Charles V (1500-1558)

Charles V (Ghent 24 February 1500–Yuste 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain and ruler of the Burgundian territories. In Spain, he ruled officially as Carlos I, though he is often referred to by the ordinal as Holy Roman Emperor. Because of his majestic rule, he is sometimes known by his Spanish epithet, "El Dorado", or "the golden one".
He was the son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad of Castile. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, whose marriage had first united the Spanish monarchy. His paternal grandparents were Emperor Maximilian I and Marie, Duchess of Burgundy.
Because of his far-reaching territories he was described as ruling an Empire "in which the sun does not set".
A conflict was amplified by his accession to both the Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of Spain. Though Spain was the core of his kingdom, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt and was viewed as a foreign prince. Nonetheless, he spent most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish monastery. In 1556 Charles abdicated his various positions, giving his personal empire to his son, Philip II of Spain, and the Holy Empire to his brother, Ferdinand. Charles retired to the monastery of Yuste (Extremadura, Spain) and is thought to have had a nervous breakdown. In the last few years of his life he suffered from gout. He died in 1558.