Charles V. as Emperor.
Without being truly great, he was an extraordinary man, and ranks, perhaps, next to
Charlemagne and Otho I. among the German emperors.
He combined the selfish conservatism of the house of Habsburg, the religious ardor of the
Spaniard, and the warlike spirit of the Dukes of Burgundy. He was the shrewdest prince in Europe,
and an indefatigable worker. He usually slept only four hours a day. He was slow in forming his
resolutions, but inflexible in carrying them into practice, and unscrupulous in choosing the means.
He thought much, and spoke little; he listened to advice, and followed his own judgment. He had
the sagacity to select and to keep the ablest men for his cabinet, the army and navy, and the
diplomatic service. He was a good soldier, and could endure every hardship and privation except
fasting. He was the first of the three great captains of his age, the Duke of Alva being the second,
and Constable Montmorency the third.
His insatiable ambition involved him in several wars with France, in which he was generally
successful against his bold but less prudent rival, Francis I. It was a struggle for supremacy in Italy,
and in the Councils of Europe. He twice marched upon Paris.^300
He engaged in about forty expeditions, by land and sea, in times when there were neither
railroads nor steamboats. He seemed to be ubiquitous in his vast dominions. His greatest service
to Christendom was his defeat of the army of Solyman the Magnificent, whom he forced to retreat
to Constantinople (1532), and his rescue of twenty thousand Christian slaves and prisoners from
the grasp of the African corsairs (1535), who, under the lead of the renowned Barbarossa, spread
terror on the shores of the Mediterranean. These deeds raised him to the height of power in Europe.
But he neglected the internal affairs of Germany, and left them mostly to his brother
Ferdinand. He characterized the Germans as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue." He felt
more at home in the rich Netherlands, which furnished him the greatest part of his revenues. But
Spain was the base of his monarchy, and the chief object of his care. Under his reign, America
began to play a part in the history of Europe as a mine of gold and silver.
He aimed at an absolute monarchy, with a uniformity in religion, but that was an
impossibility; France checked his political, Germany his ecclesiastical ambition.
His Personal Character.
In his private character he was superior to Francis I., Henry VIII., and most contemporary
princes, but by no means free from vice. He was lacking in those personal attractions which endear
a sovereign to his subjects.^301 Under a cold and phlegmatic exterior he harbored fiery passions. He
was calculating, revengeful, implacable, and never forgave an injury. He treated Francis I., and the
German Protestant princes in the Schmalkaldian war, with heartless severity. He was avaricious,
parsimonious, and gluttonous. He indulged in all sorts of indigestible delicacies,—anchovies, frogs’
legs, eel-pasties,—and drank large quantities of iced beer and Rhine wine; he would not listen to
the frequent remonstrances of his physicians and confessors, and would rather endure the discomforts
(^300) Martin, from his French standpoint, calls the controversy between Francis I. and Charles V. "la lutte de la nationalité française
contre la monstrueuse puissance, issue des combinaisons artificielles de l’hérédité féodale, qui tend à l’asservissement des nationalités
européennes." (Hist. de France, VIII., 2.)
(^301) Motley (I. 118) calls him "a man without a sentiment and without a tear." But he did shed tears at the death of his favorite sister
Eleanore (Prescott, I. 324).