The Rise and Fall of Charles V

Patrick Wibney: Charles V was Europe's central political figure in the first half of the 16th century. By 20 years old, through very little doing of his own, his territories had become impossibly vast. The Habsburgs of Austria, the Valois-Dukes of Burgundy, and the Trastamaras of Castile and Aragon all met in Charles himself. He was the physical embodiment of centuries of both dynastic politicking and unforeseeable contingency.