Emperor Charles V: One of the Most Important Ruling Personalities in European History
Emperor Charles V was one of the most important rulingpersonalities in European history. The lottery of birth placed Charles atthe center of a genealogical network that covered half Europe. Hisfather, Philip, was Duke of Burgundy. His grandfather was EmperorMaximilian of Austria. His mother, Joanna, was daughter of Isabella andFerdinand, Spain's Catholic monarchs. The reign of Charles V coincideswith the beginning of the Modern Age and is marked by the Renaissance, bythe spread of printed material, the discovery of the Americas, and by theReformation started by Martin Luther. Through his mother, he would inherit Spain and the bloodstainedkingdom of Naples as well. Charles, archduke of Austria and King of Spainbecomes Emperor Charles V, the most powerful ruler in Europe. As the Kingof Spain, Naples and Sicily, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruler ofFlanders, the Netherlands and large areas of Central and South America, thesun virtually never set on Charles empire. For the first time, Europebecame the center of a world empire. However, Charles failed to achieve Charles V greatness was not entirely of his own making. It was
His brother, Ferdinand I, is made Emperor. The Pope, some Cardinalsand about 3,000 Romans found refuge in their castle. In Italy, Spanish power had become paramount. In 1555, he turned over the Netherlands to Philip. " Eric Gritsch explains that the Holy RomanEmpire, which was in effect a symbiotic relationship between spiritualand temporal rulers, namely the Pope and the Emperor, was beingthreatened by a massive invasion of Muslims led by Turkish sultans. of his grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian I(1459-1519). According to ScottHendrix, in April 1521, Luther appeared before Emperor Charles V todefend what he had taught and written (Hendrix, 48). In the wake of his victory, Charles attempted to undo the effects of theReformation and bring the Church under his control by engineering theAugsburg Interim, which was nominally a Catholic-Protestant compromise. The so-called compromise was seen by most Protestants as an attempt tolead the "free" German church back into Catholic and Papal servitude(Rein, 45). In July of 1533, the Sultan sued for peace anda treaty was signed with Ferdinand of Spain. His attempts to close that rift werestrenuous and honest, but largely ineffective. According to Sinclair Atkins, in 1529 the Turks began an invasionintended to capture Vienna. Charles V was not a partyto the negotiations or a signatory to that treaty (Atkins, 367). Matters finally came to a head in 1532 when Charles Vand his army of 100,000 decided to retake Vienna.
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