Charles v
Charles vCHARLES V
FEBRUARY 24, 1500 – SEPTEMBER 21, 1558
Charles V was born on February 24, 1500 in Ghent, which today is better known Belgium. He was the oldest in the family so when his father died in 1506, he inherited the Netherlands and the Franche Comte, which was located in France but actually belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. He gained much more land once his maternal and paternal grandfathers died. Not since Charlemagne, in the early 9th Century, had one person dominated so much land.
When Charles visited Spain for the first time, he realized that he wasn’t popular among the citizens. However, his fight against the muslim Turks and the German Protestants won him some acceptance. Though being accepted was a problem, controlling the finances became a much larger one. There were many times when promising military campaigns had to be broken off due to lack of money and at times it appeared that Charles didn’t much mind that such actions had to be taken.
In 1519 Charles was elected German King and Holy Roman Emperor. So after his visit to Spain he went to Germany to be officially crowned king. But, he would have to wait until 1530 to become the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles was...
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