15OO-1558
Holy Roman Emperor

A Royal Inheritance. One of the most significant political figures of the sixteenth century, Charles V was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1519-1556) and, as Charles I, king of Spain (1516- 1556). A member of the Hapsburg family, Charles was the son of Philip I the Handsome, the Duke of Burgundy and ruler of the Netherlands, and grandson of Emperor Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. His mother, Joan the Mad, was the daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. He was raised by his aunt, Margaret of Austria, who was regent of the Netherlands. Upon the death of his father in 1506, Charles inherited the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Franche—Comte. When his maternal grandfather died in 1516, and his mother was deemed mentally unsound, he became king of Castile, as well as of the Indies, Aragon, Navarre, Sicily...