151-600: Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506 to 1555. He was heir to and then head of the rising House of Habsburg . His dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire , extending from Germany to northern Italy with rule over
302-676: A Holy League consisting of all the Italian states and the Spanish kingdoms was formed to drive the Ottomans back, but it was defeated at the Battle of Preveza . Decisive naval victory eluded Charles; it would not be achieved until after his death, at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. After the death of his paternal grandfather, Maximilian , in 1519, Charles inherited the Habsburg monarchy . He
453-489: A Spanish force commanded by Hugo de Moncada landed near Genoa , intending to interfere in a conflict between pro-Valois and pro-Habsburg factions in the city. Francis dispatched a larger force under the Marquis of Saluzzo to intercept them. Confronted by the more numerous French and left without naval support by the arrival of a pro-Valois fleet commanded by Andrea Doria , the Spanish troops surrendered. Francis then signed
604-591: A baby in 1500. Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poet at the court reported that the people of Ghent "shouted Austria and Burgundy throughout the whole city for three hours" to celebrate his birth. Given the dynastic situation,
755-519: A battery of French artillery, which commenced firing on the Spanish lines. This alerted Francis, who launched a charge against Lannoy's outnumbered cavalry with the entire force of French gendarmes , scattering the Spanish by 7:40 am. Francis's precipitate advance, however, had not only masked the fire of the French artillery, but also pulled him away from the mass of French infantry, commanded by Richard de la Pole , and by Francois de Lorraine , who led
906-558: A full-scale infantry battle had developed not far from the original breach. A third mass of troops – the German and Spanish heavy cavalry under Lannoy himself, as well as d'Avalos's Spanish infantry – had meanwhile been moving through the woods to the west, closer to where Francis was encamped. The French did not realize the magnitude of the Imperial attack for some time; however, by about 7:20 am, d'Avalos's advance had been spotted by
1057-644: A monastery. Indeed, his son and heir, later Philip II of Spain , was born and raised in Castile. Nonetheless, many Spaniards believed that their resources (largely consisting of flows of silver from the Americas) were being used to sustain Imperial-Habsburg policies that were not in the country's interest. Charles inherited the Austrian hereditary lands in 1519, as Charles I of Austria , and obtained
1208-495: A more vigorous pursuit of the retreating Lannoy) advanced on Pavia , where Antonio de Leyva remained with a sizable Imperial garrison of about 9,000. The bulk of the French army arrived at Pavia in the last days of October. By 2 November, Anne de Montmorency had crossed the Ticino River and invested the city from the south, completing its encirclement. Inside were about 9,000 men, mainly mercenaries whom Antonio de Leyva
1359-402: A new Charlemagne . Charles revitalized the medieval concept of universal monarchy . With no fixed capital, he made 40 journeys through the different entities he ruled and spent a quarter of his reign travelling within his realms. Although his empire came to him peacefully, he spent most of his life waging war, exhausting his revenues and leaving debts in his attempt to defend the integrity of
1510-526: A secret agreement with Pope Clement VII , who pledged not to assist Charles in exchange for Francis's assistance with the conquest of Naples. Against the advice of his senior commanders, Francis detached a portion of his forces under the Duke of Albany and sent them south to aid the Pope. Lannoy attempted to intercept the expedition near Fiorenzuola , but suffered heavy casualties and was forced to return to Lodi by
1661-586: A single individual but, rather, a group of individuals that includes da Veiga: " ..... and in the same battle, you (Alonso Pita da Veiga) accomplished so much that you reached the person of said King (Francis I of France) and captured him, jointly with the other persons that captured him." (" .... y en la misma batalla ficistes tanto que allegastes á la misma persona del dicho Rey, y fuistes en prenderle, juntamente con las otras personas que le prendieron ....") Finally, in his autobiography, Charles V claimed that "the King
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#17327903730901812-535: A surviving Trastámara heir to the throne, so Charles remained the heir presumptive to the Iberian realms. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognised as Prince of Asturias (heir presumptive of Castile) and honorific Archduke (heir apparent of Austria). The Burgundian inheritance included the Habsburg Netherlands , which consisted of a large number of
1963-733: A sword and a helmet, objects of Burgundian chivalric tradition representing, respectively, the instrument of war and the symbol of peace. The death in July 1500 of the young heir presumptive Miguel de Paz to the Iberian realms of his maternal grandparents meant baby Charles's future inheritance potentially expanded to include Castile, Aragon, and the overseas possessions in the Americas. In 1501, his parents Philip and Joanna left Charles in care of Philip's step-grandmother Margaret of York in Mechelen and went to Spain. The main goal of their Spanish mission
2114-606: Is a modern shorthand for "emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" not corresponding to the historical style or title, i.e., the adjective "holy" is not intended as modifying "emperor"; the English term "Holy Roman Emperor" gained currency in the interbellum period (the 1920s to 1930s); formerly the title had also been rendered as "German-Roman emperor" in English. The elective monarchy of the Kingdom of Germany goes back to
2265-714: Is considered an accurate visual record, probably based on eyewitness accounts. A suite of seven Brussels tapestries after cartoons by Bernard van Orley (above right) celebrate the Imperial–Spanish victory. A set is kept in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples; they were donated to Charles V in 1531 by the Estates General of the Spanish Netherlands . Much of the battle took place within
2416-576: Is preserved), two gates of the medieval walls: Porta Nuova and Porta Calcinara. The eastern outskirts of Pavia are home to some monasteries (almost all now deconsecrated) that hosted the Swiss and German mercenaries of Francis I, such as the monastery of Santi Spirito and Gallo, that of San Giacomo della Vernavola , that of San Pietro in Verzolo and the Church of San Lazzaro , while in the western one there
2567-579: Is to say, modify the right of the succession, except by virtue of a formal agreement between the Corts and the King. So, upon the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, on 23 January 1516, Joanna inherited the Crown of Aragon , which consisted of Aragon , Majorca , Catalonia , Valencia , Naples , Sicily and Sardinia , while Charles became governor general. Nevertheless, the Flemings wished Charles to assume
2718-455: The Austrian hereditary lands and Burgundian Low Countries , and Spain with its possessions of the southern Italian kingdoms of Naples , Sicily and Sardinia . In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of Spanish colonization and a short-lived German colonization . The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled "
2869-580: The Battle of Pavia in 1525. To gain his freedom, Francis ceded Burgundy to Charles in the Treaty of Madrid , as well as renouncing his support of Henry II's claim over Navarre . When he was released, however, Francis had the Parlement of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under duress. France then joined the League of Cognac that Pope Clement VII had formed with Henry VIII of England,
3020-484: The Black Band of renegade landsknecht pikemen (not to be confused with the Italian mercenary company of arquebusiers by the same name), which was 4,000 to 5,000 men strong. Pescara, left in command of the Spanish forces after Lannoy had followed the retreating cavalry, formed his men up at the edge of the woods and sent messengers to Bourbon, Frundsberg, and De Vasto requesting assistance. Frundsberg meanwhile mauled
3171-650: The Burgundian Netherlands . Charles's mother Joanna was a younger daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , the Catholic Monarchs of Spain from the House of Trastámara . The political marriage of Philip and Joanna was first conceived in a letter sent by Maximilian to Ferdinand to seal an Austro-Spanish alliance, established as part of the League of Venice directed against
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#17327903730903322-608: The Danube river. However, by 1541, central and southern Hungary fell under Ottoman control . Suleiman won the contest for mastery of the Mediterranean, in spite of Christian victories such as the conquest of Tunis in 1535. The regular Ottoman fleet came to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean after its victories at Preveza in 1538 and Djerba in 1560 (shortly after Charles's death), which severely decimated
3473-663: The Diet of Worms in 1521. The same year, Francis I of France , surrounded by the Habsburg possessions, started a war in Italy that led to the Battle of Pavia (1525). In 1527, Rome was sacked by an army of Charles's mutinous soldiers. Charles then defended Vienna from the Turks and obtained coronations as King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from Pope Clement VII . In 1535, he took possession of Milan and captured Tunis . However,
3624-638: The Emperor of the Romans ( Latin : Imperator Romanorum ; German : Kaiser der Römer ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Romano-German Emperor since the early modern period ( Latin : Imperator Germanorum ; German : Römisch-deutscher Kaiser , lit. 'Roman-German emperor'), was the ruler and head of state of the Holy Roman Empire . The title
3775-624: The English crown ) and Lorraine – had been killed in the fighting. Francis was taken to the fortress of Pizzighettone , where he wrote a letter to Louise of Savoy , his mother: To inform you of how the rest of my ill-fortune is proceeding, all is lost to me save honour and life, which is safe... Soon afterwards, he finally learned that the Duke of Albany had lost the larger part of his army to attrition and desertion, and had returned to France without ever having reached Naples. The broken remnants of
3926-534: The Holy Roman Empire ) in October 1524 with 26,200 troops. The French infantry consisted of 6,000 French foot soldiers and 17,000 foreign mercenaries: 8,000 Swiss , 5,000 Germans, and 4,000 Italians ( Black Bands ). The French cavalry consisted of 2,000 gendarmes and 1,200 lances fournies . Charles V, intending to break the siege, sent a relief force of 22,300 troops to Pavia (where the Imperial garrison stationed consisted of 5,000 Germans and 1,000 Spaniards) under
4077-577: The Holy Roman Empire . Under the Ottonians , much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. Since 911, the various German princes had elected the King of the Germans from among their peers. The King of the Germans would then be crowned as emperor following the precedent set by Charlemagne, during the period of 962–1530. Charles V
4228-623: The King of the Franks and King of Italy , for securing his life and position. By this time, the Eastern Emperor Constantine VI had been deposed in 797 and replaced as monarch by his mother, Irene . Under the pretext that a woman could not rule the empire, Pope Leo III declared the throne vacant and crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans ( Imperator Romanorum ), the successor of Constantine VI as Roman emperor, using
4379-578: The Kingdom of France during the Italian Wars . From the moment he became King of the Romans in 1486, Charles's paternal grandfather Maximilian had carried a very financially risky policy of maximum expansionism, relying mostly on the resources of the Austrian hereditary lands. Even though it is often implied (among others, by Erasmus of Rotterdam ) that Charles V and the Habsburgs gained their vast empire through peaceful policies (exemplified by
4530-651: The Monastery of Yuste in Extremadura and died there a year later. Charles of Austria was born on 24 February 1500 in the Prinsenhof of Ghent , a Flemish city of the Habsburg Netherlands , to Philip of Austria and Joanna of Trastámara . His father Philip, nicknamed Philip the Handsome , was the firstborn son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , Archduke of Austria , and Mary of Burgundy , heiress to
4681-603: The Ottomans or accompanied him in his travels, and the bulk of his army was generally composed of German troops, especially the Imperial Landsknechte . In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories that included Franche-Comté and, most notably, the Low Countries . The latter territories mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire and its borders, but were formally divided between fiefs of
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4832-651: The Safavid Empire to open a second front against the Ottomans, in an attempt at creating a Habsburg–Persian alliance . Contacts were positive, but rendered difficult by enormous distances. In effect, however, the Safavids did enter in conflict with the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman–Safavid War , forcing it to split its military resources. During the 1541 expedition of Algiers , the losses amongst
4983-667: The Siege of Marseille and was forced to withdraw back to Italy by the arrival of Francis and the main French army at Avignon . In mid-October 1524, Francis himself crossed the Alps and advanced on Milan at the head of an army numbering more than 40,000. Bourbon and Pescara, their troops not yet recovered from the campaign in Provence, were in no position to offer serious resistance. The French army moved in several columns, brushing aside Imperial attempts to hold its advance, but failed to bring
5134-565: The Spanish Navy . At the same time, the Muslim Barbary corsairs , acting under the general authority and supervision of the sultan, regularly devastated the Spanish and Italian coasts and crippled Spanish trade. The advance of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean and central Europe chipped at the foundations of Habsburg power and diminished Imperial prestige. In 1536, Francis I allied France with Suleiman against Charles. While Francis
5285-480: The Treaty of Madrid was signed. According to the treaty, Francis I abandoned his claims over Flanders, Milan and Burgundy. However, the peace treaty was broken in the same year and a new French-Imperial war lasted from 1526 to 1529. In Rome Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici , who acted as Florentine emissary to Charles V in 1535, expressed support for the Emperor's victory by commissioning a rock crystal low relief in
5436-562: The archbishop of Mainz , the archbishop of Trier , the archbishop of Cologne , the king of Bohemia , the count palatine of the Rhine , the duke of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg . After 1438, the title remained in the House of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine , with the brief exception of Charles VII , who was a Wittelsbach . Maximilian I (emperor 1508–1519) and his successors no longer traveled to Rome to be crowned as emperor by
5587-619: The conquest of Nice by a Franco-Ottoman fleet , the French could not advance toward Milan, while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace and restoration of the status quo ante bellum in 1544. A final war erupted with Francis' son and successor, Henry II , in 1551. Henry won early success in Lorraine , where he captured Metz , but French offensives in Italy failed. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further conduct of
5738-609: The election as Holy Roman Emperor against the candidacy of the French king. Since the Imperial election, he was known as Emperor Charles V even outside of Germany. The dynastic motto of the House of Habsburg used by Charles was A.E.I.O.U. ("Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo" — "it is Austria's destiny to rule the world"; although its exact meaning remains disputed). Charles staunchly defended Catholicism as Lutheranism spread. Various German princes broke with him on religious grounds, fighting against him. Charles's presence in Germany
5889-635: The loss of Buda during the struggle for Hungary and the Algiers expedition in the early 1540s frustrated his anti-Ottoman policies. After years of negotiations, Charles came to an agreement with Pope Paul III for the organization of the Council of Trent (1545). The refusal of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League to recognize the council's validity led to a war , won by Charles. However, Henry II of France offered new support to
6040-586: The (Germanic) Holy Roman emperors as the inheritors of the title of emperor of the Western Roman Empire , despite the continued existence of the Eastern Roman Empire. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser ("Roman-German emperor") is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman emperor on one hand, and that of German emperor ( Deutscher Kaiser ) on the other. The English term "Holy Roman Emperor"
6191-603: The 5th to 8th centuries were convoked by the Eastern Roman Emperors . In Western Europe , the title of Emperor in the West lapsed after the death of Julius Nepos in 480, although the rulers of the barbarian kingdoms continued to recognize the authority of the Eastern Emperor at least nominally well into the 6th century. While the reconquest of Justinian I had re-established Byzantine presence in
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6342-429: The Cantone Tre Miglia road, is the Repentita farmhouse, where Francesco I was captured and, according to tradition, was housed. The complex still retains parts of the fifteenth-century masonry and an inscription placed on the external wall recalls the event. In the nearby town of San Genesio ed Uniti in via Porta Pescarina there are some of the remains of the park gate where, in the night between 23 and 24 February 1525,
6493-486: The Castilian possessions in the Americas (the Spanish West Indies and the Province of Tierra Firme ) and the Aragonese kingdoms of Naples , Sicily , and Sardinia . Joanna inherited these territories in 1516 while confined, allegedly because she was mentally ill. Charles, therefore, claimed the crowns for himself jure matris , thus becoming co-monarch with Joanna with the title of Charles I of Castile and Aragon or Charles I of Spain . Castile and Aragon together formed
6644-421: The Emperor. In 1508 Charles had been nominated by Henry VII to the Order of the Garter . His Garter stall plate survives in Saint George's Chapel . The first war with Charles's great nemesis Francis I of France began in 1521. Charles allied with England and Pope Leo X against the French and the Venetians , and was highly successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing Francis at
6795-422: The French forces, aside from a small garrison left to hold the Castel Sforzesco in Milan, retreated across the Alps under the nominal command of Charles IV of Alençon , reaching Lyon by March. Charles de Lannoy kept Francis I in his custody and imprisoned him in a tower of Pizzighettone . The king was then brought to Genoa and from there he was taken to Spain. He remained jailed in a tower in Madrid until
6946-428: The French infantry was broken and routed, and de la Pole and Lorraine were both killed. In a particularly bitter contest between Imperial and freelance landsknechts, the Black Band was surrounded by Frundsberg's pikemen and exterminated where it stood. The French king fought on as his horse was killed under him by Cesare Hercolani , an Italian Condottiero ; surrounded by Spanish arquebusiers and German Landsknecht , he
7097-419: The Holy Roman Empire (800–1806). Several rulers were crowned king of the Romans (king of Germany) but not emperor, although they styled themselves thus, among whom were: Conrad I and Henry the Fowler in the 10th century, and Conrad IV , Rudolf I , Adolf and Albert I during the interregnum of the late 13th century. Traditional historiography assumes a continuity between the Carolingian Empire and
7248-444: The Holy Roman Empire and French fiefs such as Charles's birthplace of Flanders , the last remnant of the Burgundian State , a powerful player in the Hundred Years' War . Since he was a minor, his aunt Margaret of Austria acted as regent, as appointed by Emperor Maximilian until 1515. She soon found herself at war with France over Charles's requirement to pay homage to the French king for Flanders, as his father had done. The outcome
7399-520: The Holy Roman Empire from the Reformation , the expansion of the Ottoman Empire , and in wars with France . Charles borrowed money from German and Italian bankers and, to repay them, relied on the wealth of the Low Countries and on flow of silver from New Spain and Peru , brought under his rule following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires, which caused widespread inflation . Crowned King of Germany in Aachen , Charles sided with Pope Leo X and declared Martin Luther an outlaw at
7550-411: The Holy Roman Empire, while a modern convention takes the coronation of Otto I in 962 as the starting point of the Holy Roman Empire (although the term Sacrum Imperium Romanum was not in use before the 13th century). On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned Emperor of the Romans ( Imperator Romanorum ) by Pope Leo III , in opposition to Empress Irene , who was then ruling
7701-459: The Imperial Diet did not accept the abdication (and thus make it legally valid) until 24 February 1558. Up to that date, Charles continued to use the title of emperor. Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts with France , which found itself encircled by Charles's empire while it still maintained ambitions in Italy. In 1520, Charles visited England , where his aunt, Catherine of Aragon , urged her husband, Henry VIII , to ally himself with
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#17327903730907852-438: The Imperial army could enter. By 5:00 am, some 3,000 arquebusiers under the command of Alfonso d'Avalos had entered the park and were rapidly advancing on Mirabello Castle, where they believed the French headquarters to be; simultaneously, Imperial light cavalry spread out from the breach into the park, intending to intercept any French movements. Meanwhile, a detachment of French cavalry under Charles Tiercelin encountered
8003-443: The Imperial cavalry and began a series of skirmishes with them. A mass of Swiss pikemen under Robert de la Marck, Seigneur de la Flourance moved up to assist them, overrunning a battery of Spanish artillery that had been dragged into the park. They missed De Basto's arcabuceros – who had by 6:30 am emerged from the woods near the castle, and swiftly overrun it – and blundered into 6,000 of Georg Frundsberg 's landsknechts. By 7:00 am,
8154-427: The Italian Peninsula , religious frictions existed with the Papacy who sought dominance over the Church of Constantinople . Toward the end of the 8th century, the Papacy still recognised the ruler at Constantinople as the Roman Emperor, though Byzantine military support in Italy had increasingly waned, leading to the Papacy to look to the Franks for protection. In 800 Pope Leo III owed a great debt to Charlemagne ,
8305-703: The Low Countries to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs. The Low Countries held an essential place in the Empire. For Charles V, they were his home, the region where he was born and spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the wealth of the region's cities, the Low Countries also represented a significant income for the Imperial treasury. The Burgundian territories were generally loyal to Charles throughout his reign. The important city of Ghent rebelled in 1539 due to heavy tax payments demanded by Charles. The rebellion did not last long, however, as Charles's military response, with reinforcement from Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba ,
8456-472: The Low Countries. In 1516 he became King of Spain as co-monarch of Castile and Aragon with his mother . Spain 's possessions included the Castilian colonies of the West Indies and the Spanish Main , as well as Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. At the death of his grandfather Maximilian in 1519, he inherited the Austrian hereditary lands and was elected as Holy Roman Emperor. He adopted the Imperial name of Charles V as his main title, and styled himself as
8607-427: The Lutheran cause and strengthened the Franco-Ottoman alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent . Ultimately, Charles conceded the Peace of Augsburg and abandoned his multi-national project with abdications in 1556 that divided his hereditary and imperial domains between the Spanish Habsburgs, headed by his son Philip II of Spain , and Austrian Habsburgs, headed by his brother Ferdinand . In 1557, Charles retired to
8758-448: The Milan garrison to offset the departure of the Black Band; but the fighting had little overall effect. On 21 February, the Imperial commanders, running low on supplies and mistakenly believing that the French forces were more numerous than their own, decided to launch an attack on Mirabello Castle in order to save face and demoralize the French sufficiently to ensure a safe withdrawal. The Imperial and Spanish armaments and soldiers for
8909-416: The Parliament of Navarre ( Cortes ) required him to attend the coronation ceremony (to become Charles IV of Navarre). Still, this demand fell on deaf ears, and the parliament kept piling up grievances. Charles was accepted as sovereign, even though the Spanish felt uneasy with the Imperial style. Spanish kingdoms varied in their traditions. Castile had become an authoritarian, highly centralized kingdom, where
9060-408: The Roman Empire from Constantinople. Charlemagne's descendants from the Carolingian Dynasty continued to be crowned Emperor until 899, excepting a brief period when the Imperial crown was awarded to the Widonid Dukes of Spoleto . There is some contention as to whether the Holy Roman Empire dates as far back as Charlemagne, some histories consider the Carolingian Empire to be a distinct polity from
9211-424: The Spanish coat of arms since the 18th century. However, at his accession to the Iberian thrones, Charles was viewed as a foreign prince. Two rebellions, the Revolt of the Germanies and the Revolt of the Comuneros , contested Charles's rule in the 1520s. Following these revolts, Charles placed Spanish counselors in a position of power and spent a significant part of his life in Castile, including his final years in
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#17327903730909362-408: The Venetians, the Florentines , and the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing war, Charles's sack of Rome (1527) and virtual imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in 1527 prevented the Pope from annulling the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, so Henry eventually broke with Rome, thus leading to the English Reformation . In other respects,
9513-410: The annexation of Tournai , Artois , Utrecht , Groningen , and Guelders . The Seventeen Provinces had been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but nominally were fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. Charles eventually won the Guelders Wars and united all provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders. In 1549, Charles issued a Pragmatic Sanction , declaring
9664-451: The battle were substantially financed by the Jakob Fugger German bank, and the Castilian bank Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana . On the evening of 23 February, Lannoy's imperial troops, who had been encamped outside the east wall of the Visconti Park , began their march north along the walls. Although Konstam indicates that at the same time, the Imperial artillery began a bombardment of the French siege lines – which had become routine during
9815-406: The battle; when the Duke realized what had occurred in the park, he quickly began to retreat towards Milan. By 9:00 am, the battle was over. The exact nature of Francis's surrender—in particular, who exactly had taken him prisoner—is uncertain, with a variety of candidates put forward by historians, including: The fact of the matter is that the individuals mentioned above were all given credit for
9966-445: The capture of Francis I in various ways, and Charles V himself honoured different people for the achievement over the years. The decree granting a coat of arms to Alonso Pita da Veiga for his deeds at the Battle of Pavia, was archived at the General Archive of Simanca (Archivo general de Simancas, legajo 388, rotulado de "Mercedes y Privilegios.') and was issued by Emperor Charles V on 24 July 1529. In that decree, Charles V does not credit
10117-491: The children to stay with the parents. Philip was recognized King of Castile in 1506. He died shortly after, an event that was said to drive the mentally unstable Joanna into complete insanity. She was retired in isolation to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas . Charles's grandfather Ferdinand took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles's rights, which in reality he wanted to elude. Ferdinand's new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce
10268-429: The clash as follows: The King, fighting very gallantly, sustained the shock of the enemy, who, however, with their firearms obliged those about him to give way, till, the Swiss arriving and the cavalry charging them in flank, the Spaniards were repulsed. But the Germans easily broke the Swiss with great slaughter, their valour no way corresponding that day with the courage they had shown in previous battles. The King, in
10419-515: The command of the Fleming Charles de Lannoy , Imperial lieutenant and viceroy of Naples , and of the French renegade and captain-general Charles III, Duke of Bourbon . Other major Imperial commanders were the Italian condottiero Fernando d'Avalos , the German military leader Georg Frundsberg , and the Spanish captain Antonio de Leyva , who was in charge of the Imperial garrison inside Pavia. The Habsburg infantry consisted of 12,000 Germans ( Landsknechte ), 5,000 Spaniards, and 3,000 Italians. Within
10570-420: The concept of translatio imperii . On his coins, the name and title used by Charlemagne is Karolus Imperator Augustus . In documents, he used Imperator Augustus Romanum gubernans Imperium ("Emperor Augustus, governing the Roman Empire") and serenissimus Augustus a Deo coronatus, magnus pacificus Imperator Romanorum gubernans Imperium ("most serene Augustus crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing
10721-418: The coronation of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor . The period of free election ended with the ascension of the Austrian House of Habsburg , as an unbroken line of Habsburgs held the imperial throne until the 18th century. Later a cadet branch known as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine passed it from father to son until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Notably, from the 16th century, the Habsburgs dispensed with
10872-534: The country. Soon resistance to the Emperor arose because of heavy taxation to support foreign wars in which Castilians had little interest and because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices in Castile and America, ignoring Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in the Revolt of the Comuneros , which Charles suppressed. Comuneros released Joanna and wanted to depose Charles and support Joanna to be
11023-607: The court of his aunt Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy . William de Croÿ (later prime minister) and Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope Adrian VI ) served as his tutors. The culture and courtly life of the Low Countries played an important part in the development of Charles's beliefs. As a member of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece in his infancy, and later its grandmaster, Charles was educated to
11174-470: The crowns of Castile and Aragon to Maximilian's male line, however, was unexpected. The marriage contract between Philip and Joanna was signed in 1495, and celebrations were held in 1496. Philip was already Duke of Burgundy (although the Duchy of Burgundy itself had been lost to the French crown), given Mary's death in 1482, and also heir apparent of Austria as honorific archduke . Joanna, in contrast,
11325-804: The defense of central Europe, as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the Empire, was subcontracted to Ferdinand. Charles V abdicated as Archduke of Austria in 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes elect Ferdinand as King of the Romans , who thus became his designated successor as emperor, a move that "had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe". Afterwards, Ferdinand managed to gain control of Bohemia , Croatia , and Hungary , with support from local nobles and his German vassals. Charles abdicated as emperor in 1556 in favour of his brother Ferdinand; however, due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure,
11476-452: The ducal captain of the park, still stands today a short distance from Vernavola and preserves inside some curious decorative elements (fireplaces, frescoes and windows) not yet adequately restored and studied, in French late Gothic style, added to the structure of the Sforza period during the first French domination of the Duchy of Milan (1500- 1513). About two kilometres to the north, along
11627-458: The early 10th century, the election of Conrad I of Germany in 911 following the death without issue of Louis the Child , the last Carolingian ruler of Germany. Elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of England , although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The process of an election meant that
11778-477: The economic decline of the Spanish Empire in the next generation. The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles's reign, along with the inflation that affected the kingdom , resulted in declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II. The Crown of Aragon inherited by Charles included the Kingdom of Naples , the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Sardinia . As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles
11929-496: The election of Rudolf I of Germany (1273). Rudolf was not crowned emperor, nor were his successors Adolf and Albert . The next emperor was Henry VII , crowned on 29 June 1312 by Pope Clement V . In 1508, Pope Julius II allowed Maximilian I to use the title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator ("elected Emperor of the Romans"). Maximilian's successors each adopted
12080-465: The election procedure by (unnamed) princes of the realm, reserving for the pope the right to approve of the candidates. A letter of Pope Urban IV (1263), in the context of the disputed vote of 1256 and the subsequent interregnum , suggests that by " immemorial custom ", seven princes had the right to elect the king and future emperor. The seven prince-electors are named in the Golden Bull of 1356 :
12231-478: The elector palatine was restored, as the eighth elector. The Electorate of Hanover was added as a ninth elector in 1692, confirmed by the Imperial Diet in 1708. The whole college was reshuffled in the German mediatization of 1803 with a total of ten electors, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. This list includes all 47 German monarchs crowned from Charlemagne until the dissolution of
12382-574: The emperor chosen by the prince-electors . Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, became de facto hereditary holders of the title, notably the Ottonians (962–1024) and the Salians (1027–1125). Following the late medieval crisis of government , the Habsburgs kept possession of the title (with only one interruption ) from 1440 to 1806. The final emperors were from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine , from 1765 to 1806. The Holy Roman Empire
12533-475: The empire of the Romans"). The Eastern Empire eventually relented to recognizing Charlemagne and his successors as emperors, but as "Frankish" and "German emperors", at no point referring to them as Roman, a label they reserved for themselves. The title of emperor in the West implied recognition by the pope. As the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict
12684-497: The empire on which the sun never sets ". Charles was born in Flanders to Habsburg Archduke Philip the Handsome , son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Mary of Burgundy , and Joanna of Castile , younger child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon , the Catholic Monarchs of Spain . Heir of his grandparents, Charles inherited his family dominions at a young age. After his father's death in 1506, he inherited
12835-586: The end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would learn to speak Castilian ; he would not appoint foreigners; he was prohibited from taking precious metals from Castile beyond the Quinto Real ; and he would respect the rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage to him in Valladolid in February 1518. After this, Charles departed to the Crown of Aragon. He managed to overcome
12986-496: The extended siege – to conceal Lannoy's movement, Juan de Oznaya (a soldier who participated in the battle and wrote about it in 1544) indicates that at that moment, the Imperial troops set their tents on fire to mislead the French into believing that they were retreating. Meanwhile, Imperial engineers quickly worked to create a breach in the park walls, at the Porta Pescarina near the village of San Genesio , through which
13137-507: The heavily outnumbered Swiss infantry opposing him; Tiercelin and Flourance were unable to hold their troops together, and the French foot began to flee the field. By 8:00 am, a mass of Imperial pikemen and arquebusiers descended on the French cavalry from all sides. Lacking room to manoeuvre because of the surrounding woods, the French gendarmes were surrounded and systematically killed. Richard de la Pole and Lorraine, advancing to assist Francis, were met by Frundsberg's arriving landsknechts;
13288-482: The ideals of the medieval knights and the desire for Christian unity to fight the infidel. The Low Countries were very rich during his reign, both economically and culturally . Charles was very attached to his homeland and spent a large part of his life in Brussels and various Flemish cities. The Spanish inheritance, resulting from a dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon , included Spain as well as
13439-710: The immense hunting reserve of the Dukes of Milan, the Visconti Park , which extended for over 2,200 hectares. The Visconti Park no longer exists, most of its woods were cut between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to make room for the fields, however three natural reserves survive that can be considered the heirs of the park, they are the heronry of the Carola, that of Porta Chiossa and the Vernavola Park , which cover an area of 148 hectares. In particular, some of
13590-590: The imperials made the three breaches that started the battle. Less evident are the traces of the battle in Pavia: the city walls, which defended the city during the siege, were replaced, around the middle of the sixteenth century, by robust bastions, partly preserved. Instead, in addition to the Visconti Castle (where the tombstone of Eitel Friedrich III , Count of Hohenzollern, captain of the Landsknechte
13741-512: The infantry, Imperial arquebusiers formed a part of the Spanish colunellas and of the German doppelsöldners . The Imperial cavalry consisted of 1,500 knights and 800 lances. The battle was fought in the Visconti Park of Mirabello di Pavia , outside the city walls. In the four-hour battle, the French army was split and defeated in detail . Many of the chief nobles of France were killed, and others – including Francis I himself – were captured. The historian Francesco Guicciardini summarised
13892-463: The intervention of the infamous Black Bands of Giovanni de' Medici , Italian mercenaries which had just entered French service. Medici then returned to Pavia with a supply train of gunpowder and shot gathered by the Duke of Ferrara ; but the French position was simultaneously weakened by the departure of nearly 5,000 Grisons Swiss mercenaries , who returned to their cantons to defend them against marauding landsknechts . In January 1525, Lannoy
14043-527: The invading force were heavy with 150 ships lost, plus large numbers of sailors and soldiers. A Turkish chronicler confirmed that the Berber tribes massacred 12,000 invaders. Leaving war materiel, including 100 to 200 guns which would be recovered to furnish the ramparts of Algiers, Charles' army was taken prisoner in such numbers that the markets of Algiers were filled with slaves. Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor , originally and officially
14194-532: The kingdom. Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of 1517. Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him but fell ill along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and he died before reaching the King. Due to the irregularity of Charles assuming the royal title while his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive, the negotiations with the Castilian Cortes in Valladolid (1518) proved difficult. In
14345-485: The largest of Charles's personal possessions, and they also provided a great number of generals and tercios (the formidable Spanish infantry of the time), while Joanna remained confined in Tordesillas until her death. Plus Ultra , the rendition from French into Latin of Charles's personal motto "Plus Oultre" ( Further Beyond ), later became the national motto of Spain and features on the country's flag as part of
14496-418: The later Holy Roman Empire as established under Otto I in 962. Nephew and adopted son of Charles III While earlier Frankish and Italian monarchs had been crowned as Roman emperors, the actual Holy Roman Empire is often considered to have begun with the crowning of Otto I , at the time Duke of Saxony and King of Germany . Because the King of Germany was an elected position, being elected King of Germany
14647-459: The lordships that formed the Low Countries and covered modern-day Belgium , Netherlands and Luxembourg . It excluded Burgundy proper, annexed by France in 1477, with the exception of Franche-Comté . At the death of Philip in 1506, Charles was recognized Lord of the Netherlands with the title of Charles II of Burgundy . During his childhood and teen years, Charles lived in Mechelen together with his sisters Mary , Eleanor , and Isabella at
14798-433: The main body of Imperial troops to battle. Nevertheless, Charles de Lannoy , who had concentrated some 16,000 men to resist the 33,000 French troops closing on Milan, decided that the city could not be defended and withdrew to Lodi on 26 October. Having entered Milan and installed Louis II de la Trémoille as the governor, Francis (at the urging of Bonnivet and against the advice of his other senior commanders, who favoured
14949-400: The manner of an Antique cameo , from the gem engraver Giovanni Bernardi . The classicizing treatment of the event lent it a timeless, mythic quality and reflected on the culture and taste of the patron. An oil-on-panel Battle of Pavia , painted by an anonymous Flemish artist, depicts the military engagement between the armies of Charles V and Francis I. Because of its detail, the painting
15100-500: The meantime, having been with a great number of his men at arms in the midst of the battle, and endeavoured to stop the flight of his men, after a long combat, his horse killed under him, himself wounded in the face and in the hand, and fallen to the ground, was taken by some soldiers who did not know him. But when the Viceroy came up he discovered himself to him, who, after kissing his hand with profound reverence, received him prisoner in
15251-583: The monarch's own will easily overrode legislative and justice institutions. By contrast, in the Crown of Aragon, and especially in the Pyrenean Kingdom of Navarre, law prevailed, and the monarchy was seen as a contract with the people . This became an inconvenience and a matter of dispute for Charles V and later kings since realm-specific traditions limited their absolute power. With Charles, the government became more absolute, even though until his mother died in 1555, Charles did not hold absolute power in
15402-585: The morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies. The French army was led by King Francis I of France , who laid siege to the city of Pavia (then part of the Duchy of Milan within
15553-595: The most important episodes of the battle took place inside the Vernavola park, which extends southwest of the Mirabello Castle . Near the park, in 2015, two cannonballs were found during some agricultural work, probably fired by French artillery. Although partially mutilated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when it was transformed into a farm, the Mirabello Castle, once the seat of
15704-492: The name of the Emperor. Francis was imprisoned in the nearby tower of Pizzighettone and later transferred to Spain, where Charles V was residing for his upcoming marriage with Isabella of Portugal . Together they signed the Treaty of Madrid of 1526, by which Francis abandoned claims over the Imperial Duchy of Milan and ceded Burgundy to the House of Habsburg in exchange for his freedom. Francis, however, denounced
15855-711: The newborn was originally heir apparent only of the Burgundian Low Countries as the honorific Duke of Luxembourg and second in line to the Austrian duchies, becoming known in his early years simply as "Charles of Ghent". He was baptised at the Church of Saint John by the Bishop of Tournai . The Burgundian nobles Charles I de Croÿ and John III of Glymes were his godfathers, and Margaret of York and Margaret of Austria , respectively his step-grandmother and aunt, his godmothers. Charles's baptism gifts were
16006-462: The offer, and made a speech in support of Charles on the ground that they needed a strong leader against the Ottomans, Charles had the resources and was a prince of German extraction. Although even at the beginning of his reign, his position was more powerful than that of any of his predecessors, the decentralized structure of the Empire proved resilient, not least because of the Reformation . It
16157-461: The pope. Maximilian, therefore, named himself elected Roman emperor ( Erwählter Römischer Kaiser ) in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors. Of his successors, only Charles V , the immediate one, received a papal coronation . The elector palatine's seat was conferred on the duke of Bavaria in 1621, but in 1648, in the wake of the Thirty Years' War ,
16308-522: The position was viewed as a defender of the Catholic faith. Until Maximilian I in 1508, the Emperor-elect ( Imperator electus ) was required to be crowned by the pope before assuming the imperial title. Charles V was the last to be crowned by the pope in 1530. Even after the Reformation , the elected emperor was always a Catholic . There were short periods in history when the electoral college
16459-540: The possessions of his family and protecting Catholicism against Protestant heretics, diverted resources away from building up the Spanish economy. Elite elements in Spain called for more protection for the commercial networks, which were threatened by the Ottoman Empire and Barbary pirates . Charles instead focused on defeating Protestantism in Germany and the Netherlands, which proved to be lost causes. Each hastened
16610-404: The prime candidate had to make concessions, by which the voters were kept on his side, which was known as Wahlkapitulationen ( electoral capitulation ). Conrad was elected by the German dukes , and it is not known precisely when the system of seven prince-electors was established. The papal decree Venerabilem by Innocent III (1202), addressed to Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen , establishes
16761-402: The requirement that emperors be crowned by the pope before exercising their office. Starting with Ferdinand I , all successive emperors forwent the traditional coronation. The interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire is taken to have lasted from the deposition of Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV in 1245 (or alternatively from Frederick's death in 1250 or from the death of Conrad IV in 1254) to
16912-479: The resistance of the Aragonese Cortes and Catalan Corts , and he was recognized as King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona jointly with his mother, while his mother was kept confined and could only rule in name. The Kingdom of Navarre had been invaded by Ferdinand of Aragon jointly with Castile in 1512, but he pledged a formal oath to respect the kingdom. On Charles's accession to the Spanish thrones,
17063-495: The royal title, and this was supported by Emperor Maximilian I and Pope Leo X . Thus, after the commemoration of Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, Charles was proclaimed king of the crowns of Castile and Aragon jointly with his mother. Finally, when the Castilian regent Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros accepted the fait accompli , he acceded to Charles's desire to be proclaimed king and imposed his instatement throughout
17214-691: The same titulature, usually on becoming the sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian's predecessor Frederick III was the last to be crowned Emperor by the Pope in Rome, while Maximilian's successor Charles V was the last to be crowned by the pope, though in Bologna , in 1530. The Emperor was crowned in a special ceremony, traditionally performed by the Pope in Rome . Without that coronation, no king, despite exercising all powers, could call himself Emperor. In 1508, Pope Julius II allowed Maximilian I to use
17365-412: The saying Bella gerant aliī, tū fēlix Austria nūbe / Nam quae Mars aliīs, dat tibi regna Venus or "Let others wage war, but thou, O happy Austria, marry; for those kingdoms which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee.", reportedly spoken by Mathias Corvinus ), Maximilian and his descendants fought wars aplenty (Maximilian alone fought 27 wars during his four decades of ruling). His general strategy
17516-447: The sole monarch instead. While Joanna refused to depose her son, her confinement would continue after the revolt to prevent possible events alike. Immediately after crushing the Castilian revolt, Charles was confronted again with the hot issue of Navarre when King Henry II attempted to reconquer the kingdom . Main military operations lasted until 1524, when Hondarribia surrendered to Charles's forces, but frequent cross-border clashes in
17667-548: The spiritual health of their subjects, and after Constantine they had a duty to help the Church define and maintain orthodoxy . The emperor's role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresies , and uphold ecclesiastical unity. Both the title and connection between Emperor and Church continued in the Eastern Roman Empire throughout the medieval period ( in exile during 1204–1261). The ecumenical councils of
17818-424: The territory as a vacant Imperial state with the help of Massimiliano Stampa , one of the most influential courtiers of the late Duke. Charles successfully held on to all of its Italian territories, though they were invaded again on multiple occasions during the Italian Wars . In addition, Habsburg trade in the Mediterranean was consistently disrupted by the Ottoman Empire and its vassal Barbary pirates . In 1538
17969-449: The title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator ("elected Emperor of the Romans"). Maximilian's successors adopted the same titulature, usually when they became the sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian's first successor Charles V was the last to be crowned Emperor. Battle of Pavia Empire of Charles V 26,200 28,300 The Battle of Pavia , fought on
18120-433: The town. By 2 February, Lannoy was only a few miles from Pavia. Francis had encamped the majority of his forces in the great walled Visconti Park of Mirabello outside the city walls, placing them between Leyva's garrison and the approaching relief army. Skirmishing and sallies by the garrison continued through February. Medici was seriously wounded and withdrew to Piacenza to recuperate, forcing Francis to recall much of
18271-477: The treaty after his liberation and soon re-opened hostilities over Burgundy and Milan. The French, in possession of Lombardy at the start of the Italian War of 1521–26, had been forced to abandon it after their defeat at the Battle of Bicocca in 1522. Determined to regain it, Francis ordered an invasion of the region in late 1523, under the command of Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet ; but Bonnivet
18422-532: The war to his son, Philip II , and his brother, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor . Charles fought continually with the Ottoman Empire and its sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent . The defeat of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 "sent a wave of terror over Europe." The Muslim advance in Central Europe was halted at the Siege of Vienna (1529) , followed by a counter-attack of Charles V across
18573-412: The war was inconclusive. In the Treaty of Cambrai (1529), called the "Ladies' Peace" because it was negotiated between Charles's aunt and Francis' mother, Francis renounced his claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy. A third war erupted in 1536. Following the death of Francesco II Sforza , Charles installed his son Philip in the Duchy of Milan , despite Francis' claims on it. This war too
18724-537: The western Pyrenees only stopped in 1528 (Treaties of Madrid and Cambrai ). After these events, Navarre remained a matter of domestic and international litigation still for a century (a French dynastic claim to the throne did not end until the July Revolution in 1830). Charles wanted his son and heir Philip II to marry the heiress of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret . Jeanne was instead forced to marry William, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg , but that childless marriage
18875-488: Was "August Emperor of the Romans" ( Romanorum Imperator Augustus ). When Charlemagne was crowned in 800, he was styled as "most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire," thus constituting the elements of "Holy" and "Roman" in the imperial title. The word Roman was a reflection of the principle of translatio imperii (or in this case restauratio imperii ) that regarded
19026-433: Was able to pay only by melting the church plate. A period of skirmishing and artillery bombardments followed, and several breaches had been made in the walls by mid-November. On 21 November, Francis attempted an assault on the city through two of the breaches but was beaten back with heavy casualties; hampered by rainy weather and a lack of gunpowder, the French decided to wait for the defenders to starve. In early December,
19177-428: Was also the natural candidate of the electors to succeed his grandfather as Holy Roman Emperor . He defeated the candidacies of Frederick III of Saxony , Francis I of France , and Henry VIII of England in the 1519 Imperial election . According to some, Charles became emperor due to the fact that by paying huge bribes to the electors, he was the highest bidder. He won the crown on 28 June 1519. On 23 October 1520, he
19328-470: Was annulled after four years. She next married Antoine de Bourbon , and both she and their son Henry of Navarre would oppose Philip II in the French Wars of Religion . After its integration into Charles's empire, Castile guaranteed effective military units and its American possessions provided the bulk of the empire's financial resources. However, the two conflicting strategies of Charles V, enhancing
19479-681: Was considered by the Catholic Church to be the only successor of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and the early modern period . Thus, in theory and diplomacy, the emperors were considered primus inter pares , regarded as first among equals among other Catholic monarchs across Europe. From an autocracy in Carolingian times (AD 800–924), the title by the 13th century evolved into an elective monarchy , with
19630-402: Was crowned in Germany and some ten years later, on 24 February 1530 , he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna , the last emperor to receive a papal coronation . Others point out that while the electors were paid, this was not the reason for the outcome, or at most played only a small part. The important factor that swayed the final decision was that Frederick refused
19781-507: Was defeated by Imperial troops at the Battle of the Sesia and forced to withdraw to France. Charles de Lannoy now launched an invasion of Provence under the command of Fernando d'Ávalos, Marquis of Pescara and Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (who had recently betrayed Francis and allied himself with the Emperor). While initially successful, the Imperial offensive lost valuable time during
19932-483: Was dissolved by Francis II , after a devastating defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz . The emperor was widely perceived to rule by divine right , though he often contradicted or rivaled the pope , most notably during the Investiture controversy . The Holy Roman Empire never had an empress regnant , though women such as Theophanu and Maria Theresa exerted strong influence. Throughout its history,
20083-619: Was dominated by Protestants , and the electors usually voted in their own political interest. From the time of Constantine I ( r. 306–337 ), the Roman Emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity . The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Great Church . Emperors considered themselves responsible to God for
20234-574: Was exactly during this crucial period, Charles V and Ferdinand were too busy with non-German affairs to prevent Imperial Cities in Upper Germany from becoming estranged from Imperial power. Due to Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in the face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant Princes and France,
20385-479: Was expelled from Lombardy at the Battle of Bicocca 1522. In 1524, Francis I of France retook the initiative, crossing into Lombardy where Milan, along with several other cities, once again fell to his attack. Pavia alone held out, and on 24 February 1525 (Charles's twenty-fifth birthday), Charles's forces led by Charles de Lannoy captured Francis and crushed his army in the Battle of Pavia . In 1535, Francesco II Sforza died without heirs, and Charles V annexed
20536-561: Was functionally a pre-requisite to being crowned Holy Roman Emperor. By the 13th century, the Prince-electors became formalized as a specific body of seven electors, consisting of three bishops and four secular princes. Through the middle 15th century, the electors chose freely from among a number of dynasties. A period of dispute during the second half of the 13th century over the kingship of Germany led to there being no emperor crowned for several decades, though this ended in 1312 with
20687-456: Was held in conjunction with the title of King of Italy ( Rex Italiae ) from the 8th to the 16th century, and, almost without interruption, with the title of King of Germany ( Rex Teutonicorum , lit. ' King of the Teutons ' ) throughout the 12th to 18th centuries. The Holy Roman Emperor title provided the highest prestige among medieval Catholic monarchs , because the empire
20838-433: Was inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but he succeeded in conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally, Charles III, Duke of Savoy , including his capital Turin . A truce at Nice in 1538 on the basis of uti possidetis ended the war but lasted only a short time. War resumed in 1542 , with Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Charles once again allied with Henry VIII. Despite
20989-500: Was made prisoner by his principal captains", crediting the Duke of Bourbon, Charles de Lannoy, and the Marquis of Pescara. The French defeat was decisive. Aside from Francis, a number of leading French nobles, including Montmorency and Flourance, had been captured; an even greater number – among them Bonnivet, La Tremoille, Thomas de Foix-Lescun , René of Savoy , La Palice , Richard de la Pole (the last Yorkist and pretender to
21140-739: Was often marked by the organization of imperial diets to maintain religious and political unity. He was frequently in Northern Italy, often taking part in complicated negotiations with the Popes to address the rise of Protestantism. It is important to note, though, that the German Catholics supported the Emperor. Charles had a close relationship with important German families, like the House of Nassau , many of which were represented at his imperial court. Many German princes, noblemen and generals led his military campaigns against France and
21291-518: Was only third in the Spanish line of succession , preceded by her older brother John, Prince of Asturias and older sister Isabella of Aragon . Both heirs to the crowns of Castile and Aragon John and Isabella died in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs desired to keep the Spanish kingdoms in Iberian hands, so they designated their Portuguese grandson Miguel da Paz as heir presumptive of Spain by naming him Prince of Asturias ; but he died as
21442-455: Was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, he again allied himself with the Ottomans in 1542 in a Franco-Ottoman alliance . In 1543, Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign the Truce of Crépy-en-Laonnois . Later, in 1547, Charles signed a humiliating treaty with the Ottomans to gain himself some respite from the huge expenses of their war. Charles V made overtures to
21593-405: Was reinforced by the arrival of Georg Frundsberg with 15,000 fresh landsknechts from Germany and renewed the offensive. Pescara captured the French outpost at Sant'Angelo Lomellina , cutting the lines of communication between Pavia and Milan, while a separate column of landsknechts advanced on Belgiojoso and, despite being briefly pushed back by a raid led by Medici and Bonnivet, occupied
21744-476: Was sovereign in several states of northern Italy as King of Italy . The Duchy of Milan , however, was under French control. France took Milan from the House of Sforza after victory against Switzerland at the Battle of Marignano in 1515. Imperial- Papal troops succeeded in re-installing Francesco II Sforza in Milan in 1521, in the context of an alliance between Charles V and Pope Leo X. A Franco-Swiss army
21895-673: Was swift and humiliating to the rebels of Ghent. In the Castilian Cortes of Valladolid in 1506 and of Madrid in 1510, Charles was sworn as the Prince of Asturias , heir-apparent to his mother Queen Joanna . On the other hand, in 1502, the Aragonese Corts gathered in Zaragoza and pledged an oath to Joanna as heiress-presumptive, but Alonso de Aragón , Archbishop of Zaragoza, (an illegitimate son of King Ferdinand) expressed firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that
22046-405: Was taken prisoner and escorted from the field. Meanwhile, Antonio de Leyva had sortied with the garrison, overrunning the 3,000 Swiss under Montmorency that had been manning the siege lines. The remnants of the Swiss – both Montmorency's and Flourance's – tried to flee across the river, suffering massive casualties as they did. The French rearguard, under the Duke of Alençon, had taken no part in
22197-476: Was that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders in 1528. From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of Frisian peasants (led by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijard Jelckama ). The rebels were initially successful but after a series of defeats, the remaining leaders were captured and executed in 1523. Charles extended the Burgundian territory with
22348-531: Was that known as the investiture controversy , fought during the 11th century between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII . After the coronation of Charlemagne, his successors maintained the title until the death of Berengar I of Italy in 924. The comparatively brief interregnum between 924 and the coronation of Otto the Great in 962 is taken as marking the transition from the Frankish Empire to
22499-599: Was the last emperor to be crowned by the pope, and his successor, Ferdinand I , merely adopted the title of "Emperor elect" in 1558. The final Holy Roman emperor-elect, Francis II , abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empire's final dissolution. The term sacrum (i.e., "holy") in connection with the German Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa . The Holy Roman Emperor's standard designation
22650-726: Was the recognition of Joanna as Princess of Asturias, given Prince Miguel's death a year earlier. They succeeded despite facing some opposition from the Castilian Cortes , which were reluctant to create the premises for Habsburg succession. In 1504, when her mother Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of Castile . Charles only met his father again in 1503 while his mother returned in 1504 (after giving birth to Ferdinand in Spain). The Spanish Ambassador Gutierre Gómez de Fuensalida reported that Philip often visited and they had lots of fun. The couple's unhappy marriage and Joanna's unstable mental state however created many difficulties, making it unsafe for
22801-463: Was to combine his intricate systems of alliance, wars, military threats and offers of marriage to realize his expansionist ambitions. Ultimately he succeeded in coercing Bohemia , Hungary and Poland into acquiescence in the Habsburgs' expansionist plan. The fact that the marriages between the Habsburgs and the Trastámaras, originally conceived as a marital alliance against France, would bring
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