Includes bibliographical references (pages 687-719) and index.
Contents:
Part I. Young Charles -- From Duke of Luxemburg to Prince of Castile, 1500-8 -- The orphan prince, 1509-14 -- The difficult inheritance, 1515-17 -- Part II. Game of Thrones -- From King of Spain to King of the Romans, 1517-19 -- From peace through rebellion to war, 1519-21 -- Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, 1521-5 -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, 1525-8 -- Champion of the western world, 1528-31 -- Part III. 'Ruler from the rising to the setting of the sun' -- The last crusader, 1532-6 -- Years of defeat, 1536-41 -- Settling scores, part I. Guelders and France, 1541-4 -- Settling scores, part II: Germany and Italy, 1545-8 -- The taming of America -- Part IV. Downfall -- Paterfamilias, 1548-51 -- The emperor's last campaigns, 1551-4 -- Restless retirement, 1555-8 -- The emperor in legend and history -- Appendices: I. The emperor's memoirs -- II. The afterlife of Charles V's body -- III. The emperor's last instructions to Philip II -- IV. 'Infanta Isabel of Castile, daughter of His Majesty the emperor'
Summary:
The life of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), ruler of Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and much of Italy and Central and South America, has long intrigued biographers. But the elusive nature of the man (despite an abundance of documentation), his relentless travel and the control of his own image, together with the complexity of governing the world's first transatlantic empire, complicate the task. Geoffrey Parker, one of the world's leading historians of early modern Europe, has examined the surviving written sources in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, as well as visual and material evidence. He explores the crucial decisions that created and preserved this vast empire, analyzes Charles's achievements within the context of both personal and structural factors, and scrutinizes the intimate details of the ruler's life for clues to his character and inclinations. The result is a unique biography that interrogates every dimension of Charles's reign and views the world through the emperor's own eyes. -- publisher's website.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.