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Charles V

1500 CE – 1558 CE

Retrace Charles V's life across the map — 29 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

Life journey

1. Saxon feud1498 CE
   The Saxon feud was a military conflict in the years 1514–1517 between the East Frisian Count Edzard I, 'West Frisian' rebels, the city of Groningen, and Charles II, Duke of Guelders on the one hand and the Imperial Frisian hereditary governor George, Duke of Saxony – replaced by Charles V of Habsburg in 1515 – and 24 German princes. The war took place predominantly on East Frisian soil and destroyed large parts of the region.
2. Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre1512 CE
   The Spanish conquest of the Iberian part of Navarre was initiated by Ferdinand II of Aragon and completed by his grandson and successor Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in a series of military campaigns lasting from 1512 to 1529. Ferdinand was both the king of Aragon and regent of Castile in 1512. When Pope Julius II declared a Holy League against France in late 1511, Navarre attempted to remain neutral. Ferdinand used this as an excuse to attack Navarre, conquering it while its potential protector, France, was beset by England, Venice, and Ferdinand's own Italian armies.
3. Revolt of the Brotherhoods1519 CE
   The Revolt of the Brotherhoods was a revolt by artisan guilds (Germanies) against the government of King Charles V in the Kingdom of Valencia, part of the Crown of Aragon. It took place from 1519–1523, with most of the fighting occurring during 1521. The Valencian revolt inspired a related revolt in the island of Majorca, also part of Aragon, which lasted from 1521–1523.
4. Battle of Tordesillas1520 CE
   The Battle of Tordesillas was an armed conflict fought during the Revolt of the Comuneros, that engaged the royalist forces commanded by the Count of Haro and the comuneros garrison of the Valladolid town of Tordesillas, the headquarters of the rebels, on December 5, 1520.
5. Revolt of the Comuneros1520 CE
   The Revolt of the Comuneros was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles I and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, the rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas, and Toledo.
6. Battle of Oriola1521 CE
   The Battle of Oriola or Battle of Orihuela was an armed conflict fought between the troops of the Agermanados, mainly artisan guilds, and those of Pedro Fajardo y Chacón, Marqués de los Vélez, on 30 August 1521 in Oriola (Orihuela), in the Kingdom of Valencia.
7. Siege of Alcira1521 CE
   The Siege of Alzira took place between 1521 and 1522, as viceroy Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Count of Melito, attempted to subjugate Alzira and end the Revolt of the Brotherhoods.
8. Battle of Almenara1521 CE
   The Battle of Almenara was fought between the Agermanados and the troops of Viceroy Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, on 18 July 1521, at Almenara.
9. Battle of the Sesia1524 CE
   The Battle of the Sesia took place near the Sesia River (Latin: Sesites or Sessite), situated in north-western Italy, Lombardy, on 30 April 1524, where the Imperial–Spanish forces commanded by Don Carlos de Lannoy and Fernando d'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara decisively defeated the French army under the Admiral Guillaume Gouffier, Lord of Bonnivet and the Comte de Saint-Pol, during the Italian War of 1521–1526.
10. Treaty of Madrid1526 CE
    The Italian War of 1521–1526, sometimes known as the Four Years' War, was a part of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Francis I of France and the Republic of Venice against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England, and the Papal States. It arose from animosity over the election of Charles as Emperor in 1519–1520 and from Pope Leo X's need to ally with Charles against Martin Luther.
11. War of the League of Cognac1526 CE
    The War of the League of Cognac (1526–1530) was fought between the Habsburg dominions of Charles V—primarily the Holy Roman Empire and Spain—and the League of Cognac, an alliance including the Kingdom of France, Pope Clement VII, the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of England, the Duchy of Milan, and the Republic of Florence.
12. Stand of the Swiss Guard1527 CE
    The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the War of the League of Cognac. Charles V only intended to threaten military action to make Pope Clement VII come to his terms. However, the Imperial army were largely unpaid and mutinied. Despite being ordered not to storm Rome, they broke into the scarcely defended city and began looting, killing, and holding citizens for ransom without any restraint. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rear guard action; he remained there until a ransom was paid to the pillagers.
13. Sack of Rome, 15271527 CE
    The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the War of the League of Cognac. Charles V only intended to threaten military action to make Pope Clement VII come to his terms. However, the Imperial army were largely unpaid and mutinied. Despite being ordered not to storm Rome, they broke into the scarcely defended city and began looting, killing, and holding citizens for ransom without any restraint. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rear guard action; he remained there until a ransom was paid to the pillagers.
14. Battle of Landriano1529 CE
    The Battle of Landriano took place on 21 June 1529, between the French army under Comte de Saint-Pol and the Imperial–Spanish army commanded by Don Antonio de Leyva, Duke of Terranova in the context of the War of the League of Cognac. The French army was destroyed and the battle's strategic result was that the struggle between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor for control of northern Italy was temporarily at an end.
15. Campaign of Cherchell1531 CE
    The raid on Cherchell occurred in July 1530, when Genoese admiral Andrea Doria attacked the Algerian fortress of Cherchell as part of a campaign against Barbary corsairs.
16. Conquest of Tunis1535 CE
    The Conquest of Tunis in 1535 occurred when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his allies captured the city of Tunis from the control of the Ottoman Empire. The Catholic fleet, which included admirals Andrea Doria and Bazán the Elder, captured the fleet of grand Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, who had turned Tunis into his naval base for future invasions of Italy and Spain. Although Barbarossa managed to escape, the victory ensured Ottoman forces in North Africa remained limited to the usual actions of the Barbary corsairs. Tunis remained under Spanish control until its Ottoman recapture in 1569.
17. Italian War of 1536–15381536 CE
    The Italian war of 1536–1538 was a conflict between King Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. The objective was to achieve control over territories in Northern Italy, in particular the Duchy of Milan, which Charles had granted to his son Philip. The war saw French troops invading Northern Italy with the goal to capture Milan, and Imperial-Spanish troops invading France in retaliation.
18. Hafsid campaign in Kairouan and Sousse1537 CE
    The Hafsid Campaign to Kairouan and Sousse took place in 1537 and pitted the Shabiya Emirate against the Hafsid dynasty and the Kingdom of Sicily.
19. Algiers expedition1541 CE
    The 1541 battle of Algiers occurred when Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Spain attempted to lead an amphibious attack against the Regency of Algiers. Inadequate planning, particularly against unfavourable weather, led to the failure of the expedition.
20. Siege of Saint-Dizier1544 CE
    The siege of Saint-Dizier took place in the summer of 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–1546, when the Imperial army of Charles V attacked the French city of Saint-Dizier at the beginning of its advance into Champagne. After a two-month siege and the stubborn resistance by a small French garrison, the fortress fell to the Imperial army, personally led by Charles V.
21. Battle of Serravalle1544 CE
    The Battle of Serravalle took place on 2–4 June 1544 in Serravalle Scrivia, in the Apennine Mountains, between the Imperial-Spanish army commanded by Don Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, and a force of freshly raised Italian mercenaries in French service, led by Pietro Strozzi, member of the rich and famous Florentine family of the Strozzi, and Giovan Francesco Orsini, Count of Pitigliano, during the Italian War of 1542–1546.
22. Schmalkaldic War1546 CE
    The Schmalkaldic War was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forces directly loyal to Charles fighting under the command of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba.
23. Battle of Mühlberg1547 CE
    The Battle of Mühlberg took place near Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony in 1547, during the Schmalkaldic War. The Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under the command of Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Landgrave Philip I of Hesse.
24. Italian War of 1551–15591551 CE
    The Italian War of 1551–1559 began when Henry II of France declared war against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, with the intent of recapturing parts of Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. The war ended following the signing of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis between the monarchs of Spain, England and France in 1559. Historians have emphasized the importance of gunpowder technology, new styles of fortification to resist cannon fire, and the increased professionalization of the soldiers.
25. Princes' Revolt1552 CE
    The Second Schmalkaldic War, also known as the Princes' Revolt, was an uprising of German Protestant princes led by elector Maurice of Saxony against the Catholic emperor Charles V that broke out in 1552. Historians disagree whether the war concluded the same year with the Peace of Passau in August, or dragged on until the Peace of Augsburg in September 1555. The Protestant princes were supported by King Henry II of France, who was a Catholic, but sought to use the opportunity to expand his territory in modern-day Lorraine.
26. Siege of Metz1553 CE
    The siege of Metz during the Italian War of 1551–59 lasted from 19 October 1552 to 2 January 1553.
27. Battle of Renty1554 CE
    The Battle of Renty was fought on 13 August 1554, between France and the Holy Roman Empire at Renty, in the northern theatre of the Italian Wars. French commander Francis, Duke of Guise, had already forced the emperor to abandon the Siege of Metz in 1552. King Henry II of France had occupied the city according to the terms of the Treaty of Chambord he had signed with several Protestant Imperial princes.
28. Peace of Augsburg1555 CE
    The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Schmalkaldic League, signed on 25 September 1555 in the German city of Augsburg. It officially ended the religious struggle between the two groups and made the legal division of Christianity permanent within the Holy Roman Empire, allowing rulers to choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as the official confession of their state. Calvinism was not allowed until the Peace of Westphalia.
29. Cologne War1583 CE
    The Cologne War was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, within present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The war occurred within the context of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and the subsequent Counter-Reformation, and concurrently with the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].