Burgundy and the Low Countries in
Brussels from a 17th-century portrait before it burnt down in 1731.
Brussels served as the main seat of the imperial court of Charles V in the Low Countries. In 1506, Charles inherited all of his father's territories in the Low Countries, thus becoming the ruler of the
Habsburg Netherlands. His inheritance also included the
Free County of Burgundy (region of
Franche-Comté) within the Holy Roman Empire, and the
County of Charolais in the
Kingdom of France. and, most notably, the
Low Countries. His territories in the Low Countries mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire, and partially within the French realm. Thus, Charles's birthplace, the city of Ghent, belonged to the
County of Flanders, at that time still being the fief of the French crown. Since he was a minor, his aunt Margaret of Austria acted as regent, as appointed by Emperor Maximilian until 1515. She soon found herself at war with France over Charles's requirement to pay
homage to the French king for Flanders, Artois and Charolais, as his father had done. The outcome was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders and Artois in 1528. From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of
Frisian peasants (led by
Pier Gerlofs Donia and
Wijard Jelckama). The rebels were initially successful but after a series of defeats, the remaining leaders were captured and executed in 1523. Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of
Tournai,
Artois,
Utrecht,
Groningen, and
Guelders. The
Seventeen Provinces had been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but nominally were
fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. Charles eventually won the
Guelders Wars and united all provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders. In 1549, Charles issued a
Pragmatic Sanction, declaring the
Habsburg Netherlands to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs. The entire region of the Low Countries held an essential place in the Empire. For Charles V, they were his home, the region where he was born and spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the wealth of the region's cities, the Habsburg Netherlands also represented a significant income for the Charles' treasury. The Burgundian territories were generally loyal to Charles throughout his reign. The important city of Ghent
rebelled in 1539 due to heavy tax payments demanded by Charles. The rebellion did not last long, however, as Charles's military response, with reinforcement from
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba,
Spanish kingdoms served as the main seat of the Imperial court of Charles V in
Castile. in
Granada, which was built upon his wedding to
Isabella of Portugal in 1526 In the Castilian
Cortes of Valladolid in 1506 and of Madrid in 1510, Charles was sworn as the
Prince of Asturias, heir-apparent to his mother Queen
Joanna. On the other hand, in 1502, the
Aragonese Corts gathered in
Zaragoza and pledged an oath to Joanna as heiress-presumptive, but
Alonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza, (an illegitimate son of King Ferdinand) expressed firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that is to say, modify the right of the succession, except by virtue of a formal agreement between the
Corts and the King. So, upon the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, on 23 January 1516, Joanna inherited the
Crown of Aragon, which consisted of
Aragon,
Mallorca,
Catalonia,
Valencia,
Naples,
Sicily and
Sardinia, while Charles became governor general (regent). Nevertheless, the Flemish wished Charles to assume the royal title, and this was supported by Emperor Maximilian I and
Pope Leo X. Consequently, after Ferdinand II's funeral on 14 March 1516, Charles I was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, the Castilian
Regent, Cardinal
Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the
fait accompli, and the Castilian and Aragonese
Cortes paid homage to him as King of Aragon jointly with his mother. Cisneros acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and imposed his instatement throughout the kingdom. Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. Cisneros came to meet him but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and he died before reaching the King. Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian
Cortes in
Valladolid (1518) proved difficult. In the end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speak
Castilian; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile beyond the
Quinto Real; and he would respect the rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage to him in Valladolid in February 1518. After this, Charles departed to the Crown of Aragon. He managed to overcome the resistance of the Aragonese
Cortes and
Catalan Corts, and he was recognized as King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona jointly with his mother, while his mother was kept confined and ruled in name only. By contrast, in the Crown of Aragon, and especially in the Pyrenean Kingdom of Navarre, law prevailed, and the monarchy was seen as
a contract with the people. This became an inconvenience and a matter of dispute for Charles V and later kings since realm-specific traditions limited their absolute power. With Charles, the government became more absolute, even though until his mother died in 1555, Charles did not hold absolute power in the country. Soon resistance to the Emperor arose because of heavy taxation to support foreign wars in which Castilians had little interest and because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices in Castile and America, ignoring Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in the
Revolt of the Comuneros, which Charles suppressed. The 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 continued after the revolt to discourage similar events in future. Immediately after crushing the Castilian revolt, Charles was confronted again with the pressing issue of Navarre when King
Henry II attempted to
reconquer the kingdom. Main military operations lasted until 1524, when
Hondarribia surrendered to Charles's forces, but frequent cross-border clashes in the western Pyrenees only stopped in 1528 (Treaties of Madrid and
Cambrai). After these events, Navarre remained a matter of domestic and international litigation still for a century (a French dynastic claim to the throne did not end until the
July Revolution in 1830). Charles wanted his son and heir
Philip II to marry the heiress of Navarre,
Jeanne d'Albret. Jeanne was instead forced to marry
William, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg, but that childless marriage was annulled after four years. She next married
Antoine de Bourbon, and both she and their son
Henry of Navarre would oppose Philip II in the
French Wars of Religion. After its integration into Charles's empire, Castile guaranteed effective military units and its American possessions provided the bulk of the empire's financial resources. However, the two conflicting strategies of Charles V, enhancing the possessions of his family and protecting Catholicism against Protestant heretics, diverted resources away from building up the Spanish economy. Elite elements in Spain called for more protection for the commercial networks, which were threatened by the
Ottoman Empire and
Barbary pirates. Charles instead focused on defeating Protestantism in Germany and the Netherlands, which proved to be lost causes. Each hastened the economic decline of the Spanish Empire in the next generation. The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles's reign, along with the
inflation that affected the kingdom, resulted in declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II.
Italian states and Emperor Charles V on horseback under a canopy'', a 1580 portrait by
Jacopo Ligozzi. It depicts the entry of the Pope and the Emperor into
Bologna in 1530 when Charles was
crowned as
Holy Roman Emperor by Clement VII. The
Crown of Aragon inherited by Charles included the
Kingdom of Naples, the
Kingdom of Sicily and the
Kingdom of Sardinia. As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was sovereign in several states of northern Italy as
King of Italy. The
Duchy of Milan, however, was under French control.
France took Milan from the
House of Sforza after victory against
Switzerland at the
Battle of Marignano in 1515. Imperial-
Papal troops succeeded in re-installing
Francesco II Sforza in Milan in 1521, in the context of an alliance between Charles V and Pope Leo X. A Franco-Swiss army was expelled from Lombardy at the
Battle of Bicocca 1522. In 1524,
Francis I of France retook the initiative, crossing into
Lombardy where Milan, along with several other cities, once again fell to his attack.
Pavia alone held out, and on 24 February 1525 (Charles's twenty-fifth birthday), Charles's forces led by
Charles de Lannoy captured Francis and crushed his army in the
Battle of Pavia. In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs, and Charles V annexed the territory as a vacant Imperial state with the help of
Massimiliano Stampa, one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke. Charles successfully held on to all of its Italian territories, though they were invaded again on multiple occasions during the
Italian Wars. In addition, Habsburg trade in the Mediterranean was consistently disrupted by the
Ottoman Empire and its vassal
Barbary pirates. In 1538 a
Holy League consisting of all the Italian states and the Spanish kingdoms was formed to drive the Ottomans back, but it was defeated at the
Battle of Preveza. Decisive naval victory eluded Charles; it would not be achieved until after his death, at the
Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Holy Roman Empire , and also in the
Free County of Burgundy, and the
County of Charolais, (all in light orange) , the main
German seat of the Imperial court and the location of many of the
Imperial Diets presided over by Charles V depicted in a hand-coloured
woodcut from the
Nuremberg Chronicle After the death of his paternal grandfather,
Maximilian, in 1519, Charles inherited the
Habsburg monarchy. He was also the natural candidate of the
electors to succeed his grandfather as
Holy Roman Emperor. He defeated the candidacies of
Frederick III of Saxony,
Francis I of France, and
Henry VIII of England in the
1519 Imperial election. According to some, Charles became emperor due to the fact that by paying huge bribes to the electors, he was the highest bidder. He won the crown on 28 June 1519. On 23 October 1520, he was crowned in Germany and some ten years later, on
24 February 1530, he was crowned
Holy Roman Emperor by
Pope Clement VII in
Bologna, the last emperor to receive a
papal coronation. 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. 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. with Charles V and
John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, by
Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1544 Although even at the beginning of his reign, his position was more powerful than that of any of his predecessors, the decentralized structure of the Empire proved resilient, not least because of the
Reformation. It was exactly during this crucial period, Charles V and Ferdinand were too busy with non-German affairs to prevent
Imperial Cities in Upper Germany from becoming estranged from Imperial power. Due to Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in the face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant Princes and France, the defense of central Europe, as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the Empire, was subcontracted to Ferdinand. Charles V abdicated as
Archduke of Austria in 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes
elect Ferdinand as
King of the Romans, who thus became his designated successor as emperor, a move that "had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe". Afterwards, Ferdinand managed to gain control of
Bohemia,
Croatia, and
Hungary, with support from local nobles and his German vassals. Charles abdicated as emperor in 1556 in favour of his brother Ferdinand; however, due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure, the Imperial Diet did not accept the abdication (and thus make it legally valid) until 24 February 1558. Up to that date, Charles continued to use the title of emperor.
Wars with France and Charles V made peace at the
Truce of Nice in 1538. Francis refused to meet Charles in person, and the treaty was signed in separate rooms. Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts with
France, which found itself encircled by Charles's empire while it still maintained ambitions in Italy. In 1520, Charles visited
England, where his aunt,
Catherine of Aragon, urged her husband,
Henry VIII (Charles's uncle by marriage), to ally himself with the Emperor. In 1508 Charles had been nominated by
Henry VII to the
Order of the Garter. His
Garter stall plate survives in
Saint George's Chapel. The
first war with Charles's great nemesis
Francis I of France began in 1521. Charles allied with England and
Pope Leo X against the French and the
Venetians, and was highly successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at the
Battle of Pavia in 1525. To gain his freedom, Francis agreed to cede the
Duchy of Burgundy to Charles in the
Treaty of Madrid, as well as renouncing his support of Henry II's claim over
Navarre. When he was released, however, Francis had the
Parlement of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress, thus refusing to hand over the Duchy of Burgundy. France then joined the
League of Cognac that
Pope Clement VII had formed with Henry VIII of England, the Venetians, the
Florentines, and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles's
sack of Rome (1527) and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in 1527 prevented the Pope from
annulling the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, so Henry eventually broke with Rome, thus leading to the
English Reformation. In other respects, the war was inconclusive. In the
Treaty of Cambrai (1529), called the "Ladies' Peace" because it was negotiated between Charles's aunt and Francis' mother, Francis renounced his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy. A
third war erupted in 1536. Following the death of
Francesco II Sforza, Charles installed his son
Philip in the
Duchy of Milan, despite Francis' claims on it. Already in the summer of 1536, the emperor personally led the invasion of
Provence, and took
Aix-en-Provence on August 5, affirming there his imperial rights over the ancient
Kingdom of Arles, but those gains were soon lost. This war too was inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but he succeeded in conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally,
Charles III, Duke of Savoy, including his capital
Turin. The
Truce of Nice was concluded in 1538, on the basis of
uti possidetis. It ended the war, but lasted only a short time.
War resumed in 1542, with Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite the
conquest of Nice by a
Franco-Ottoman fleet, the French could not advance toward Milan, while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace and restoration of the
status quo ante bellum in 1544. A
final war erupted with Francis' son and successor,
Henry II, in 1551. Henry won early success in
Lorraine, where he
captured Metz, but French offensives in Italy failed. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of the war to his son,
Philip II, and his brother,
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the Tapestry Room of the
Alcázar Palace in Seville Charles fought continually with the
Ottoman Empire and its sultan,
Suleiman the Magnificent. The defeat of
Hungary at the
Battle of Mohács in 1526 "sent a wave of terror over Europe." The Muslim advance in Central Europe was halted at the
Siege of Vienna (1529), followed by a counter-attack of Charles V across the
Danube river. However, by 1541, central and southern Hungary
fell under Ottoman control. Suleiman won the contest for mastery of the Mediterranean, in spite of Christian victories such as the
conquest of Tunis in 1535. The regular Ottoman fleet came to dominate the
Eastern Mediterranean after its victories at
Preveza in 1538 and
Djerba in 1560 (shortly after Charles's death), which severely decimated the
Spanish Navy. At the same time, the Muslim
Barbary corsairs, acting under the general authority and supervision of the sultan, regularly devastated the Spanish and Italian coasts and crippled Spanish trade. The advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe chipped at the foundations of Habsburg power and diminished Imperial prestige. In 1536, Francis I allied France with Suleiman against Charles. While Francis was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, he again allied himself with the Ottomans in 1542 in a
Franco-Ottoman alliance. In 1543, Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign the
Truce of Crépy-en-Laonnois. Later, in 1547, Charles signed a humiliating
treaty with the Ottomans to gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of their war. Charles V made overtures to the
Safavid Empire to open a second front against the Ottomans, in an attempt at creating a
Habsburg–Persian alliance. Contacts were positive, but rendered difficult by enormous distances. In effect, however, the Safavids did enter in conflict with the Ottoman Empire in the
Ottoman–Safavid War, forcing it to split its military resources. During the 1541
expedition of Algiers, the losses amongst the invading force were heavy with 150 ships lost, plus large numbers of sailors and soldiers. A Turkish
chronicler confirmed that the
Berber tribes massacred 12,000 invaders. Leaving war materiel, including 100 to 200 guns which would be recovered to furnish the ramparts of Algiers, Charles' army was taken prisoner in such numbers that the
markets of Algiers were filled with slaves.
Protestant Reformation to appear at the
Diet of Worms signed by Charles V; the text on the left was on the reverse side. in the second half of the 16th century. Preserved in the
Ghent University Library. The issue of the
Reformation was first brought to the imperial attention under Charles V. As
Holy Roman Emperor, Charles called
Martin Luther to the
Diet of Worms in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. After Luther defended the
Ninety-five Theses and his writings, the Emperor commented: "that monk will never make me a heretic". Charles V relied on religious unity to govern his various realms, otherwise
unified only in his person, and perceived Luther's teachings as a disruptive form of
heresy. He outlawed Luther and issued the
Edict of Worms, declaring: Charles V, however, kept his word, and left Martin Luther free to leave the city.
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony and protector of Luther, lamented the outcome of the Diet. On the road back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hidden in a distant castle in
Wartburg. There, he began to work on his
German translation of the bible. The spread of
Lutheranism led to two major revolts: that of the knights in 1522–1523 and that of the peasants led by
Thomas Muntzer in 1524–1525. While the pro-Imperial
Swabian League, in conjunction with Protestant princes afraid of social revolts, restored order, Charles V used the instrument of pardon to maintain peace. Conflict with the pope led Charles' agents to remind the pope of the bad position that the Protestants were putting the Vatican in. at the
Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530 Following this, Charles V took a tolerant approach and pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Lutherans. The 1530 Imperial
Diet of Augsburg was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: first, the defence of the Empire against the
Ottoman 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. The Diet was inaugurated by the emperor on 20 June. It produced numerous outcomes, most notably the 1530 declaration of the Lutheran estates known as the
Augsburg Confession (
Confessio Augustana), a central document of Lutheranism. Luther's assistant
Philip Melanchthon went even further and presented it to Charles V. The Emperor strongly rejected it, and in 1531 the
Schmalkaldic League was formed by Protestant princes. In 1532, Charles V recognized the League and effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with the
standstill of Nuremberg. The
standstill required the Protestants to continue to take part in the Imperial wars against the Turks and the French, and postponed religious affairs until an
ecumenical council of the Catholic Church was called by the Pope to solve the issue. Due to Papal delays in organizing a general council, Charles V decided to organize a German summit and presided over the
Colloquy of Regensburg between Catholics and Lutherans in 1541, but no compromise was achieved. In 1545, the
Council of Trent was finally opened and the
Counter-Reformation began. The Catholic initiative was supported by a number of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the Schmalkaldic League refused to recognize the validity of the council and occupied territories of Catholic princes. Therefore, Charles V outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546. The next year his forces drove the League's troops out of southern Germany, and defeated
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and
Philip of Hesse at the
Battle of Mühlberg, capturing both. At the
Augsburg Interim in 1548, he created a solution giving certain allowances to Protestants until the Council of Trent would restore unity. However, members of both sides resented the Interim and some actively opposed it. The council was re-opened in 1550 with the participation of Lutherans, and Charles V set up the Imperial court in
Innsbruck, Austria, sufficiently close to Trent for him to follow the evolution of the debates. In 1552 Protestant princes, in alliance with
Henry II of France, rebelled again and the
Second Schmalkaldic War began.
Maurice of Saxony, instrumental for the Imperial victory in the first conflict, switched side to the Protestant cause and bypassed the
Imperial army by marching directly into Innsbruck with the goal of capturing the Emperor. Charles V was forced to flee the city during an attack of gout and barely made it alive to
Villach in a state of semi-consciousness carried in a litter. After failing to recapture
Metz from the French, Charles V returned to the Low Countries for the last years of his emperorship. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the
Peace of Augsburg in his name. The agreements led to the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms. ==Abdications and death==