 1508, Charles was nominated by Henry VII for the Order of the Gard. His Order of Gard is still preserved in the Church of St. George.
The first war against King Francois I of France, the mortal enemy of Charles, began in 1521. Charlie formed an alliance with England and Pope Leo X to confront the French and Venetians, achieving great success. In the Battle of Pavia in 1525, he drove the French out of Milan, defeated and captured Fran ç ois. In order to gain freedom, Fran ç ois ceded Burgundy to Charles in the Treaty of Madrid and gave up supporting Henry II's claims against Navarre.
However, when Fran ç ois was released, he had the Paris Parliament condemn the treaty because it was signed under duress. France subsequently joined the Brandy Alliance formed by Pope Clement VII and English Henry VIII, Venetians, Florentines, and Milanese to resist Italian imperial rule. In the subsequent war, Charles' killing of Rome (1527) and Pope Clement VII's actual imprisonment in 1527 prevented the Pope from abolishing the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Aragoncatherine, so Henry finally broke with Rome, leading to the Reformation in Britain. In other aspects, war is fruitless. In the Treaty of Canterbury (1529), it was called the "Madame Contract" because it was negotiated between Charlie's aunt Margaret of Austria and Fran ç ois's mother Louise of Savoy. Fran ç ois abandoned his claim to sovereignty in Italy but retained control over Burgundy.
The third war broke out in 1536. After the death of the last Duke of Sforza in Milan, Charlie disregarded Fran ç ois' demands and placed his son Felipe in the duchy. This war was also fruitless. Fran ç ois was unable to conquer Milan, but he successfully conquered most of the land of Charles' ally Duke Savoy, including his capital Turin. The truce in Nice in 1538 ended the war, but it only lasted for a short period of time. The war resumed in 1542. Francois is now in alliance with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and Charlie is again in alliance with Henry VIII. Although the French Ottoman fleet conquered Nice, France was unable to advance towards Milan, and the British Empire's joint invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, achieved some success but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace in 1544 and restoring the pre war status quo.
In 1551, the last war broke out between Charles and Henry II, the heir of Fran ç ois. Henry achieved victory in Lorraine, where he captured Metz, but France's attack in Italy failed. Charles abdicated in the middle of the conflict, leaving further command of the war to his son Felipe II and his brother, the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand I.
Charlie constantly fought against the Ottoman Empire. The failure of Hungary in the Battle of Mohaci in 1526 "sparked a wave of terror in Europe." In 1529, the Ottoman Empire halted its attacks in Central Europe while surrounding Vienna (see enclosure of Vienna), and then Charles V launched a counterattack across the Danube. However, by 1541, central and southern Hungary was completely under Turkish control.
Despite certain victories achieved by the Christian Union, such as the conquest of Tunisia in 1535 (see entry Tunisian Campaign), Suleiman still won control of the Mediterranean. After the victory of the Preveza Naval Battle in 1538 and the Battle of Djerba Island in 1560 (shortly after Charlie's death), the regular fleet of the Ottoman Empire began to dominate the eastern Mediterranean. These two victories caused serious losses to the Spanish marines. At the same time, Muslim Barbary pirates operated under the authorization and supervision of Sudan, often destroying the coasts of Spain and Italy, weakening Spain's trade, and undermining the foundation of the Habsburg regime.
In 1536, Fran ç ois I formed an alliance with Suleiman against Charles. When Fran ç ois was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, he allied with the Ottomans again in 1542, forming the Franco Austrian alliance. In 1543, Charles formed an alliance with Henry VIII, forcing Francis to sign a truce. Later, in 1547, Charlie and Ottoman signed a humiliating treaty to gain some breathing space from the huge expenses of the Ottoman War.
Charles V proposed to the Safavid dynasty to open up a second front against the Ottoman Empire, attempting to establish the Habsburg Persian alliance. Contact is positive, but becomes difficult due to distance. In fact, the Safavid dynasty did indeed engage in conflicts with the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Safavid War, forcing the Ottoman Empire to divide its military resources.

Abdication and death
In addition, as a devout Catholic, Charles V was also a fierce opponent of the Reformation movement. During his reign, the colonies of Western America greatly expanded, and modern Chile and Peru were occupied, making Spain the maritime hegemon of the time.
Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg Empire into the Spanish Empire and the German Austrian Empire. His abdication occurred at the Kudenburg Palace, hence it is known as the "Brussels abdication" (German: Abdankung von Br ü ssel, Spanish: Abdicaci ó n de Bruselas). Firstly, on July 25, 1554, he relinquished the thrones of Sicily and Naples, both of which were fiefdoms of the Pope, and replaced them with his son Felipe. Felipe had already secretly traveled to Milan in 1540 and 1546, but it was not until 1554 that the emperor made it public. After the abdication of Naples and Sicily, Pope Julius III handed over the Kingdom of Naples to Felipe on October 2 and the Kingdom of Sicily to him on November 18.
One year later, on October 25, 1555, Charlie announced to the Dutch House of Representatives that he had reunited in the palace hall, which had been liberated forty years ago. He abdicated his son who was about to own these territories and planned to step down from all of them. This was the most famous and only time that Charles V had resigned:
When I was nineteen years old, after the death of Emperor Maximilian I, I promised to become a candidate for the crown, not to increase my wealth, but to work more actively for the welfare of Germany and my other kingdoms, hoping to bring peace among the Christian people, unite their fighting forces, defend the Catholic faith, and fight against the Ottoman Empire. That's why I have to make many difficult journeys and launch many difficult wars... but I never intentionally launched a war. As someone who was attacked, it always went against my will... I had great hopes - only a few people were satisfied, only a few chose to be loyal to me: how much effort was put in, In the end, it made me feel tired and nauseous... Don't think I want to avoid any trouble or danger: my strength is simply not enough... As for me: I know I have made many mistakes, big mistakes, first because of my youth, then because of human mistakes and my passion, and finally because of fatigue. But I didn't intentionally harm anyone, no matter who. If something unjust happens and I don't know, it's just out of incompetence: I publicly express my regret and request forgiveness for anyone who may have been offended by me.
At the end of his speech, he mentioned his voyages: 10 to the Low Countries, 9 to Germany, 7 to Spain, 7 to Italy, 4 to France, 2 to the UK, and 2 to North Africa. His last public statement was: My life is a long journey.
On January 16, 1556, Charlie handed over Spain and the Spanish Empire in the Americas to Felipe. On August 3rd, he handed over the throne of the Holy Roman Empire to his brother Ferdinand. It was not until 1558 that the electors of the prince gathered in Frankfurt and the Pope in 1559 recognized this inheritance right.
According to scholars, there are many reasons why Charles decided to abdicate: the religious division in Germany was approved in 1555; Spain's financial situation went bankrupt due to inflation at the end of his rule; The Italian War revived under the attack of Henry II of France; The continuous advancement of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and Spain in central Europe; And his increasingly weakened health, especially the onset of gout, forced him to delay his efforts to recapture Metz City, where he was later defeated.
In September 1556, Charlie left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by Mary from Hungary and Eleanor from Austria. In 1557, he arrived at the Ulster Abbey in Estry Madura. He continued to communicate extensively and maintained an interest in the situation of the empire, while also suffering from severe gout. He lives alone in a secluded monastery surrounded by Titian paintings and walls adorned with bells, which some historians consider a symbol of his reign and his lack of time. About six months before his death, Charlie held his own funeral in advance, which included a shroud and coffin. Afterwards, he "stood up from the coffin and returned to his apartment, filled with that terrible emotion, and this strange solemnity was intended to stimulate this emotion
In August 1558, Charlie contracted a serious illness that was later discovered to be malaria. On the early morning of September 21, 1558, Charles V passed away in Ulster at the age of 58. Until his death, he still held the cross that his wife Isabel had been holding since her death.

During Charlie's rule, the territory of Castilla in the Americas was greatly expanded by conquerors such as Hernan Cortez and Francisco Pizarro. They conquered the Aztec and Inca empires and incorporated them into the empire between 1519 and 1542, becoming governors of New Spain and Peru. In addition, the success of the Magellan Expedition's circumnavigation around the world in 1522 convinced Charlie of his sacred mission to become a leader in the Christian world, which still felt the enormous threat from Islam. These conquests also helped consolidate Charlie's rule and provided a large amount of gold for the treasury. As the conqueror Bernard D í az del Castillo said, "We are here to serve God and His Majesty, to provide light to people in the darkness, and to obtain the wealth that most people dream of." The local Spanish strongly oppose it, as it assumes equality between Native Americans and Spaniards. The locals wanted complete control over the labor force, so they obtained it under the rule of Felipe II in the 1570s.
On August 28, 1518, Charlie issued a charter authorizing the direct transportation of slaves from Africa to the Americas. Prior to this (at least starting from 1510), African slaves were usually transported to Castile or Portugal, and then transported to the Caribbean Sea. Charlie's decision to establish a direct, economically more feasible slave trade from Africa to the United States fundamentally changed the nature and scale of the transatlantic slave trade.
In 1528, Charlie transferred a concession in the Venezuelan province to Bartholomew v. Versser to compensate for his inability to repay the debt he owed. The concession, known as Klein Venice (Little Venice), was abolished in 1546. In 1550, Charlie held a conference in Valladolid to consider the moral issue of the use of force against indigenous peoples of the New World, including figures such as Bartolome de Laskasas.
As early as 1520, Charles V proposed the first idea of building the Isthmus Canal in Panama.
Culture
Charles V devoted all his loyalty and even fanaticism to Catholicism. He was a fierce opponent of the Reformation movement and attempted to establish a "world Catholic empire". In 1521, Charles V summoned Martin Luther as the emperor to attend the religious conference at Worms (promising to ensure Luther's personal safety). At this meeting, he declared Luther and his followers illegal (Order of Worms in 1521):
I am a descendant of most Christian emperors, including the great German people, the Catholic King of Spain, the Grand Duke of Austria, and the Duke of Burgundy. All these people, all their lives, are faithful sons of the Roman Church... After their death, according to natural law and heritage, they left these sacred Catholic ceremonies. Let us follow their example, and it is vital to live and die. So until now, I have been a true follower of these ancestors. Therefore, I am determined to maintain everything that my ancestors have established to this day.
Nevertheless, Charles V kept his promise to let Martin Luther leave the city freely. The wise Frederick, the elector of Saxony and the protector of Luther, felt sorry for the results of his diet. On his way back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hid in a distant castle in Fort Watt. There, he began studying the German translation of the Bible. The spread of Lutheranism led to two major uprisings: the Knights' Uprising in 1522-1523 and the Farmers' Uprising led by Thomas Munce in 1524-1525. The pro imperial Swabian alliance and the Protestant prince who feared social rebellion restored order, while Charles V used amnesty to maintain peace.
Afterwards, Charles V adopted a tolerant attitude and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutheran Church. In 1530, the Augsburg Imperial Parliament, at the request of Emperor Charles V, decided on three issues: first, to defend the empire from the threat of the Ottoman Empire; Secondly, issues related to policy, currency, and public welfare; Thirdly, regarding the differences in Christianity, in order to reach a certain compromise and have the opportunity to respond to the situation in Germany. On June 20th, the emperor announced the opening of the parliament. It produced many results, most notably the Lutheran property declared in 1530, known as the Confession Augustana, the central document of Lutheranism, submitted to the emperor. Luther's assistant Philip Merachidon went further and submitted Luther Augsburg's confession to Charles V. The emperor strongly opposed it, and in 1531, Protestant princes formed the Schmarkal Alliance. In 1532, Charles V recognized the Union and effectively suspended the laws of Nuremberg. The suspension required Protestants to continue to participate in the imperial war against Turks and the French, and to postpone religious affairs until the Pope convened a universal meeting of the Catholic Church to solve the problem.
Due to the Pope's delay in organizing the General Council, Charles V decided to organize a German summit and presided over the Regensburg talks between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was reached. In 1545, the Trent Parliament was finally established and the anti reform movement began. The Catholic initiative received support from some princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the Amarkaldic Alliance refused to recognize the legitimacy of the committee and the occupied territories of the Catholic prince. Therefore, Charles V declared the Amarkaldic Alliance illegal and launched hostile actions against it in 1546. The following year, his troops drove the Allied forces out of southern Germany and defeated the electors, John Friedrich of Saxony and Philip of Hesse, both of whom were captured in the Battle of Muelberg. In the Augsburg transitional period of 1548, he created a solution that offered Protestants a certain allowance until the Trent Council regained unity. However, both members expressed dissatisfaction with the transitional period, with some actively opposing it.
In 1550, with the participation of Lutherans, the parliament reopened and Charles V established the Imperial Court in Innsbruck, Austria, close enough to Trent to track the evolution of the debate. In 1552, the Protestant princes formed an alliance with Henry II of France and rebelled again, marking the beginning of the Second Schmarchal War. Maurice of Saxony played an important role in the victory of the Empire in the first conflict, turning to support Protestantism, bypassing the Imperial army, and directly advancing to Innsbruck, with the goal of seizing the throne. Charles V was forced to flee the city in an attack and barely survived to Verachi, carrying him half awake in a litter. Charles V was unable to recapture Metz from the French, so he returned to the lowland countries in the final years of his rule. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the Treaty of Augsburg in his name. These agreements led to a religious division between the Catholic and Protestant monarchies in Germany.