"One of the most significant political figures of the sixteenth century, Charles V was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" as well as a great portion of Europe (255 Bruccoli). He was born into the Hapsburg family as the son of Philip I the Handsome, the Duke of Burgundy and ruler of the Netherlands, and Charles" mother was Joan the Mad. When Charles was six his father died and he inherited the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Franche-Comte. By the age of sixteen Charles was also the king of Castile, the Indies, Aragon, Navagon, Navarre, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples, after the death of his grandfather and his mother was deemed mentally unsound to rule. Charles V continued to gain more land when his parental grandfather died in 1519 and he inherited the House of Australia and was later elected Holy Roman Emperor. Charles" career was mostly basted around his struggles with Francis I and his religious controversies with Martin Luther. Throughout the 1500s and 1600s, absolutism was the most widespread political system in use in Europe and parts of Asia. Charles ruled like the other monarchs of Europe, with absolute and unshared power, as he claimed that he had the Divine Right of Kings, to keep his land under control.
The idea of the Divine Right of Kings evolved in Europe during the Middle Ages. A person who claimed Divine Right of Kings was not to be questioned or disobeyed. This way of ruling became known as absolutism, since the monarch ruled with absolute power. Because Charles V was ruler over so much land, by claiming that he was chosen by god to rule, he was able to bring together his people with as little conflict as possible. The first example of Charles V claiming the Divine Right of Kings was when he began his political career in Spain. Charles did not speak any Spanish when he claimed his inheritance of Spain and the Spaniards were not happy that an Australian was ruling them.
