4.1 The Habsburg Hegemony: Charles V

Titian, Charles V, 1548

In 1516, sixteen-year old Charles of the Austrian House of Habsburg succeeded Ferdinand, his grandfather on his mother’s side, as the King of Spain. As monarch of Spain, Charles I, became the hereditary ruler of Castile and Aragon (now formally united as Spain) and all of Spain’s possessions: Milan, Sardinia, The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (southern Italy and Sicily); and its colonial territories in Spanish America and the Caribbean. Through his grandmother on his father’s side, Charles would inherit the Netherlands and the Franche-Comté (Free County) of Burgundy. In 1519, on the death of his paternal grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I, he became the hereditary ruler of Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary. As was the tradition for Habsburg heirs, he was elected Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. It is by that title, Charles V, that the young king of Spain and Emperor would be known to history. He would rule all of these territories - and more - for forty years until his abdication in 1556. He would be the most powerful ruler in Europe, exercising a personal hegemony over both powerful and lesser states.

On his retirement in 1556, Charles divided his possessions. The Spanish crown and its possessions went to his son, Philip. The Spanish Hapsburgs[1] would rule Spain until 1700. The Imperial title, Holy Roman Emperor, and Charles’ Austrian territories were given to his younger brother, Ferdinand. The Austrian Habsburgs would hold the Imperial title until 1806 and be the rulers of Austria and its territories until 1918.

The Habsburg family had been the hereditary rulers of Austria since the 1200s. In 1452 a Habsburg prince was elected Holy Roman Emperor. The Imperial title was not hereditary, but from then on, all successive Emperors (with one exception in the 1700s) were Habsburgs. As Austria was the most powerful of the some 300 German states comprising the Empire, the Habsburgs exercised a great deal of political influence over German affairs. Imperial power, however, was not sovereign. The states retained a great deal of autonomy, so German cooperation with Holy Roman Emperors depended upon circumstances. If it were in their interest to support the Emperor, the German princes would do so, but always with guarded attention, as none wanted to lose their political independence. Often, to keep the princes loyal, Emperors would formally reaffirm the traditional rights and privileges of the princes.

As rulers of Austria (and later Spain), the Habsburgs’ major foreign policy goal was to preserve their many possessions and extend their power and influence. In the exercise of foreign policy, one of the Habsburgs’ most effective resources was their children. Through dynastic marriages, Habsburg sons and daughters would be joined with the ruling families of other states. The expression “Bella gerant alii, tu, felix Austria, nubes” (While others make war, you, happy Austria, marry) very adequately identified Habsburg policy. Very often, Habsburg marriages were within the family as cousins married cousins. Yet despite their extended family connections, the Habsburgs were frequently at war, most often with France, the Ottoman Empire, and England.

Habsburg (both Spanish and Austrian) foreign policy in the 1500s (and beyond) was focused in several areas. They sought to check and / or reverse the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and regain Hungary from the Turks. They sought to check and / or reverse the spread of Protestantism. They sought to prevent the expansion of France. And, they sought to assert Habsburg hegemony in Italy.

So we now return to Charles V. We need not have to struggle with a detailed overview of European political history during Charles’ reign; but to understand Charles’ significance, we should be familiar with the challenges he faced.

As a Catholic monarch, Charles had the unenviable task of attempting to prevent the spread of Protestantism in the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. (Remember, he presided at Luther’s heresy trial at Worms in 1521.) Because of other conditions demanding Charles’ attention, he was unable to make this a priority and was eventually compelled to accept as permanent the spiritual division of the German states.

Since 1494 there existed a Habsburg rivalry with France stemming from conflicting dynastic claims to northern Italy. Through the subsequent “Habsburg-Valois Wars” the Habsburgs sought to prevent the territorial expansion of France. As the Habsburgs controlled Spain, the Franche-Comté, and the Netherlands, the French monarchs saw their country encircled by Habsburg territories. In 1554 Charles attempted to close the ring around France by arranging a marriage between his son Philip and Mary, the Queen of England. France, consequently, would base its foreign policy on breaking the Habsburg “encirclement” of its territory.

It was during Charles’ reign that rivalry between France and the Habsburgs was established as a permanent factor in European diplomacy. The two powers could be found on opposite sides in every major international conflict for the next two centuries.

It was in the overall context of the Habsburg-Valois Wars that Charles sought to increase Habsburg hegemony over the Italian states. Charles was already ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and so was a “major player” in the political chaos that characterized Italian affairs. It was Charles’ armies that sacked Rome in 1527 and made Pope Clement VII the Emperor’s prisoner. It was under these circumstances that Pope Clement refused the English King Henry VIII’s request for an annulment of his marriage to Charles’ aunt Catherine of Aragon.

Charles was faced with a serious Turkish threat. The Ottoman Empire had been pushing westward along the Danube and threatened Vienna, the Austrian capital. In 1526 the Turks defeated the Hungarians and added most of Hungary to the Ottoman Empire. The Habsburgs came to see themselves as the protectors of Christian Europe from the Muslim “Infidel.” In 1529 the Turks were defeated at the gates of Vienna, but they had successfully taken control of Hungary. For the next century Habsburg policy would focus in part on the re-conquest of Hungary from the Turks.

Charles inherited the problem of German political pluralism. Charles, as did earlier Habsburg Emperors, sought to increase his sovereignty over the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. Yet, in pursuit of this ambition, he was continually frustrated. In order to secure Imperial election, he had to promise to respect traditional German “liberties” and the customary autonomy of the many German princes. Likewise, he needed the support of the Protestant princes to wage war against the Turks. Following the devastating religious civil war (1546 - 1555), the Empire accepted the Peace of Augsburg permitting the legal existence of Lutheranism in those states whose rulers wished to be Lutheran.

All shaded areas are territories held by Charles V to 1556

The vertical solid shadings are territories inherited by Philip II of Spain, 1556.

The vertical broken shadings are territories inherited by Ferdinand, 1556.

Global extent of Hapsburg possessions at the time of Charles V

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The image of Titian's Charles V is from Wikipedia and is in the public domain.

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Sources for the Habsburg Hegemony: Charles V

Durant, Will. The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.

Durant, Will and Ariel. The Age of Reason Begins. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.

Elliott, J. H. Imperial Spain, 1469 – 1716. New York: New American Library, 1966.

Knapton, Earnest. Europe 1450 – 1815. New York: Scribners, 1958.

Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968.

Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. New York: Norton, 1996.

Palmer, Robert R. et al. A History of the Modern World. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.

[1] The Austrian Habsburgs are known by the spelling – Habsburg; the Spanish by the spelling – Hapsburg. Either spelling is acceptable.