Charles V (1500-1558) of the House of Habsburg (or Hapsburg) became Holy Roman emperor in 1519, succeeding his grandfather Maximilian I. The Holy Roman Empire was a German-based empire in central Europe.
Charles was born on Feb. 24, 1500, in Ghent, Belgium. In 1506, he inherited the Low Countries (now most of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and Burgundy (now in France) from his father, Philip, Duke of Burgundy. From his grandparents Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, he got the Spanish throne, becoming King Charles I of Spain in 1516. Charles won lands in Italy from France in the 1520’s. But his power was weakened by the Protestant Reformation, which split Germany into rival Protestant and Roman Catholic groups. In 1555 and 1556, he gave up the Low Countries, Spain, and all Spanish lands in Italy and America to his son, Philip II, and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand I (see Philip II). Charles died on Sept. 21, 1558.
