Christian Cyclopedia

(1500–58). Holy Roman emperor; elected 1519, crowned 1530. King (Charles I) of Sp. 1516 to 1566. His treatment of the Reformers was conditioned by his political and military needs in the struggle with the Fr. and Turks. He condemned Luther in the Edict of Worms* 1521; was tolerant toward the Lutherans at Speyer* 1526 because the League of Cognac and the menace of the Turks created an unfavorable situation for him; took a firm stand against the Lutherans at Speyer* 1529 because he felt strengthened by the Peace of Cambrai.* At the time of the Augsburg Diet 1530 he needed support of Ger. princes against the Turks and therefore could not afford to crush Lutheranism. The Religious Peace of Nürnberg* 1532 gave the Lutherans religious liberty for a year. The alliance bet. the Turks and the Fr. doubtless motivated the emp. to make further concessions to the Lutherans at Speyer 1541 and 1544. He crushed the Schmalkaldic* League 1547 but was constrained through the efforts of Maurice* of Saxony to sign the Passau Treaty 1552. Permitted the passage of the Peace of Augsburg* 1555. Resigned 1556; spent his remaining days at the monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, Estremadura, Spain.

E. Armstrong, The Emperor Charles V, 2 vols. (London, 1902); K. Brandi, The Emperor Charles V, tr. C. V. Wedgwood (New York, 1939); R. Tyler, Emperor Charles the Fifth (Fair Lawn, New Jersey, 1956); G. von Schwarzenfeld, Charles V: Father of Europe, tr. R. M. Bethell (Chicago, 1957).