Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles (1500–1558) was Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles V) from 1519-58, and Charles I of Spain from 1516-1556. He was the son of Philip I and Joan I of Castile, and grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragon, and of Maximillian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Charles was born in Ghent and brought up in the Netherlands until 1517, where he was tutored by Adrian of Utrecht later Pope Adrian VI. In 1506, on the death of his father Charles inherited the Netherlands and Franche-Comté. After the death of his grandfather Ferdinand in 1516 Charles became joint-king of Castille with his mother (who was insane), and also inherited Aragon, Navarre, Granada, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spanish America. After the death of his other grandfather, Maxmillian, he inherited Hapsburg lands in Austria and was elected Holy Roman Emperor.
Charles V initiated many wars during his reign; with France, where he fought against them in Northern Italy in 1521 (his troops later sacked Rome in 1527, causing Charles some embarassment, but enabling him to prevent the Pope annulling the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon, who was his aunt.
As Holy Roman Emperor, he called Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms in 1521, promising him safe conduct if he would appear. He outlawed Luther and his followers in that same year, but was tied up with other concerns and unable to stamp out Protestantism.
In 1525 Charles captured Francis I of France and made him sign the Treaty of Madrid (1526) where France renounced her claims on Northern Italy. When he was released, however, Francis reneged on the treaty. The 1529 Treaty of Cambrai (signed with France) and the Peace of Barcelona (with the Pope) confirmed Charles as Holy Roman Emperor, and also allowed him to keep the lands he had acquired in Italy.
1524-6 saw the Peasants' Revolt in Germany and the formation of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, and Charles delegated increasing responsibility for Germany to his brother Ferdinand (later Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor) while he concentrated on problems abroad.
Fighting with the Ottoman Empire and its sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent had been ongoing for a number of years. The expeditions of the Ottoman force along the Mediterranean coast posed a threat to Hapsburg lands and the peace of Western Europe. In 1535 Charles won an important victory at Tunis, however in 1536 Francis I of Spain allied himself with Suleiman against Charles. While Francis was persuaded to sign a peace treaty in 1538, but later allied himself again with the Ottomans in 1542. In 1543 Charles allied himself with Henry VIII and forced Francis to sign the Truce of Crepy. Charles later signed a humiliating treaty with the Ottomans, to gain him some respite from the large amount of fighting he had had to finance.
In 1545 the Council of Trent began to sit, beginning the Counter-Reformation and Charles won to the Catholic cause some of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. He also attacked the Schmalkaldic League in 1546, defeated John Frederick I of Saxony and imprisoned Philip of Hesse in 1547. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1547 he created a doctrinal compromise (more info, anyone?) which he felt Catholics and Protestants alike might share. In 1548 he made the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands an entity separate from both the Empire and from France (Pragmatic Sanction)
More information for the next few years needed
In 1556 Charles abdicated from his various positions, giving his personal empire to his son, Philip II of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother Ferdinand. He retired to the monastery of Yuste, and is thought to have had a nervous breakdown, causing his abdication. He died in 1558.