Empire of Charles V

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
On the left: Portrait of Charles V by Titian.
On the right: The empire of Charles V at its peak after the Peace of Crépy in 1544.

The Empire of Charles V, also known by the umbrella term

Archduke of Austria (Karl I). The imperial name prevailed due to the politico-religious primacy held by the Holy Roman Empire among European monarchies since the Middle Ages, which Charles V intended to preserve as part of his (ultimately failed) project to unite Christendom under his leadership.[1][2][3][4]

Charles V inherited the states comprising his empire as a result of the ambitious Habsburg matrimonial policy, engaged in extensive warfare during his reign, especially against

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire. He had access to vast resources consisting of flows of silver from the Americas to Spain, loans received from German and Italian bankers, and financial revenues of his states, especially the rich Low Countries; he used this wealth to wage war in Europe, but failed to contain religious divisions and French and Ottoman hostility, while his regime became more and more indebted and suffered from inflation. Ruling a vast empire as an itinerant monarch, he was assisted by many collaborators and entrusted oversight of his realms to his close relatives; ultimately he abdicated and divided the component states of his empire, with his brother Ferdinand succeeding him as Holy Roman Emperor and his son Philip
inheriting the Spanish territories and the Low Countries.

Inheritances of Charles V

You, noble prince Charles, are more blessed than

Education of a Christian Prince

Birth and heritage

European inheritances of Charles V in 1519: Burgundian lands in orange, the Crown of Castile in light blue, realms of the Crown of Aragon dark blue, Austrian realms in dark red, borders of the Empire in red.

Charles of

League of Venice directed against the Kingdom of France during the Italian Wars.[7]

The organization of ambitious political marriages reflected Maximilian's practice to expand the House of Habsburg with dynastic links rather than conquest, as exemplified by his saying "Let others wage war, you, happy Austria, marry". The

Prince of the Asturias. Only a series of dynastic accidents eventually favored Maximilian's project.[8]

Charles was given birth in a bathroom of the Prinsenhof at 3:00 a.m. by Joanna not long after she attended a

Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy and Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy 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.[10]

Flemish Dutch; literally "Princes' court") in Ghent
, where Charles was born.

In 1501, Philip and Joanna left Charles to the custody of

Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognized as prince of Asturias (heir presumptive of Spain) and honorific archduke (heir apparent of Austria).[11]

Low Countries

A painting representing the extended Habsburg family, with a young Charles in the middle.

The

Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel, Groningen, Drenthe, and Zutphen. Another territory not included in the Burgundian inheritance was Burgundy proper, annexed by France in 1477. As a young lord, Charles grew up with two major political goals: recover Burgundy proper and unite the seventeen provinces
of the Low Countries under sole Habsburg rule. By the end of his reign, he would have failed in the former objective but succeeded in the latter.

The Low Countries held an important place in Europe for their strategic location, and the wealthy Flemish cities were flourishing in trade and experiencing a transition to capitalism. Although located within the Holy Roman Empire and its borders, those territories were formally divided between fiefs of the

German kingdom and French fiefs (such as Charles's birthplace of Flanders) and thus formed, as Henri Pirenne put it, "a state made up of the frontier provinces of two kingdoms".[13] Given that Charles ascended to the ducal throne as a minor, Emperor Maximilian appointed Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (Charles's aunt and Maximilian's daughter) as his guardian and regent. Charles viewed and treated Margaret as his mother[14]
and grew up in her palace of Mechelen along with his sisters. Margaret soon found herself in conflict with France over the question of Charles's requirement to pay homage to the French king in his position as Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders.

Coudenberg in Brussels was the main residence of Charles V in the Low Countries.[15][16]

Charles's entourage, which consisted of hundreds of members, was composed primarily of fellow countrymen such as his chamberlain

Adrian of Utrecht. Because of this, the young duke grew up speaking exclusively his native languages: French and Dutch. Very important to Charles was the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, a forum of knights and nobles of which he was a member and later the grand master. The basis of Charles's beliefs was formed in this environment, including his Burgundian chivalric culture and the desire of Christian unity to fight the infidel in the tradition of medieval figures born in the Low Countries such as Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon, whose biographies he often read.[17]

Emperor Maximilian decided to emancipate his grandson in 1515 at the great hall of the

Coudenberg Palace in Brussels, where Charles would abdicate 40 years later. Once emancipated, he undertook his first voyage to tour the Burgundian provinces and made an acclaimed Joyous Entry in Bruges and other Flemish cities. Meanwhile, he refused to attend the coronation ceremony of the new king of France Francis I of Valois as a French vassal. This event marked the first episode of a long rivalry between the two monarchs.[18]

Spanish kingdoms

In 1479, Spain was formed as a

Queen of Aragon as well. Ferdinand's testament recognized Joanna as sole Queen of the Spanish kingdoms with Charles as governor-general and Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros as regent.[19] Joanna's condition of insanity persisted and, as suggested by the Flemings and Maximilian, Charles claimed for himself the Spanish kingdoms jure matris. After the celebration of Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, Charles was crowned King in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula of Brussels as Charles I of Spain or Charles I of Castile and Aragon, controlling both Spanish crowns in personal union.[20]

Joanna confined in Tordesillas.

Spanish kingdoms varied in their style and traditions. The Crown of Castile was an increasingly authoritarian state where the monarch's own will easily overrode legislative and justice institutions.

a contract with the people.[22] Viceroyalties of the Spanish crowns formed the Spanish Empire and included the West Indies and the Tierra Firme in the Americas, discovered by Christopher Columbus for Castile in 1492, as well as the Aragonese possessions in southern Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the recently conquered (1503) Kingdom of Naples.[23]

In August 1516, Charles as King of Spain and Francis I of France made the Treaty of

Adrian of Utrecht, who was appointed Bishop of Tortosa and became himself a cardinal. Charles visited his mother in Tordesillas, and met for the first time his younger brother Ferdinand
. Ferdinand had been born in Castile and was a popular candidate for King, but Charles ordered him to abandon Spain. Charles then entered into negotiations with the Cortes of Castile and of Aragon to be proclaimed king of the Spanish crowns jointly with his mother.

The city of Toledo was the main residence of Charles V in Spain.[25][26]

At his arrival in Spain, Charles was seen as a foreign prince of Flemish-Austrian background and his Burgundian-Habsburg entourage was accused of exploiting the resources and offices of the Spanish kingdoms. For this reason, and due to the irregularities of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian Cortes in Valladolid proved difficult.

precious metals coming from the Americas, and would respect the rights of his mother Joanna as Queen and co-monarch.[29]
In fact, Joanna had little effect on the government, as she was kept imprisoned till her death in 1555.

Austrian lands and Imperial election

The Hofburg palace in Innsbruck was the main residence of Charles V in Austria.[30][31]

When Maximilian died on 12 January 1519, Charles became

A.E.I.O.U (Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo - "Austria is to rule the universal world"), which seemed to materialize in the context of the now global Habsburg empire.[32] Charles then presented himself to the seven prince-electors (Palatinate, Saxony, Brandenburg, Mainz, Trier, Cologne, and Bohemia) as successor to his grandfather as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburg Archdukes of Austria since 1440.[33]

The

French-Habsburg rivalry.[34]

Charles borrowed large amounts of money from the

Welsers, the two major German banking families, and surpassed Francis in the race to pay bigger bribes to the electors. He also signed with the German princes an electoral capitulation (Wahlkapitulation) in which he promised to "protect and shield" Germany's liberties and began to learn German, Italian, and Latin. Finally, Charles advised the princes against electing a foreign king and declared himself a "German by blood and stock" on the ground that Austria, the home of his dynasty, and the Low Countries, where he was born, were then considered part of Germany.[35]

Panorama of 16th-century Augsburg, the main residence of Charles V in Germany.[36][37]

On 28 June 1519, Charles was elected Emperor by the prince-electors in

Duke Frederick, Count Palatine, Charles proclaimed the Imperial title to be "so great and sublime an honour to outshine all other worldly titles" and thus became universally known by the Imperial name of Charles V.[38]

Imperial project and Reformation

Coronation in Aachen

The traditional ideology of the

De Monarchia
, reproposed the medieval idea and wrote to the Emperor:

"Sire, God has been very merciful to you: he has raised you above all the kings and princes of

Charles the Great. He has set you on the way towards a world monarchy
, towards the uniting of all Christendom under a single shepherd."

Charles V endorsed the project and appointed Gattinara grand-chancellor of the Empire. Given that his dynastic fortunes gave him sovereignty in much of Western Europe and in the Americas, the Emperor believed it was his divine mission to transform the medieval dream into reality.[39]

He left a tumultuous situation in Spain, where the

Henry VIII of England, first in Canterbury and then in Gravelines, he dissuaded the English king from joining an anti-Imperial alliance proposed by Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Following a festival held at his Palace of Coudenberg
in order to celebrate the election, Charles crossed the Rhine and arrived in Germany for the first time.

Imperial regalia
and swore his oath as Holy Roman Emperor.

On 26 October 1520, Charles V was crowned

Carolingian sceptre in his left, he promised to defend and expand the Empire, administer justice, observe the Roman Catholic faith, and become the protector of the Church (Defensor Ecclesiae). Later he called for the first general meeting of German princes of his era, to be held in January 1521 at the Imperial Diet of Worms.[40]

"The empire on which the sun never sets"

While Charles V assumed the functions of Holy Roman Emperor in Germany, the conquistador

an expedition that circumnavigated the world. Spanish colonialism in the Americas was developing since the 1490s and it was even proposed, although not realized, to construct an American Isthmus canal in Panama.[41] These successes further convinced the Emperor of his divine mission to unify the world as the leader of Christendom. In his letter, Cortés claimed to have added to the empire as many provinces as Charles's Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian ancestors, and described Mexico to be "no less worthy than Germany to warrant your assuming anew the title of Emperor, of which, by the grace of God, Your Sacred Majesty already possesses the title."[42]

Portrait of Charles V, 1519. The insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece are prominently displayed.

Charles V ratified the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and would also oversee the beginning of the

port city of Antwerp, which became the centre of the entire international economy.[46] During Charles's reign, over 15 million ducats' worth of bullion reached the Imperial treasury but the rising inflation impacted the cost of borrowing which grew from 17% to 48%.[47]
[48][49] Estimates concerning the fiscal revenues of Charles's European possessions vary significantly, with some authors even claiming that the 16th fiscal revenues of the Low Countries alone were equivalent to seven times the amount of resources collected in the Americas.[50]

This financial system allowed Charles V to maintain a vast Imperial army of German

Adrian of Utrecht, William de Croÿ, Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, William the Silent). On other hand, Charles's dominions formed an "empire with no heartland" or a "hybrid empire" with multiple centres, suffering from the lack of a metropole and of a capital city in an age marked by the rise of more centralized national monarchies such as France and England.[55][56]

Diet of Worms

Luther at the Diet of Worms, by Anton von Werner, 1877

At the Diet of Worms, the

Edict of Worms
(26 May 1521), making a declaration reflective not only of his thought on the matter but of his world view in general:

"You know that my ancestors were the most Christian Emperors of the great nation of Germany, the Catholic kings of Spain, the archdukes of Austria, and the dukes of Burgundy, who all were, until death, faithful sons of the Roman Church...I am therefore resolved to maintain everything which these my forebears have established to the present…and to settle this matter I will use all my dominions and possessions, my friends, my body, my blood, my life, and my soul. It would be a disgrace for you and me, the illustrious and renowned nation of Germany, privileged and pre-eminent as protector and defender of the Catholic faith, if heresy, or even just the suspicion of heresy, and the degradation of the Christian religion were to return to the hearts of men in our time to our perpetual dishonour."[57]

Nonetheless, Charles V kept his word and Martin Luther was free to leave the city by virtue of the Imperial safe conduct. However, Frederick the Wise,

elector of Saxony and patron of the Reformation, lamented the outcome of the Diet. On the road back from Worms, Luther was kidnapped by Frederick's men and hidden in a far away castle in Wartburg. There, he began to work on his German translation of the Bible. Several princes, intending to gain possession of the resources and lands of the Catholic Church
in Germany, joined the Lutheran movement. A new religious denomination was emerging, but Charles V initially remained unaware of its spread as he was mostly concerned with the Italian Wars against France.

Italian Wars with France

Four Years' War

Portrait of Francis I of France.

While Charles V presided the Diet of Worms,

Renaissance Italy was described by Mercurino di Gattinara as "the principal foundation of empire" and both Francis I and Charles V, who were considered the most powerful European monarchs of the time, aspired to primacy in the rich peninsula. As the Renaissance historian Francesco Guicciardini
explained:

"If one of them [Charles V] ruled more kingdoms and states, the other [Francis I] deserved equal esteem, for his power was not scattered and divided in many places but concentrated in a united kingdom full of great wealth and with marvelous obedience of his people."

In September, Charles V closed the Diet of Worms in order to lead, for the first time in his life, a military campaign, commanding the Imperials against the invading forces of Francis I in the Low Countries. He successfully defended Flanders and won a battle at

Archduke of Austria in the name of Charles V. By the same treaties, Charles promised to support Ferdinand's candidacy as the designated successor in the Empire and to pass him hereditary rights over Austria at the Imperial succession.[58]

Execution of the comuneros Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo and Francisco Maldonado.

During the voyage from the Low Countries to Spain, Charles V visited England. His aunt,

Hondarribia surrendered to Charles's forces, although frequent cross-border skirmishes continued to occur for a number of years. In order to pacify Spain, the Emperor pardoned many rebels and honoured the agreements of 1517-1518 which chiefly consisted in appointing Castilians, rather than foreigners, for the high offices of Spain. Having already decided that his brother Ferdinand would succeed him in Austria and the Empire, Charles V also promised to celebrate his marriage in Spain and to give a Castilian heir to the Spanish throne. Thus, Spanish subjects were reconciled with Charles V. On the other hand, the price of reconciliation effectively consisted in accepting that a sizeable part of Spain's American resources was being used to sustain a foreign policy, that of the Holy Roman Empire, perceived to be in contrast to the country's interest by many Spaniards.[59]

German soldiers of the time of the Battle of Pavia.

In Spain, Charles V reformed the administration following the Flemish conciliar system and created collateral councils, in addition to

Thomas Muntzer in 1524–1525. The pro-Imperial Swabian League, in conjunction with Lutheran princes afraid of social revolts, massacred tens of thousands of rebels. However, Charles V, being absent from Germany, was not directly involved in the massacres and, similarly to what he did in Spain, he used the instrument of pardon to restore order and subsequently initiated a policy of tolerance towards the Lutherans.[60][61]

Taking advantage of the aforementioned revolts in Spain and Germany,

Charles de Lannoy, Imperial lieutenant and Viceroy of Naples, captured Francis I and imprisoned him in the nearby tower of Pizzighettone. The four-year long war with France was effectively over.[62]

League of Cognac

Charles V with Armor by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (1605), copying Titian.

Charles V and some of his principal counselors were informed of the victorious

Alcazar of Madrid, where the Emperor was residing in preparation for his Spanish marriage with Isabella of Portugal. The Imperial court split in two factions: one, led by the grand-chancellor Gattinara, advocated for the invasion of France (the so-called Great Enterprise), in order to realize the unified Catholic empire; the other, led by Lannoy and his Flemish representatives with support from the German Henry III of Nassau-Breda (the favourite of Charles V) and the Spaniard Hugo of Moncada (who was captured and freed by the French during the war) advocated for the liberation of Francis I in exchange for the transfer of Burgundy proper to Charles V. The latter opinion reflected historic Flemish claims over Burgundy, as well the interests of Spaniards and Germans who opposed to initiate a new war only to realize Gattinara's universal dream, and it was the one ultimately endorsed by Charles V.[63]

After signing the treaty of Rome with Clement VII, by which the

duress
and declared a new war on Charles V, whose management for the Imperials was again entrusted to Gattinara.

France then joined the

Welsers, a banking and patrician family of the Imperial cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, in compensation for his inability to repay debts owed and with the goal of finding the legendary golden city of El Dorado. The German colony, known as Klein-Venedig (little Venice), inclusive of newly founded settlements such as Neu-Augsburg (later Coro) and Neu-Nuremberg (later Maracaibo
), lasted until 1546.

In 1529, representatives of Pope Clement VII and Charles V signed the treaty of Barcelona and thus restored the Papal-Imperial alliance. English support to France ceased. Francis I was now without allies and his Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria, joined Charles V. After Doria's private fleet escorted to Italy the Emperor, who left Isabella of Portugal as regent in Spain, Charles's aunt Margaret of Austria and Francis' mother Louise of Savoy agreed in 1529 to the treaty of Cambrai (also called the "Ladies' Peace"). Francis I retained Burgundy proper, a better result for France compared to the agreements of 1526, but accepted defeat in the Italian peninsula and abandoned his claims over Imperial Italy.[65][66]

Coronation in Bologna and Diet of Augsburg

Pope Clement VII and Emperor Charles V on horseback under a canopy, by Jacopo Ligozzi, c. 1580. It describes the entry of the Pope and the Emperor into Bologna in 1530.

At the

Sigismund of Luxembourg were the examples set up in effigy for the Emperor to follow. The coronation of Bologna was the last Imperial coronation performed by a Pope.[67]

In ten years, Charles V had successfully restored the power of the Holy Roman Empire to its medieval grandeur.

Augsburg confession proposed by Luther's assistant Philip Melanchthon
to recognize and regulate the Reformers' beliefs, and proclaimed his supreme authority in Christendom:

"We have been hearing about the dispute over Our holy Christian faith, which in Our absence has spread and rooted itself in many dangerous sects that give rise to no little confusion and schism in Our common German nation...And so, having issued several laws for keeping the subjects of Our Spanish kingdom united and peaceful during Our absence, and in view of Our special love for and inclination to the German Nation and the Holy Roman Empire… We were able, praise be to God, to restore peace and order to Italy… and now, As Roman emperor and supreme steward of Christendom, it pertains to Our Imperial office to confess Our obligation to guard, protect, and maintain the holy Christian faith as it has been preserved until now."[68]

Turkish threat

"The problem of two emperors"

The Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

The Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent denied the global primacy of Charles V and wanted to affirm his own Imperial title as the supreme ruler of Islam. The problem of two emperors (Zweikaiserproblem) overlapped with the emerging Turkish threat (Turkengefahr): in 1526, Louis II, king of Hungary and Bohemia was defeated and killed at the Battle of Mohács by an army of Ottoman Turks; the event "sent a wave of terror over Europe".[69][70] As the two elective thrones of Louis II were vacant, Charles V convinced the local nobles to elect his younger brother Ferdinand of Austria as king of Hungary and Bohemia in the Imperial name and under the Imperial protection.[71]

Habsburg control of Bohemia was crucial for Charles V to retain a majority among the seven prince-electors, especially in times of political contrasts with the Lutherans. On the other hand, the position of Charles V and Ferdinand in Hungary was unstable. Only the northern part of the country was under Habsburg control; the southern part was occupied by the Ottoman Empire and, in the central portion of the former kingdom of Louis II, the

Voivodeship of Transylvania of John Zápolya emerged as a buffer state. Thus, Hungary was a battleground between the Imperials and the Ottomans for most of Charles's reign. Initially, the Ottomans were even able to bring the conflict to Austria itself.[3]

Siege of Vienna

The Turks besieged Vienna in 1529 and again in the following years, but the city, defended by

Augsburg confession led in 1531 to the formation of the Schmalkaldic League by the now self-described Protestant princes. Despite this, Charles proved to have the majority of the prince-electors on his side as he had his brother Ferdinand elected King of the Romans, a title conferred to the future successor as Holy Roman Emperor, in Cologne (1531).[72]

As the Turks temporarily suspended their operations, Charles focused on domestic affairs such as the approval of a

Friesland (1524), Utrecht, and Overijssel (1528). The Emperor replaced her with his sister Mary of Hungary. To assist the new governor, Charles V created three collateral councils for the Low Countries (Privy Council, Council of Finances, and Council of State) and also promised: "i shall not forget you or my homeland, however far away i may be". Antwerp continued to flourish as a cosmopolitan center: in 1531, its bourse was opened "to the merchants of all nations".[73]

Meanwhile, Suleiman began his third campaign to take Vienna in 1532, while the Turkish battle fleet headed for the Western Mediterranean. Charles V returned to Germany and, intending to avoid a religious conflict while in need of troops from all the German states to launch a campaign against the Ottomans, effectively suspended the Edict of Worms with the standstill of Nuremberg (1532). It was also agreed to postpone religious talks until the Pope called for an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, to be held in Germany rather than Italy.[74]

At the Diet of

Duke Frederick, Count of Palatine, led the Imperial forces to Vienna, strengthening the fortifications of the city, and then crossed the Danube. Meanwhile, the Imperial navy commanded by Andrea Doria captured the Ottoman fortresses of Coron and Patras in Greece. Suleiman was forced to retreat into Turkey and ended his campaign to take Vienna, where the Emperor made a triumphant return.[75]

Tunisian campaign

The Emperor decided to continue his anti-Turkish struggle, with the goal of diverting Suleiman from launching other attacks against his possessions in central Europe and the Mediterranean. Informed of the capture of Inca Emperor

Henry VIII of England a Papal dispensation to divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Charles's aunt, contributing to the English schism.[76]

Portrait of Charles V by Jakob Seisenegger, 1533

However, Clement VII went to

Henri II of France). Luckily for Charles, the troublemaker Clement VII died shortly after. He was replaced (1534) by Pope Paul III, who opted to remain neutral in the rivalry between Charles V and Francis I, displeasing both monarchs, in order to facilitate a Catholic alliance against the Ottoman Turks and the Protestants (Lutherans in Germany and Calvinists in France). France refused to take part in the project, but Charles V responded favorably.[74]

The feared Ottoman admiral

Marquis of Vasto, the Emperor went to Sardinia, where he was joined by ships from Portugal, Malta, and the Papal States. From Sardinia, the Catholic coalition led by Charles V launched an attack on Tunis (1535), which served as the base of Barbary corsaires. The city was sacked and put under an Imperial puppet ruler of Islamic faith (Muley Hassan) as a tributary state of the Spanish kingdom of Sicily (an old tradition dating back to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily),[77] but Barbarossa and his men managed to escape to Algiers. Returning to Italy, Charles V appointed Ferrante Gonzaga as viceroy of Sicily with authority over a number of garrisons in Tunis and was celebrated as a new Scipio Africanus by the Sicilians.[78]

Franco-Ottoman alliance

Resumption of hostilities

In 1538, Francis I and Charles V made peace in Nice with the mediation of Pope Paul III. Francis actually refused to meet Charles in person, and the treaty was signed in separate rooms.

As the last

Sforza Duke died without heirs in 1535, Charles V incorporated the Imperial fief of Milan into his direct dominions. Francis I reacted in 1536 by occupying the Savoyard state, including Piedmont, and ignited a new phase of the Italian wars. Meanwhile, the Emperor made a triumphant entry in the ancient style in Rome to celebrate his victory in Tunis. At a meeting with Paul III, who declared his neutrality in the French-Imperial conflict, Charles V unsuccessfully tried to bring the Papal States on his side. On the other hand, a Franco-Ottoman alliance
against the Emperor came into force.

Charles V thus made overtures to the

Ottoman-Safavid war, forcing it to split its military resources.[79] However, the Turks won the conflicts against Persia and retained their positions. Furthermore, a maritime Holy League under the command of Doria (formed by Charles's kingdoms and all the Italian states) was later defeated at the Battle of Preveza
in 1538.

Intending to fight Francis I in French territory, and even inviting him to personal duel, Charles V led a military invasion of

truce
was agreed. Milan remained under Habsburg control, and the Savoyard state stayed in French hands.

A short-lived truce

The war of 1536-1538 was considered by many a major defeat for Charles V. At a meeting in

revolt in his hometown of Ghent, where the heavy Imperial taxation was contested. He appointed his son Philip as regent in Spain and, after visiting Francis I in Paris, returned to the Burgundian Low Countries, expanded in 1536 to include Groningen and Drenthe. Charles's army of German mercenaries, supported by the Spanish forces of the Duke of Alba, suppressed the insurrection in 1540. Charles humiliated the rebels by parading their leaders in undershirts with hangman nooses around their necks. The emperor was ultimately convinced by Mary of Hungary to show clemency "out of respect to his countrymen" and relaxed the financial burden on the Low Countries.[81]

Meanwhile, due to difficulties encountered by the Pope in organizing a general council to avoid a schism in the Church, the Emperor decided to summon a German religious meeting and presided over the

Minorca
after a disastrous campaign (1541).

Last war against Francis I

Charles V and Jakob Fugger in Augsburg.

In the aftermath of these events, two French ambassadors to Constantinople, Antonio Rincon and Cesare Fregoso, were killed by Charles's agents in Italy. A new French-Imperial war thus broke out in 1542. After passing the New Laws to reform the encomienda system, considered brutal by figures such as Bartolomé de las Casas, (a conference in Valladolid, inclusive of de Las Casas, was finally convened in 1550 to debate the morality on the use of force against the Indios)[82] and leaving detailed instructions concerning the government of Spain to his son Philip, Charles V returned in 1543 to the Holy Roman Empire and there remained until the end of his reign. At a meeting in Busseto, he and Paul III agreed on Trent, located halfway between Italy and Germany, as the location of the future ecumenical council.

In alliance with

Guelders to the Burgundian territories at the conclusion of the Guelders Wars. Duke William of Cleves ultimately surrendered to the Emperor his ambitions and claims over the Low Countries with the Treaty of Venlo
.

However, the war with the Ottomans was compromised. Suleiman effectively emerged victorious in the contest for the Mediterranean and central Hungary. To gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of the Turkish wars, Charles was eventually forced to accept a truce in 1545, which became, two years later, the humiliating Treaty of Adrianople .[83][84] On the other hand, the peace of Crépy allowed Charles V to concentrate his energies on the religious situation in Germany.

Counter-Reformation and downfall

Schmalkaldic war

Equestrian Portrait of Charles V, painted in 1548 by Titian at the Imperial court of Augsburg to celebrate the Battle of Mühlberg.

In 1545, the long-awaited ecumenical council was opened by Pope Paul III in the city of Trent, located in Italy but close to Germany. This event, combined with the Burgundian unification of the Low Countries, solemnly declared by the Emperor in Brussels, and with the discovery of the largest American silver mines in Potosí by the Spaniards, meant that Charles V was at the zenith of his power. The Emperor and the catholic League of Nuremberg (formed in 1538) supported the Tridentine summit, but the Protestant Schmalkaldic League refused to recognize the council's validity, arguing that its location and composition were favorable to the Pope, and occupied certain territories of Catholic princes. At a Diet in Worms, the Protestant princes accused the Emperor of betrayal and even questioned his legitimacy to rule. Their propaganda now described him simply as "Charles of Ghent, so-called Emperor of Germany".[85]

Charles V, "having resolved to remain at all costs Emperor of Germany", as he recalled in his autobiography, outlawed the Schmalkaldic League and opened hostilities against it in 1546 (the year of Luther's death). Papal troops under the command of

Philip of Hesse, at the Battle of Mühlberg (1547). Charles's decision to imprison them in Brussels exacerbated religious tensions, but effectively ended the civil war.[86]

Aftermath

Meanwhile, the Papal-Imperial collaboration came to an end. Pope Paul III had created the

Pierluigi Farnese with the new state. Milan's new Imperial governor Ferrante Gonzaga resented the papal decision and, with the approval of Charles V, ordered the assassination of Pierluigi Farnese and occupied Piacenza in 1547. Paul's nephew Ottavio Farnese returned to Italy and defended Parma as its new Duke, while the Pope, in response to the Imperial actions, transferred the ecumenical council to Bologna, effectively suspending it. With the Augsburg Interim
of 1548, the Emperor created a temporary solution by giving certain allowances to Protestants until a reconvened Council of Trent would restore unity. However, members of both sides resented the Interim and some actively opposed it.

The situation remained tense and Charles V, declining in health, further defined the future distribution of territories between his son Philip of Spain and his brother Ferdinand of Austria. In 1549, he issued a Pragmatic Sanction, declaring the Low Countries to be a unified entity of Seventeen Provinces of which his son Philip would be the heir. To celebrare the event, he and his son made a series of Joyous Entries in several Flemish cities.[87] A year later, Charles V and Ferdinand, along with their sister Mary of Hungary, met at the Augsburg summit and agreed to the following succession plans for the Holy Roman Empire: Ferdinand would succeed Charles as already agreed, Philip would succeed Ferdinand, and Ferdinand's son Maximilian would succeed Philip. To maintain dynastic unity, inter-Habsburg marriages were to be arranged. However, Ferdinand ultimately convinced Philip to renounce his claim to the Imperial succession in favour of Maximilian.[88]

Last battles

Charles V, enthroned over his enemies by Giulio Clovio. From left to right, Suleiman, Pope Clement VII, Francis I, the Duke of Cleves, the Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse. In reality, Charles V was never able to completely defeat his opponents.

The Council of Trent was re-opened by the new Pope,

Knights of Malta (Charles's vassals via the kingdom of Sicily) and simultaneously launched a naval invasion of Corsica, forcing the Imperial admiral Doria to concentrate his forces on recovering the island for Genoa. Henry II also intervened in a new Italian war between the pro-imperial Duchy of Florence and the anti-imperial Republic of Siena
, supporting the latter and prolonging the Republic's resistance for a number of years (although Siena was ultimately incorporated in Florentine territories).

By the

Duke of Guise and Marshal Montmorency. Inflation was so high that the campaign of 1552 costed as much as the wars between 1521 and 1529. Charles then returned to the Low Countries for a last campaign against the French and for the remaining years of his emperorship. In 1555, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to sign the Peace of Augsburg in his name. The agreements recognized the religious division of Germany between Catholic and Protestant princedoms (Cuius regio, eius religio
).

Division of the empire

Habsburg dominions as partitioned by Charles V.

Abdications and retirement

Between 1554 and 1556, Charles V gradually divided the Habsburg empire between a Spanish line and a German-Austrian branch. His abdications occurred at the Palace of Coudenberg and are sometimes known as "Abdications of Brussels" (Abdankung von Brüssel in German and Abdicación de Bruselas in Spanish). First he abdicated the thrones of Sicily and Naples, both fiefs of the Papacy, and the Imperial Duchy of Milan, in favour of his son Philip on 25 July 1554. Philip was secretly invested with Milan already in 1540 and again in 1546, but only in 1554 the Emperor made it public. Upon the abdications of Naples and Sicily, Philip was invested by Pope Julius III with the kingdom of Naples on 2 October and with the Kingdom of Sicily on 18 November.[89]

The most famous—and only public—abdication took place a year later, on 25 October 1555, when Charles announced to the States General of the Netherlands (reunited in the great hall where he was emancipated exactly forty years earlier) his abdication in favour of his son of those territories as well as his intention to step down from all of his positions and retire to a monastery.[89] During the ceremony, the gout-afflicted Emperor Charles V leaned on the shoulder of his advisor William the Silent and, crying, pronounced his resignation speech:

Emperor Ferdinand I
.

"When I was nineteen, upon my grandfather's death, 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 Turks...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.".[90]

In 1556, with no fanfare, Charles V finalized his abdications. On 16 January 1556, he gave Spain and the

prince-electors assembled at Frankfurt only in 1558, and by the Pope only in 1559.[91][92][93] The Imperial abdication also marked the beginning of Ferdinand's legal and suo jure rule in the Austrian possessions, that he governed in Charles's name since 1521–1522 and were attached to Hungary and Bohemia since 1526. 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 by inflation at the end of his reign; the revival of Italian Wars with attacks from Henri II of France; the never-ending advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe; and his declining health, in particular attacks of gout
such as the one that forced him to postpone an attempt to recapture the city of Metz where he was later defeated.

In September 1556, Charles left the Low Countries and sailed to Spain accompanied by Mary of Hungary and Eleanor of Austria. He arrived to the Monastery of Yuste of Extremadura in 1557. He continued to correspond widely and kept an interest in the situation of the empire, while suffering from severe gout. He lived alone in a secluded monastery, surrounded by paintings of Titian and with clocks lining every wall, which some historians believe were symbols of his reign and his lack of time.[94] In an act designed to "merit the favour of heaven", about six months before his death Charles staged his own funeral, complete with shroud and coffin, after which he "rose out of the coffin, and withdrew to his apartment, full of those awful sentiments, which such a singular solemnity was calculated to inspire."[95] In August 1558, Charles was taken seriously ill with what was later revealed to be malaria.[96] 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.[97]

Deathbed of the emperor at the Monastery of Yuste, Cáceres

Legacy

In his last public speech, Charles V described his life as "one long journey" and recalled that he travelled ten times to the Low Countries, nine to Germany,[98] seven to Spain,[99] seven to Italy,[100] four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa.[101] 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.[102]

Karl Brandi famously wrote that the Imperial abdications proved that Charles V, along with the medieval concept of world monarchy, "belonged to an age now dead".[103] Charles V could not prevent the religious division of Germany nor overcome French hostility. The price revolution, which he effectively fueled by ordering a massive influx of American silver to sustain the Imperial foreign policy, left Spain crippled by inflation and ultimately bankrupted.[104] All these factors effectively prevented the unity of Christendom against the Ottoman Turks, another Imperial goal. Yet, despite Charles's personal and ideological failure, the House of Habsburg increased its territories during his reign and remained a powerful force afterwards: the Spanish branch would continue to rule its global empire until it went extinct in 1700 and the Austrian line would continue to retain some form of the Imperial title until the downfall of the Habsburg empire in 1918.

See also

Citations

  1. ^ For the same reason, the term "Imperial" was used as the corresponding adjective (E.G. Imperial army, Imperial court, Imperial victory) and the followers of Charles V were described as "the Imperials."
  2. ^ Simpson, L. F., Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, J. M. B. C.; The Autobiography of the Emperor Charles V
  3. ^ a b Blockmans, W. P., and Nicolette Mout. The World of Emperor Charles V (2005)
  4. ^ Brandi, Karl. The emperor Charles V: The growth and destiny of a man and of a world-empire (1939)
  5. ^ The Education of a christian prince, Erasmus of Rotterdam
  6. ^ a b Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and of a World-empire, Karl Brandi
  7. ^ a b Emperor, a new life of Charles V, Geoffrey Parker
  8. ^ The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power, Martyn Rady
  9. ^ Joanna unsuccessfully proposed "John" in honour of her deceased brother. Scheuber, Yolanda (2007). «Carlos, el futuro emperador». Juana la reina, loca de amor. Ediciones Nowtilus
  10. ^ Charles V and the end of the Respublica Christiana, José Hernando Sanchez
  11. ^ Charles was made honorific Archduke by Maximilian in 1508, and was recognized Prince of Asturias by the Spanish 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. Retrieved 2012-08-23.,Colmeiro, Manuel (1884). "XXIII". Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  12. ^ "Het ontstaan van de staten van Zeeland en hun geschiedenis tot het jaar 1555". 1951.
  13. ISBN 9781317880820
    .
  14. ^ as he himself recalled at her death in 1530
  15. ISBN 9780226645599
    – via Internet Archive. bruxelles imperial capital of charles v.
  16. ISBN 9781845935467
    – via Google Books.
  17. ^ For the manuscripts owned by Charles's family, see "A difficult inheritance: 1515–1517" in the biography of Charles V by Geoffrey Parker
  18. ^ Carlo V, Claudio Gerosa
  19. ^ Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos, p. 138 Archived 5 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos, pp. 139–140 Archived 5 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ISBN 9788476817360
    .
  22. ^ "The Albany Law Journal: A Monthly Record of the Law and the Lawyers". Weed, Parsons. 1899. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. ^ Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517); José María de Francisco Olmos, p. 138 Archived 5 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition.
  25. ISBN 9788493414078
    .
  26. ISBN 8488480199
    .
  27. ^ "Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y de Castilla". Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2016.; Manuel Colmeiro (1883), chapter XXIV
  28. ^ Fueros, observancias y actos de corte del Reino de Aragón; Santiago Penén y Debesa, Pascual Savall y Dronda, Miguel Clemente (1866) Archived 10 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, p. 64 Archived 10 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Lafuente, Modesto (1861). Historia general de España. pp. 51–52.
  30. ^ Kollmann, Ludwig. Hofburg Innsbruck
  31. ^ City Guides: Innsbruck, Vienna, Freytag-Berndt. 1999
  32. ^ Ladner, Gerhart Burian (1983). Images and Ideas in the Middle Ages. Selected Studies in History and Art. Vol. 2. Edizioni di storia e letteratura. p. 994.
  33. ISBN 9780752474403
    .
  34. ^ "Papa Leone X", Enciclopedia dei Papi. Treccani, 2000
  35. ^ 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
  36. ^ Deutsche Reichstagsakten: Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Kaiser Karl V, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Historische Kommission
  37. ^ Manual of Ancient Geography and History, Wilhelm Pütz, Thomas Kerchever Arnold
  38. ^ Simms, Brendan. Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy from 1453 to the Present. Basic Books (2013)
  39. ^ Headley, John M. The emperor and his chancellor : a study of the imperial chancellery under Gattinara. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  40. ^ William Maltby, The Reign of Charles V (St. Martin's Press, 2002)
  41. ^ Haskin, Frederic (1913). The Panama Canal. Doubleday, Page & Company.
  42. ISBN 0300090943. Available online in Spanish
    from an 1866 edition. Cortés, Hernán. Escritos sueltos de Hernán Cortés. Biblioteca Histórica de la Iberia. vol 12. Mexico 1871.
  43. ^ Europe: Struggle for Supremacy, Brendan Simms
  44. ISBN 9780429774515
    .
  45. ISBN 1152295705
    .
  46. ^ (Braudel 1985 p. 143.)
  47. ^ Themes in International Economics by Mats Lundahl
  48. ^ Spanish Opposition to Charles V's Foreign Policy
  49. ^ Gold and Silver: Spain and the New World Archived 2008-10-07 at the Wayback Machine University of California
  50. ^ Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. "The Rise Of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, And Economic Growth." American Economic Review (2005)
  51. ^ Germany in the Holy Roman Empire, Whaley.
  52. ^ The army of Charles V lacked a national character. It was simply called the Imperial army. 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
  53. ^ Charles V, Pierre Chaunu
  54. ^ The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II, Fernand Braudel
  55. ^ The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe, Thomas James Dandelet
  56. ^ The reign of Charles V, William S. Maltby
  57. ^ Detlef Ploese and Guenther Vogler, eds., Buch der Reformation. Eine Auswahl zeitgenössischer Zeugnisse (1476–1555). Berlin: Union Verlag, 1989, pp. 245–253.
  58. ^ Emperor Charles V: the growth and destiny of a man and of a world-empire, Karl Brandi
  59. ^ History of Spain, Joseph Perez
  60. ^ Blickle, Peter (1981). the revolution of 1525: the German Peasants' War from a new perspective. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  61. ^ At the Diets of Nurember in 1524 and of Worms in 1526, Ferdinand was instructed to bring both sides together. S Macdonald, Charles V, (2000)
  62. ^ Konstam, Pavia 1525.
  63. ^ Storia d'Italia, Francesco Guicciardini
  64. ^ Carlo V, Enciclopedia Machiavelliana
  65. ^ Holmes (1993), p. 192
  66. ^ Froude (1891), p. 35, pp. 90–91, pp. 96–97[permanent dead link] Note: the link goes to page 480, then click the View All option
  67. ^ Italian Wars (1494-1559), Christine Shaw
  68. ^ Ruth Kastner, ed., Quellen zur Reformation 1517-1555. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1994, pp. 501-20.
  69. ISBN 90-04-04315-2
    . Page 142.
  70. ^ Sandra Arlinghaus. "Life Span of Suleiman The Magnificent, 1494–1566". Personal.umich.edu. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  71. ^ Atkins, Sinclair. "Charles V and the Turks", History Today (Dec 1980) 30#12 pp 13–18
  72. ^ Heath, Richard. Charles V: Duty and Dynasty. The Emperor and his Changing World 1500-1558. (2018)
  73. ^ Peter Gay and R.K. Webb, Modern Europe to 1815 (1973), p. 210.
  74. ^ a b c Papa Paolo III, Enciclopedia dei Papi, Treccani, 2000
  75. ^ Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536 (2009)
  76. ^ Norwich, John Julius. Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe (2017)
  77. ^ Chapter the Tunisian Tribute under Frederick II, The Tunis Crusade of 1270, Michael Lower
  78. '^ "Andrea Doria", Marquis of Vasto and "Ferranta Gonzaga", on "Biographical Dictionary" of Treccani
  79. ^ "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 Charles V" in The Indian Ocean in world history? Milo Kearney – 2004 – p.112
  80. ^ Charles secretly appointed Philip as duke of Milan in 1540 and again in 1546. This was made public in 1554.
  81. ^ Staff writer(s). "History". Archived from the original on 2016-05-20.
  82. ISBN 978-1-725-85278-5
    .
  83. ISBN 1-57607-733-0
    .
  84. ^ In particular, in this Truce of Adrianople (1547) Charles was only referred to as "King of Spain" instead of by his extensive titulature. (see Crowley, p. 89)
  85. ^ Charles V, Guido Gerosa
  86. ^ Autobiography of Charles V
  87. ISBN 0-582-78464-6
    .
  88. ^ Rodriguez-Salgado, Mia. Changing Face of Empire: Charles V, Philip II & Habsburg Authority, 1551-1559 (1988)
  89. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-20330-3
    . Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  90. ^ Alfred Kohler, ed., Quellen zur Geschichte Karls V. Darmstadt: WBG, 1990, pp. 466-68, 480-82
  91. ISSN 0065-9738
    .
  92. ^ Robinson, H., ed. (1846). Zurich Letters. Cambridge University Press. p. 182.
  93. ISBN 978-0-19-873101-6
    . Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  94. PMID 16885558
    .
  95. ^ William Robertson (1828). History of Charles V. Paris : Baudry, at the foreign library. p. 580. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  96. PMID 18412053
    .
  97. ^ Kamen 1997, p. 65.
  98. ^ Including Austria
  99. ^ including his last voyage after the abdication
  100. ^ Including one visit to Sicily and Sardinia
  101. ISBN 9781476608891
    – via Google Books.
  102. ^ Emperor, a new life of Charles V, by Geoffrey Parker, p. 8.
  103. ^ The Emperor Charles V by Karl Brandi
  104. ^ Bankruptcy was declared in 1557

General sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Empire_of_Charles_V&oldid=1221044696"