In all of his wars the emperor showed personal bravery. At one time when reproved for recklessly exposing himself to danger he replied, " We were short of men and I could not set a bad example." And yet Charles was really a timid man who all his life long was afraid of mice and spiders.
While the emperor was busy warring with the French and Turks and pirates, and putting down a revolt at home in Spain—and reaping the fruits of Cortez' and Pizarro's conquest in the New World, greater trouble arose for him in Germany and the Netherlands. All Germany was aroused by the Reformation preached by Martin Luther and by his publicly burning the pope's bull or decree excom municating him. The whole land was torn by the religious dispute and to it was added a civil war caused by a great uprising of the peasants, who saw in the new teachings a hope of freeing themselves from the burdens of serfdom.
Charles V and the Reformation Charles V as a loyal Catholic was against Luther, and as soon as he was freed from his other duties he attacked the princes and cities of Germany who supported Luther's cause. He defeated them in battle and treated the defeated princes with great severity, but the Reformation was not crushed.
Finally in 1555 he had been obliged to agree to a peace which provided that the ruler of each state should decide the religion for his people. This was a confession of defeat and a recognition of the Reformation.
Then it was that, disgusted because he could not put down the " heretics," and worn out by his many wars, Charles divided his inheritance between his brother Ferdinand and his son Philip II, and retired from the world to spend his few remaining years in the quiet of the gray old monastery.
Charles the Great or "Charlemagne" is counted as the first Charles of the Holy Roman Empire. The second was his grandson Charles the Bald, king of France; and the third his great-grandson Charles the Fat, king of Swabia and also for a brief time (884-887) king of France.
The Emperor Charles IV, 1347-78, was a member of the Luxemburg house and succeeded his father as king of Bohemia in 1346. Because of his partiality for his hereditary kingdom he was called "the father of Bohemia but the stepfather of Germany." He is chiefly remembered for his Golden Bull (1356) which settled the fundamental law of the Empire (see Holy Roman Empire).
Emperor Charles VI, 1711-40, was the father of Maria Theresa of Hungary and the last of the direct male line of the Hapsburgs. Charles VII, emperor 1742-45, was duke of Bavaria (a Wittelsbach) and was elected by French influence in opposition to the Hapsburgs.