CHARLES V., German emperor, was b. at Ghent on 24th Feb., 1500. He was the eldest son of Philip, archduke of Austria, and of Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Philip's parents were the emperor Maximilian and Maria, daugh ter and heiress of Charles the bold, duke of Burgundy. On the death of his grand father, Ferdinand, in 1516, C. took possession of the throne of Spain by the title of Charles I., his mother Joanna being of disordered intellect and incapable of reigning. He was not, however, very favorably received by the Spanish nobles, who were doubt ful of his right, and jealous of the followers whom he brought from the Low Coun tries, where he had been educated. All the abilities of his famous minister Ximenes (q.v.) were requisite to prevent an open revolt. On the death of Maximilian in 1519, C. was elected German emperor from amongst a number of competitors, chiefly through the influence of the elector Frederic of Saxony. In his earlier years he had been frivolous and dissolute, but he now became mindful of the duties and dignity of his high position. On 22d Oct.. 1520, he was crowned at Aix•la-Chapelle, and received from the pope the title of. Roman emperor. He ascended the imperial throne at a time when Germany was in a state of unprecedented agitation concerning the doctrines proclaimed by Luther. To restore tranquillity, a great diet was held at Worms in 1521, Luther's declaration of his principles before which forms a well-known and important passage in the history of the reformation. In 1522, he reduced to subjection the towns of Castile, which hail leagued themselves together for the maintenance of their ancient liberties. He was likewise successful iu his war against the Turks under Solyman the great. C. was involved also in a struggle of long duration with France, in \Odell, after many alternations of fortune, his armies at last drove the French from the greater part of their conquests in Italy; and Francis I. of France fell into his hands as a prisoner, after a battle by which the siege of Pavia was raised on 24th Feb., 1525.
The pope, however, began to grow alarmed at his victories, and therefore allied him self with France and the principal Italian states, and released the king of France from the obligations under which he had come by his treaty with Charles. It was the pope's object to exclude C. from all dominion in Italy; but the emperor's forces under Charles of Bourbon, the former constable of France, took Rome itself by storm, plundered it, and made the pope prisoner. C. pretended great regret for this, went into mourning with all his court, and caused prayers to be said for the pope's liberation, whilst by his own directions the pope was kept for seven months a captive. Peace was con
cluded iu 1529, on terms most favorable for the emperor. He now thought to put an end to the religious differences in Germany, and to repel the Turks, who had overrun Hungary and laid siege to Vienna. But the diet at Augsburg in 1530, proved how vain was the hope of restoring the former state of things in Germany; and the empih.or refusing to recognize the confession of the Protestants, they refused to help him against the Turks. In 1531, the Protestant princes formed the league of Smalcald (q.v.). and allied themselves with France and England for their own protection. This, and the continued assaults of the Turks, compelled the emperor to yield in some measure to the demands of the Protestants. In 1535, C. undertook an expedition from Spain against the pirate Barbarossa, who had established himself in Tunis, and whose vessels did prodigious injury to the commerce of Spain and Italy. In this expedition he was completely successful, and set free no fewer than 22,000 Christians, who had been held as slaves. War again broke out with France; an armistice for ten years was con cluded in 1538; and C. even visited Paris, where he was magnificently entertained. But the war broke out afresh in 1542, and terminated in favor of the emperor; who also triumphed in the battle of Mtlidberg, 25th April, 1547, over the Protestant princes of Germany, and deprived the elector John Frederic of Saxony of his territories. But he showed so plainly his intention of converting the German empire into a hereditary possession of his family, that new opposition arose, and C. was compelled to flee before the arms of duke Maurice of Saxony and the Protestants, and in 1552 to promise them the peaceful exercise of their religion, which was confirmed by the diet at Augsburg in 1555. Henry II. of France also took from C. some parts of Lorraine. His health failing, C. now declared, in an assembly of the states of Louvaine, his resolution to seek repose, and devote the remainder of his days to God. He resigned the govern ment of his dominions to his son, for whom, however, he vainly sought to secure the imperial throne; and having relinquished to him the crown of Spain on 15th Jail., 1556, he retired to the monastery of Yustc, in Estremadura, where he spent two years partly in mechanical amusements, partly in religious exercises, which are said to have assumed a character of the most gloomy asceticism, and died on 21st Sept., 1558. By his wife Isabella, daughter of king Emmanuel of Portugal, he had one son, his succes sor, Philip II. of Spain, and two daughters. His brother Ferdinand succeeded him in the empire.