Spain, Emperor
February 24,
1500 – September, 21, 1558.
Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor (1519–1556), King of Castile and Aragon (1516–1556), and head of the House of Habsburg. As emperor he was sovereign in Germany and northern Italy, while he had direct rule over Habsburg Austria and also the Habsburg Netherlands since becoming Duke of Burgundy in 1506. Through his Spanish kingdoms he was also ruler of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia and an expanding colonial empire. He spent most of his reign defending the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire from the Protestant Reformation, the Ottoman Empire and a series of wars with France.
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