Charles V (Holy Roman Empire) (1500–1558; Holy Roman Emperor, 1519–1556; King of Spain as Charles I, 1516–1556)

CHARLES V (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE) (1500–1558; Holy Roman emperor, 1519–1556; king of Spain as Charles I, 1516–1556)

CHARLES V (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE) (1500–1558; Holy Roman emperor, 1519–1556; king of Spain as Charles I, 1516–1556). Charles was born 24 February 1500 at Ghent, the son of Archduke Philip of Habsburg and Joanna I, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabella of Castile. Philip's death in 1506 made Charles ruler of the Netherlands under the regency of his aunt, Margaret of Austria. Shortly thereafter, his mother succumbed to mental illness, making him king of Castile under another regency, which lasted until 1516. In that year his grandfather Ferdinand died, leaving him the kingdom of Aragon and its Italian possessions. By this time he had assumed rulership of the Netherlands in his own right. In 1519 the death of his paternal grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian I, brought him the Habsburg possessions in Austria and southwest Germany and made him a prime candidate for election as Holy Roman emperor. By year's end, Charles was unanimously elected emperor after a campaign involving large payments to the electors and veiled threats of force. In the next two decades, his Spanish subjects conquered Mexico and Peru, adding much of the New World to his already enormous inheritance.

The beneficiary of these deaths and conquests was a pale, unprepossessing youth who developed slowly into a conscientious ruler. His tutors, including Adrian of Utrecht (the future Pope Adrian VI), instilled in him a deep, if conventional, piety and a solid understanding of politics. His interests nevertheless remained practical rather than speculative, and though imperial propagandists at one point tried to develop a rationale for universal monarchy, Charles's goals were simpler. Throughout the reign his chief purpose was to preserve his family's patrimony and to protect the Catholic Church.

Even these modest goals faced three obstacles: the intractable hostility of Francis I of France (ruled 1515–1547), Ottoman expansion up the Danube valley and in the Mediterranean, and an ongoing crisis in Germany, which linked the religious Reformation begun by Martin Luther to the growth of princely autonomy. The causes of these problems differed, and each followed a different historical course, but the emperor and his advisors could rarely decide upon a policy in one area without considering its possible impact on the others. Moreover, his adversaries in each case were sometimes able to combine forces against him. Charles therefore spent most of his reign at war.

Charles achieved his greatest successes against Francis I, who disputed his claims in Italy and supported his enemies in the Netherlands. In the course of seven wars with France the emperor made good his claims to Naples, Sicily, and Milan, and consolidated his possessions in the Netherlands. But the French wars crippled his finances and distracted him from other causes that were closer to his heart. Among these was the war against the Turks. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the Danube valley brought Muslim armies to the gates of Vienna by 1529. In the Mediterranean, Muslim fleets sailing from the ports of North Africa raided his Spanish and Italian kingdoms, causing widespread suffering and loss. The crusading ideal appealed to Charles, but he had only partial success in turning back the Muslim threat. The Turks retreated from Vienna after Charles relieved the siege of 1532 largely because they had reached the limits of their logistics. In the Mediterranean, Charles captured Tunis in 1535, but failed in 1541 to seize Algiers. The raids continued, because the Christians could not in the long run control all of the North African towns or the hinterland that supported them.

The German problem proved even more difficult to resolve. As a devout Catholic, Charles believed that his duty as emperor compelled him to oppose the spread of Protestantism and to devise a program of imperial reform that would strengthen the empire's institutions, if necessary at the expense of princely independence. His condemnation of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521 accomplished nothing. In 1530 at Augsburg and again in 1540 at Regensburg he attempted to achieve peaceful solutions to the religious issue, but in each case negotiations broke down. He defeated the Protestant Schmalkaldic League in 1546–1547, but their cause revived in 1552 with French assistance. In 1555 Charles reluctantly agreed to the Religious Peace of Augsburg, which recognized the right of German princes to determine the religion of their own territories and ensured that the empire would remain as it had always been, a loose federation dominated by the princes rather than by the emperor.

The legacy of Charles V was shaped largely within the context of these struggles. As the reign progressed, he became more dependent upon Spanish wealth and the Spanish army that formed the core of his military system. The cost of never-ending warfare forced him to raise taxes, especially in Spain and the Netherlands, and to borrow heavily in the international money markets against his projected Spanish revenues. His son and successor as king of Spain, Philip II (ruled 1556–1598), was forced to restructure this debt in ways that increased borrowing costs in the future, thereby setting a disastrous precedent. Otherwise, Charles made serious efforts to improve administration in each of his realms. Basing his efforts wherever possible on existing institutions, he developed an improved conciliar system of government in Spain and its possessions that lasted until the eighteenth century. In America he supported Spain's leading advocate for the Indians, Bartolomé de Las Casas, and made a sincere if only partially successful effort to protect the native population from exploitation by the colonists. In Naples and Sicily his viceroys maintained order with minimal offense to local sensibilities while Charles personally created a system of patronage that coopted most of the princes and cities of the north, ensuring relative peace, if not prosperity, for years to come. Everywhere, he insisted on improved record keeping and the establishment of archives.

His impact on the Netherlands is more difficult to assess because the seventeen provinces rose in revolt under his successor. In the course of his reign Charles added Frisia, Utrecht, Gelderland, and a few smaller estates to his existing inheritance. His fiscal demands, perhaps ironically, led to a strengthening of provincial government that contributed to Dutch success in the eventual revolt. The provinces created an elaborate system of funded debt based primarily on new excise taxes, but those taxes caused widespread resentment. His religious policies, too, provoked widespread passive resistance. The emperor's determination to root out heresy at all costs led him to promulgate edicts or placards that, among other things, demanded the death penalty for Protestants. Local magistrates, who shared the more tolerant religious attitudes of their countrymen, often found ways to evade their provisions. Charles did not, however, provoke the Revolt of the Netherlands. When he died, heresy appeared to be under control and the monarchy retained the support of the Netherlandish elites, whose rights he had always been careful to protect. It was left to Philip II to squander whatever goodwill remained through policies that appeared to threaten the interests of nobles and townspeople alike. The resulting war of independence lasted more than eighty years (1568–1648) and resulted in the establishment of the Dutch Republic, though Spain recovered the ten southern provinces by 1585.

By 1550 the emperor's health began to fail, and he succumbed increasingly to paralyzing bouts of depression. He decided to abdicate his offices and retire, reopening the question of his succession. In 1531 he had secured the election of his younger brother Ferdinand as king of the Romans in return for his help in managing German affairs. Ferdinand could therefore expect to succeed his brother as emperor. Charles, who had always planned to leave his Spanish and Italian possessions to his son Philip, began to worry that without Spanish arms Ferdinand could not protect the Netherlands against France or maintain order in Germany. Already in 1548 he had separated the Netherlands from the empire with the intention of leaving them to Philip. Now he proposed that Philip should have the empire as well. After a protracted and bitter family quarrel, it was decided that Philip should have Spain and the Netherlands, but that Ferdinand would become emperor as planned. It had become obvious in any case that Philip could not be elected.

This division of Charles's inheritance had profound consequences. Tying the Netherlands to Spain led to the revolt that exhausted Spanish finances and resulted in the establishment of the Dutch Republic. Ferdinand and his heirs devoted their best efforts to the creation of a Habsburg empire in eastern Europe that lasted until 1918. The Habsburgs preserved and expanded their inheritance, but Charles failed in his efforts to reform the empire or slow the spread of Protestantism, largely because, vast though his resources may have been, they were insufficient to meet his goals. Instead he created a world empire based on Spain that Spain, in the end, could not preserve. Depressed and exhausted, the emperor abdicated his offices in 1555–1556, and in 1557 retired to a small villa built for him on the grounds of the remote Spanish monastery of Yuste. He died in the following year from a fever of unknown origins.

See also Augsburg, Religious Peace of (1555) ; Dutch Republic ; Dutch Revolt (1568–1648) ; Ferdinand of Aragón ; Habsburg Dynasty: Spain ; Holy Roman Empire ; Isabella of Castile ; Joanna I, "the Mad" (Spain) ; Netherlands, Southern ; Philip II (Spain) ; Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547) ; Spain .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brandi, Karl. The Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and of a World-Empire. Translated by C. V. Wedgwood. London, 1939.

Fernández Alvarez, Manuel. Charles V: Elected Emperor and Hereditary Ruler. Translated by J. A. Lalaguna. London, 1975.

Maltby, William S. The Reign of Charles V. Basingstoke, U.K., 2001.

Soly, Hugo, et al., eds. Charles V, 1500–1558, and His Time. Antwerp, 1999.

Tracy, James D. Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics. Cambridge, U.K., 2002.

William S. Maltby