“We are more inclined to marry [your] sister the infanta, Isabella, than anyone else because there is no daughter of a king as ready as her.”
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Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Castile and León from 1516 to 1556, King of Sicily and Naples from 1516 to 1554, and also Lord of the Netherlands and 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 the Austrian hereditary lands and Burgundian Low Countries, and Spain with its possessions of the southern Italian kingdoms of Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia. In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of Spanish colonisation and a short-lived German colonisation. The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled "the empire on which the sun never sets".
politics · Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556 · monarch · also Charles V, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Karl V., Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King Carlos I, King Charles I
Born 24 February 1500 · Died 21 September 1558 · Q32500
39 published statements · 0 followers
Updated 1 day agoSee & hear
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I am wholly decided and resolved to go in person to help my brother because his need is so great and the perils so extreme that it does not merely threaten him but places all Christendom at risk. I cannot and must not abandon him because of the office I hold and because of the obligations of fraternal friendship and also because he is such a good brother to me.
Without the prior pacification of Italy, it could happen that as soon as I leave to succor you, Venice, Florence, Ferrara and Francesco Sforza will ally together, pull all their resources and invite the French to support them… Since I will need to take with me to Germany the army besieging Florence, we need a swift decision by His Holiness in this matter.
Because we cannot by ourselves give sufficient thanks to God, our creator, for the grace, honour, health and success that He has granted us thus far, nor amass sufficient merit to secure the continuation of His grace in the future… to beseech God to continue to raise us in virtue and good customs, to govern our dominions and subjects in peace, union and concord, and to guide our affairs to His honour, our wellbeing, and the prosperity, utility and tranquility of our said dominions and subjects.
“We are more inclined to marry [your] sister the infanta, Isabella, than anyone else because there is no daughter of a king as ready as her.”
“I want to be trusted, and will not bargain with my subjects.”
“I am wholly decided and resolved to go in person to help my brother because his need is so great and the perils so extreme that it does not merely threaten him but places all Christendom at risk. I cannot and must not abandon him because of the office I hold and because of the obligations of fraternal friendship and also because he is such a good brother to me.”
“Without the prior pacification of Italy, it could happen that as soon as I leave to succor you, Venice, Florence, Ferrara and Francesco Sforza will ally together, pull all their resources and invite the French to support them… Since I will need to take with me to Germany the army besieging Florence, we need a swift decision by His Holiness in this matter.”
“Because we cannot by ourselves give sufficient thanks to God, our creator, for the grace, honour, health and success that He has granted us thus far, nor amass sufficient merit to secure the continuation of His grace in the future… to beseech God to continue to raise us in virtue and good customs, to govern our dominions and subjects in peace, union and concord, and to guide our affairs to His honour, our wellbeing, and the prosperity, utility and tranquility of our said dominions and subjects.”
“Cervantes partly modelled the wandering Don Quixote on Charles V.”
“…Begging Your Holiness as earnestly as I can that you convene a general council with the urgency that the situation demands and that for optimal effect Your Holiness should write to other princes and potentates explaining why. Namely the need to create a united front against the expected Turkish attack and to prevent the heresies that have recently appeared from spreading further.”
“I was writing to my wife when your letter arrived, and now I want to look at her portrait myself, seeing the great beauty it contains. I am such a devoted husband that other beautiful women now do nothing for me.”
“Since our Lord, who gave Fernando to us, wished to have him back, we must bend to His will and thank Him and beg Him to protect what is left. With great affection, my lady, I beg you to do this and to forget and leave behind all pain and grief.”
“These heretics have been so obstinate that no policy has worked or sufficed to get them to recognise their errors… I can see that if there were a way of forcing them we could justly move against them, but that is not the case now, nor do I currently have the means, because I am tired, alone and without help and there are so many of them that great force would be needed to overcome them. The true remedy is to convene a general council.”
“It has brought me the greatest sorrow you can imagine, because he was the most handsome little boy for his age that you could find. I feel his death even more than the loss of my own son [Fernando] because he was older and I knew him better and treated him as my own son. Nevertheless we must accept the will of God. May God forgive me, but I wish He had taken Christian instead of his son.”
“Fortune hath somewhat the nature of a woman; if she be too much wooed, she is the farther off.”
Celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Charles's birth took place in Belgium
“Francis and I are in perfect accord. He wants Milan and so do I.”
In the Prinsenhof in Ghent where he was born
In Francoist Spain, brought together the local National Catholic intelligentsia and a number of European (Catholic) conservative figures, underpinning an imperial nostalgia for Charles V's Europe and the Universitas Chri
“Leave him alone. He has already met his judge. I wage war on the living, not the dead.”
“Dictionary of Classical and Foreign Quotations (1904), page 25”
Awarded Order of Santiago.
Awarded Order of Alcántara.
Awarded illustrious son presented by Palma.
Won Order of the Golden Fleece.
Awarded Order of Calatrava.
Won Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Career landmark: Participated in Diet of Worms (tournament / event).
Career landmark: Lord of the Netherlands.
Died 1558-09-21.
“My life has been one long journey.”
“Wielki cesarz Karol V mówił, że z Bogiem rozmawia w języku hiszpańskim, z koniem rozmawia po niemiecku, ze swoją panią rozmawia w języku włoskim, ale z mężczyznami rozmawia po francusku.”
“Ottoman Turkish version: Su cadar dil lu cadar adanis. = Su qadar dil lu qadar âdemî.”
“Latin version: Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales.”
Career landmark: coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor.
“[Our policy] has always been to deal first with matters which are easiest to resolve and leave the most difficult ones until last.”
Career landmark: Holy Roman Emperor (1519–1556).
Career landmark: Monarch of Castile and Leon (1516–1556).
Career landmark: monarch of the Crown of Aragon (1516–1556).
Career landmark: King of Sardinia (1516–1556).
Awarded Knight of the Garter (1508).
Born 1500-02-24.