I, CHARLES V, MASTER OF THE WORLD

Exceptional destinies

An episode from the series SECRETS OF HISTORY - PORTRAITS

Synopsis

In the 16th century, Charles V's territorial possessions were so extensive that the sun never set on his empire.

He ruled over Spain, the Netherlands, the German Empire, but also over the State of Naples, Sicily and the new possessions in America. Always travelling, Charles V spent more than a quarter of his life on the roads of Europe managing his empire.

But his main fight was to maintain Christian unity against the rise of Protestantism. At the end of his life, sick and worn out by his duties, he abdicated and retired to a monastery in Yuste, Spain, where he died of malaria.