page_title: Spanish Empire
section_title: Charles I of Spain/Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1516-1558)
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Empire / The Spanish Habsburgs 1516-1700 / Charles I of Spain/Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1516-1558)
caption_attribution_description: Español: La obra representa al emperador Carlos I de España (1500-1558) y a su hijo, el rey Felipe II de España (1527-1598).
context_page_description: The Spanish Empire, historically known as the Hispanic Monarchy and as the Catholic Monarchy, was one of the largest empires in history. From the late 15th century to the early 19th, Spain controlled a huge overseas territory in the New World, the Asian archipelago of the Philippines, what they called "The Indies" and territories in Europe, Africa and Oceania. It was one of the most powerful empires of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Spanish Empire became known as "the empire on which the sun never sets" and reached its maximum extension in the 18th century.
  Castile became the dominant kingdom in Iberia because of its jurisdiction over the overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The structure of empire was established under the Spanish Habsburgs, and under the Spanish Bourbon monarchs the empire was brought under greater crown control and increased its revenues from the Indies. The crown's authority in The Indies was enlarged by the papal grant of powers of patronage, giving it power in the religious sphere.
context_section_description: With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, and the supposed incompetence to rule of his daughter, Queen Juana of Castile and Aragon, Charles of Ghent became Charles I of Castile and Aragon. He was the first Habsburg monarch of Spain and co-ruler of Spain with his mother. Charles had been raised in northern Europe and his interests remained those of Christian Europe. The continuing threat of the Ottoman Turks in the Mediterranean and Central Europe also occupied the monarch. While not directly an inheritance, Charles was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his grandfather Emperor Maximilian thanks to prodigious bribes paid to the prince-electors. Charles became the most powerful Christian ruler in Europe, but his Ottoman rival, Suleiman the Magnificent, challenged Charles for primacy in Europe. France made an unprecedented but pragmatic alliance with the Muslim Ottomans against Habsburg political power and the Ottomans assisted German Protestant princes in the religious conflicts tearing Christian unity apart in Northern Europe. Simultaneously, the overseas lands claimed by Spain in the New World proved to be a source of wealth and the crown was able to assert greater control over its overseas possessions in the political and religious spheres than was possible on Iberian peninsula or in Europe. The conquests of the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire brought vast indigenous civilizations into the Spanish Empire and the mineral wealth, particularly silver, were identified and exploited, becoming the economic lifeblood of the crown. Under Charles, Spain and its overseas empire in the Americas became deeply entwined, with the crown enforcing Catholic exclusivity; exercising crown primacy in political rule, unencumbered by claims of an existing aristocracy; and defending its claims against other European powers. In 1558 he abdicated his throne of Spain to his son, Philip, leaving the ongoing conflicts to his heir.
caption: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (left) with his son Philip
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4272", "Image ImageLength": "3220", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:29 12:14:22", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "402", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7660", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2953", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2225"}