CHARLES
I
CHARLES
I of Spain and V of Germany (1500-1558)
Felipe
de Habsburgo´s (the beauty) son and Juana la Loca´s (the mad), he was king
of Spain from the year 1516 till the year 1556 and emperor of the Sacre
Roma-Germanic Empire from the year 1519 till the year 1558.

Picture
of Charles V
The marital politics of his grandparents,
his father´s death and his mother´s incapacity gave him the inheritance of
four different dinasties.
His grandfather Maximiliano left him the
centro-european territories from Austria and the rights for the Empire, from
his granmother Maria de Borgoña, he inherited the Netherlands, from
Fernando el Católico he obtain the reigns of "La Corona de Aragon",
besides, Sicilia and Naples, and from his grandmother Isabel I "La
Corona de Castilla", the Canaries and all the new discovered and
undiscovered World.
Carlos´ childhood transcurred in the
Flemish court and he was educated by Adriano de Utrecht.
In the year 1515 he took charge of the
government from the Netherlands, and Guillermo de Croÿ, lord of Chièvres,
took it during a period of time. When his grandfather Fernando died in 1516,
he became king of Spain, and in 1519 he became Emperor.
His arrival to Spain created a great
discomfort because of his youth, his flemish education and his foreign
consellors.
In 1519 a series of political
reivindications united, giving place to the rebolt of the Communities
(1520-1521).
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Carlos V sword |
Carlos V sword |
The
principal Castilian cities, dominated by nobelty and burgues oligarquies,
united in a rebolt that adquired social and political shades. The memorial
of agraves, ( Constitution of Avila), destinated to the king, collected the
aspirations of the communers. The communers were defeated in the battle of
Villalar (1521) what meant the summission of Castille. Since then, the
Courts gave up the biggest part of their antique political prerrogatives,
limiting their functions to tributal matters: the castilian pecheros had to
support the weight of the Empire.
Practically at the same time, they took
place in Valencia the rebolts of the Germania or Christian brotherhoods that
reflected the protest against the power of the nobelty and their moriscs
vasalles, although indirectly they were also a movement of resistence to the
Corone. Their destruction (1521-1524) became another victory for their power.
In the fact of the wars, the conflict with
France will endure itself when the French felt surrounded by the inmense
imperial domains, besides taking into account the territorial
reivindications of Francisco I over Navarra and the Rosellon and of Charles
over Borgoña and Milan, as well as the incompatibility of a national French
conscience with every european supranational leadership and the personal
rivalties of both monarchs.

Galera
with which Carlos V defeated the French.
In
1521 it happened the first conflict, where Spain got hold of the power of
Navarra, and it was definitely for Spain. Francisco I occupied personally
the Milanesado, being defeated and imprissoned in Pavia, he promised to hand
Borgoña and to retire from Milan. Not carrying out his purposes, they
resumed the fights till the Peace of Crépy (1544) which practically
confirmed the clauses of Cambrai(1529), where Francisco I recognized the
soberanity of Charles V over Artois and Flandes and he retired his
aspirations over Milan and Naples, while Charles I abandoned Borgoña.
The fighting with the Turkish ocurred
without wait. In Centro-Europe they were dedicated in maintain the turkish
attacks, without continuing with the contraoffense. Because of this, Charles
had to fight in the Occidental Mediterranean and he had to enter in the
Oriental one, attaining to finish the conquer of Tunez (1535), although his
defeat in Argel(1541) strengthened the berberiscs positions.
His definitive defeat came after the
appearance of protestantism in Germany, that besides conecting with the
spiritual anxieties, it united economical and political interests contraries
to the imperial, reformist and centralist programmes, and it divided the
Empire into catholics and reformers.

Carlos
V and his cut with Lutero.
Charles
the first decided to act with power against the protestants, who had formed
the Ligue of Emalcalda. He obtained the victory in the battle of Mühlberg(1547),
althought he didn`t obtain the political nor the religious union. For this
reason he began to abdicate. He maintained his imperial title till the 12th
September, but he gave up to his son Felipe- the next king Felipe II- the
Netherlands (1555) and Spain (1556) and he retired to the Monastery of
Yuste.
At
the present time the Palace of Carlos V can be visited in the city of
Granada, of great arquitéctonica and aesthetic beauty.

Old
photography of the central patio of the palace of Carlos V in Granada.
If
you want you can see the Carlos V sword and the Carlos V shield in our web
with a great selection of historic swords.
Carlos
V sword, Aceros de Hispania.
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