As ruling prince of the Low Countries he made Brussels, and the palace of Coudenberg in particular, as his main residence and court: there, he announced his legacies in 1515 and announced his abdication in 1555. As ruler of Spain he inherited the possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the south of Italy, and ratified the conquests of the Castillan conquistadores: Hernán Cortés annexed the Aztecs and subjugated Middle America following the Fall of Tenochtitlan, and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and extended colonial rule to South America following the Battle of Cajamarca. As Holy Roman Emperor he managed to defend his German territories in Austria from the Ottomans of Suleiman the magnificent (Siege of Vienna) and his Italian territories in the Duchy of Milan from the French of Francis I (Battle of Pavia): to finance the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars and the Italian Wars the Empire made large use of the gold and silver coming from the Americas. This flow of precious metals, however, was also the cause of widespread inflation. Charles V ratified also the German colonization of the Americas and financed the expedition of the explorer Magellan around the globe. Unable to create a universal monarchy and resist the rise of protestantism, Charles V announced his resignation. His abdication divided his territories between his son Philip II of Spain, who took the colonial territories, and his brother Ferdinand of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary who took the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburg Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan continued to be part of the Holy Roman Empire, but were also left in personal union with the King of Spain.