(sold for $13.0)

1543, Kindom of Naples, Charles V of Spain. Nice Copper Cavallo Coin. F-aVF!

Mint Year: 1543 Condition: F-aVF! Mint Place: Palermo Denomination: Cavallo Reference: Cagiati no 2. Material: Copper Diameter: 18mm  Weight: 1.14gm

Obverse: Central pellet flanking bannered pillars of Hercules with fire irons (symbol for the Habsburg Dynasty) in base. Waves below. Legend: PLVS VLTRA

Reverse: Cross of Jerusalem sourrounded by legend. Legend: + REX . IVSTVS . 

Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain,     of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556. On the     eve of his death in 1558, his realm, which has been described as one   in   which the sun never sets, spanned almost 4 million square   kilometers.

As the heir of four of Europe's leading dynasties –     the Habsburgs of Austria, the Valois of Burgundy, the Trastamara of     Castile and the House of Aragon – he ruled over extensive domains in     Central, Western and Southern Europe, as well as the various Castilian     (Spanish) colonies in the Americas.

He was the son of Philip I of Castile (Philip the     Handsome) and Juana of Castile (Joanna the Mad of Castile). His paternal     grandparents were the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Mary of     Burgundy, whose daughter Margaret raised him. His maternal grandparents     were Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, whose marriage     had first united their territories into what is now modern Spain, and     whose daughter Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England and first wife     of Henry VIII. His cousin was Mary I of England, who married his son     Philip.

As the first King to reign in his own right over both     Castile and Aragon he is often considered as the first King of Spain.     Charles provided five ships to Ferdinand Magellan after the   Portuguese   captain was repeatedly turned down by Manuel I of Portugal.   The   commercial success of the voyage, which temporarily enriched   Charles by   the sale of its cargo of cloves, laid the foundation for   the oceanic   empire of Spain.

Charles' reign constitutes the pinnacle of Habsburg     power, when all the family's far flung holdings were united in one   hand.   After his reign, the realms were split between his descendants,   who   received the Spanish possession and the Netherlands, and those of   his   younger brother, who received Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.

Aside from this, Charles is best known for his role in the Protestant Reformation and the convocation of the Council of Trent.

Charles was born in the Flemish city of Ghent in     1500. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian Low Countries were     an important influence in his early life. He spoke five different     languages, French, Dutch, later adding an acceptable Spanish (which was     required by the Castilian Cortes as a condition for becoming king of     Castile) and some German and Italian.

From his Burgundian ancestors, he inherited an     ambiguous relationship with the Kings of France. Charles shared with     France his mother tongue and many cultural forms. In his youth, he made     frequent visits to Paris, then the largest city of Western Europe.

In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a universe" (Lutetia non urbs, sed orbis).     But Charles also inherited the tradition of political and dynastical     enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian lines of the Valois   Dynasty.   This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the Holy   Roman   Empire and the kingdom of Spain.

Though Spain was the core of his possessions, he was     never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt   like   and was viewed as a foreign prince. He could not speak Spanish   very   well, as it was not his primary language. Nonetheless, he spent   most of   his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish   monastery.

In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian     territories, most notably the Low Countries and Franche-Comté, most of     which were fiefs of the German empire, except his birthplace of   Flanders   that was still a French fief, a last remnant of what had been   a   powerful player in the Hundred Years' War. As he was a minor, his   aunt   Margaret acted as regent until 1515 and soon she found herself at   war   with France over the question of Charles' requirement to pay   homage to   the French king for Flanders, as his father had done. The   outcome was   that France relinquished its ancient claim on Flanders in   1528.

From 1515 to 1523, Charles' government in the     Netherlands also had to contend with the rebellion of Frisian peasants     (led by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijard Jelckama). The rebels were     initially successful but after series of defeats, the remaining leaders     were captured and decapitated in 1523.

Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the     annexation of Tournai, Artois, Utrecht, Groningen and Guelders. The     Seventeen Provinces had been unified by Charles' Burgundian ancestors,     but nominally were fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. In     1549, Charles issued a Pragmatic Sanction, declaring the Low Countries     to be a unified entity of which his family would be the heirs.

The Low Countries held an important place in the     Empire. For Charles V personally, they were the region where he spent     his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the rich cities, they     were also important for the treasury.

In the Castilian Cortes of caleb Valladolid     of 1506, and of Madrid of 1510 he was sworn as prince of Asturias,   heir   of his mother the queen Joanna. On the other hand, in 1502, the     Aragonese Cortes gathered in Saragossa, alleged oath to his     mother Joanna as heiress, but the Archbishop of Saragossa expressed     firmly that this oath could not establish jurisprudence, that is to say,     without modifying the right of the succession, but by virtue of a     formal agreement between the Cortes and the King. So, with the     death of his grandfather, the king of Aragon Ferdinand II on 23   January   1516, his mother Joanna inherited the Crown of Aragon, which   consisted   of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia;   while   Charles became General Governador. Nevertheless, the Flemings   wished   that Charles assume the royal title, and this was supported by   his   grandfather the emperor Maximilian I and the Pope Leo X, this way,   after   the celebration Ferdinand II's obsequies on 14 March 1516, he   was   proclaimed as king of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his   mother.   Finally, when the Castilian regent Cardinal Jiménez de   Cisneros accepted   the fait accompli, he acceded to Charles's   desire to be   proclaimed king and he imposed his statement along the   kingdom. Thus,   the cities were recognizing Charles as king jointly   with his mother.

For the first time the crowns of Castile and Aragon     were united under the same king (Isabella had not been sovereign queen     in Aragon).

Charles arrived in his new kingdoms in autumn of     1517. His regent Jiménez de Cisneros came to meet him, but fell ill     along the way, not without a suspicion of poison, and died before     meeting the King.

Due to the irregularity of assuming the royal title,     when his mother, the legitimate queen, was alive the negotiations with     the Castilian Cortes in Valladolid (1518) proved difficult, and in   the   end Charles was accepted under the following conditions: he would   learn   to speak Castilian; he would not appoint foreigners; he was   prohibited   from taking precious metals from Castile; and he would   respect the   rights of his mother, Queen Joanna. The Cortes paid homage   to him in   Valladolid in February 1518. After this, the king departed   to the   kingdom of Aragon, and he managed to submit the resistance of   the   Aragonese Cortes and Catalan Cortes also, and finally he was recognized king of Aragon jointly with his mother.

Charles was accepted as sovereign, even though the     Spanish felt uneasy with the Imperial style. Spanish monarchs until then     had been bound by the laws; the monarchy was a contract with the     people. With Charles it would become more absolute, even though until     his mother's death in 1555 Charles did not hold the full kingship of the     country.

Soon resistance against the Emperor rose because of     the heavy taxation (funds that were used to fight wars abroad, most of     which Castilians had no interest in) and because Charles tended to     select Flemings for high offices in Spain and America, ignoring     Castilian candidates. The resistance culminated in the Castilian War of     the Communities, which was suppressed by Charles. After this, Castile     became integrated into the Habsburg empire, and would provide the bulk     of the empire's military and financial resources.

After the death of his paternal grandfather,     Maximilian, in 1519, he inherited the Habsburg lands in Austria. He was     also the natural candidate of the electors to succeed his grandfather.     With the help of the wealthy Fugger family, Charles defeated the     candidacy of Francis I of France and was elected on 28 June 1519. In     1530, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna,     the last Emperor to receive a papal coronation.

Charles was Holy Roman Emperor over the German     states, but his real power was limited by the princes. Protestantism     gained a strong foothold in Germany, and Charles was determined not to     let this happen in the Netherlands. An inquisition was established as     early as 1522. In 1550, the death penalty was introduced for all   heresy.   Political dissent was also firmly controlled, most notably in   his place   of birth, where Charles, assisted by the Duke of Alba,   personally   suppressed the Revolt of Ghent in mid-February 1540.

Much of Charles's reign was taken up by conflicts     with France, which found itself encircled by Charles's empire and still     maintained ambitions in Italy. The first war with Charles's great     nemesis Francis I of France began in 1521. Charles allied with England     and Pope Leo X against the French and the Venetians, and was highly     successful, driving the French out of Milan and defeating and capturing     Francis at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. To gain his freedom, the   French   king was forced to cede Burgundy to Charles in Treaty of Madrid   (1526).

When he was released, however, Francis had the     Parliament of Paris denounce the treaty because it had been signed under     duress. France then joined the League of Cognac that the Pope had     formed with Henry VIII of England, the Venetians, the Florentines, and     the Milanese to resist imperial domination of Italy. In the ensuing   war,   Charles's sack of Rome (1527) and virtual imprisonment of Pope   Clement   VII in 1527 prevented him from annulling the marriage of Henry   VIII of   England and Charles's aunt Catherine of Aragon, with   important   consequences. In other respects, the war was inconclusive.   In the Treaty   of Cambrai (1529), called the "Ladies' Peace" because it   was negotiated   between Charles's aunt and Francis's mother, Francis   renounced his   claims in Italy but retained control of Burgundy.

A third war erupted in 1535, when, following the     death of the last Sforza Duke of Milan, Charles installed his own son,     Philip, in the duchy, despite Francis's claims on it. This war too was     inconclusive. Francis failed to conquer Milan, but succeeded in     conquering most of the lands of Charles's ally the Duke of Savoy,     including his capital, Turin. A truce at Nice in 1538 on the basis of uti possidetis ended the war, but lasted only a short time. War resumed in 1542, with     Francis now allied with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and Charles once   again   allied with Henry VIII. Despite the conquest of Nice by a     Franco-Ottoman fleet, the French remained unable to advance into Milan,     while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by   Charles   himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned,   leading to   another peace and restoration of the status quo ante in 1544.

A final war erupted with Francis' son and successor,     Henry II, in 1551. This war saw early successes by Henry in Lorraine,     where he captured Metz, but continued failure of French offensives in     Italy. Charles abdicated midway through this conflict, leaving further     conduct of the war to his son, Philip II and his brother, Ferdinand   I,   Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1556, Charles abdicated his various titles, giving     his Spanish empire (Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, Milan and Spain's     possessions in the Americas) to his son, Philip II of Spain. His   brother   Ferdinand, already in possession of the Austrian lands and   Roman King   succeeded as Emperor elect. Charles retired to the   monastery of Yuste in   Extremadura, but continued to correspond widely   and kept an interest in   the situation of the empire. He suffered from   severe gout and some   scholars think Charles V decided to abdicate   after a gout attack in 1552   forced him to postpone an attempt to   recapture the city of Metz, where   he was later defeated.

Charles died on 21 September 1558 from fatal malaria.     Twenty-six years later, his remains were transferred to the Royal     Pantheon of The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.