WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Okay, imagine a scenario for a second. You're, 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:06.780 say, 20 years old. You're just starting to figure 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:09.400 out who you are, maybe navigating your first 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:13.000 real job. Or, you know, trying to manage a budget 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.339 that doesn't consist entirely of instant noodles 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:17.859 and hope. Right. I have the picture. Standard 00:00:17.859 --> 00:00:21.179 young adult chaos. You're young, you're inexperienced, 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.100 and you're just looking for a little direction. 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:25.879 Sure. Now imagine that tomorrow morning you wake 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:27.760 up, check your email, and find out you've been 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.260 named the CEO of a multinational corporation. 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:33.200 Okay. A bit of a step up. But not just any corporation. 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:36.259 This one owns half the known world. And here's 00:00:36.259 --> 00:00:39.100 the catch. The board of directors actively hates 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:41.979 you. Your biggest competitor is trying to physically 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:45.439 kidnap you. Wow. A hostile takeover is happening 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.079 in your eastern branch, and your HR department, 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:50.759 which in this case is the Catholic Church, is 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:54.280 literally ripping itself in half. That is a nightmare 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.679 scenario. And just to add to the pressure, let's 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.439 say you don't actually speak the language of 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:00.380 your corporate headquarters, and you're maybe 00:01:00.380 --> 00:01:03.960 physically unwell. In chronic pain, even. Yeah. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.299 Exactly. Welcome to the life of Charles V. Today, 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:11.200 we are diving deep into the inbox of the man 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.819 who held arguably the most stressful job in human 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:18.719 history. Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Lord 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.840 of the Netherlands. Luller of the Americas. The 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:23.480 list just goes on and on. It really is a staggering 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:25.920 list of titles. When we look at the source material 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:27.780 for this deep dive, we aren't just looking at 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:31.019 a king. We are looking at the CEO of the first 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:33.859 true superpower in history. And you know that 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:36.629 famous phrase. The empire on which the sun never 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:38.810 sets. Exactly. Most people associate that with 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:40.750 Queen Victoria and the British Empire, right? 00:01:40.950 --> 00:01:43.430 Pith helmets and tea. Right. But the phrase was 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:45.290 originally coined for the collection of realms 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:49.049 controlled by Charles V centuries earlier. Centuries. 00:01:49.069 --> 00:01:51.430 His influence stretched across the Holy Roman 00:01:51.430 --> 00:01:54.450 Empire in Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:56.810 and, of course, the newly conquered territories 00:01:56.810 --> 00:01:59.109 in the Americas. He was the CEO of the world, 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:02.109 essentially. And that's the hook for this deep 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:04.390 dive. We aren't just looking at a biography of 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:07.150 a guy in tights. We're looking at a man who inherited 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:09.830 a board game where he owned the winning pieces 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:12.250 before he even rolled the dice. But the central 00:02:12.250 --> 00:02:15.310 tension in all these documents is this concept 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:18.370 of universal monarchy. What exactly does that 00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:21.210 mean in this context? It sounds so medieval. 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:24.370 It was the great medieval dream. The idea was 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.729 to have one king, one faith, a united Christendom. 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:31.460 Charles V spent his entire life trying to revive 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:34.520 this ideal. So he saw himself as more than just 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:37.219 a ruler of land. Oh, absolutely. He viewed himself 00:02:37.219 --> 00:02:40.219 as the shepherd of Christendom. He truly believed 00:02:40.219 --> 00:02:42.500 it was his divine duty to keep the flock together. 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:45.539 But the tragedy and the fascination of his story 00:02:45.539 --> 00:02:48.909 is the timing. He's trying to build this unity 00:02:48.909 --> 00:02:51.650 at the exact moment the world is fracturing, 00:02:51.689 --> 00:02:53.389 isn't he? Precisely. It's just terrible timing. 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:55.490 You have the Protestant Reformation tearing the 00:02:55.490 --> 00:02:57.569 religious fabric apart. Internally. You have 00:02:57.569 --> 00:02:59.650 the rise of intense nationalism in places like 00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:01.430 France where they stop caring about Christendom 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:03.710 and start caring about France. And you have the 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:06.610 Ottoman Empire pressing in from the east. He's 00:03:06.610 --> 00:03:09.370 trying to hold on to a medieval ideal in a world 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:12.530 that is rapidly sprinting toward modernity. So 00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:14.889 our mission today is to figure out how one man 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:17.580 managed this impossible inheritance. We're going 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:19.560 to look at the toll it took on his physical and 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:22.099 mental health, the absurd amount of frequent 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:25.120 flyer miles he racked up, and ultimately his 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.719 unprecedented decision to jest, to just walk 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.460 away. It is incredibly rare. A person who owns 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:33.740 the world voluntarily giving it up. Power is 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:35.379 usually something you have to pry from someone's 00:03:35.379 --> 00:03:38.419 cold, dead hands. So true. But before we get 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:39.819 to the end, we have to understand the beginning. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:42.360 How did he end up with all this real estate in 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:43.740 the first place? Oh, yeah. How did that happen? 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:45.599 Let's get into the first part of our discussion. 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.400 The genetic lottery. Because Charles didn't conquer 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.000 this empire, right? He didn't ride it on a horse 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.819 and take it by force like Alexander the Great 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:56.740 or Napoleon. He just was born. He was the ultimate 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.699 beneficiary of a very specific, very patient 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:03.020 strategy. There's a famous Latin saying regarding 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:11.560 his family, the Habsburgs. My Latin is non -existent. 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.719 Translate that for me. It means, let others wage 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.930 war. But thou, O happy Austria, marry. That's 00:04:18.930 --> 00:04:21.410 a great slogan. Much better than we conquer via 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:24.529 hostile takeover. It continues. For those kingdoms 00:04:24.529 --> 00:04:27.410 which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee. 00:04:27.850 --> 00:04:30.790 Mars being the god of war, Venus the goddess 00:04:30.790 --> 00:04:33.509 of love. So their whole strategy was based on 00:04:33.509 --> 00:04:36.689 marriage. The Habsburgs were masters of the strategic 00:04:36.689 --> 00:04:39.009 marriage. Charles V is essentially the result 00:04:39.009 --> 00:04:40.990 of the most successful merger and acquisition 00:04:40.990 --> 00:04:43.779 strategy in European history. So let's break 00:04:43.779 --> 00:04:45.740 down the family tree because looking at the charts, 00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:47.959 it's a bit of a tangled web, but the payoff is 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.779 huge. Who are the grandparents that made this 00:04:50.779 --> 00:04:53.019 happen? Okay, so let's start on the paternal 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:55.180 side, his father's side. Yeah. His father was 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.560 Philip the Ansem. Philip's parents were Maximilian 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.420 I, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Mary of Burgundy. 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:02.620 Okay, stop there. So from that union, Charles 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:05.220 inherits Austria. The traditional Habsburg heartland. 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:08.199 And the Burgundy Netherlands. And don't underestimate 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:10.439 the Netherlands. We aren't just talking about 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:13.360 tulips and windmills. In the 1500s, this was 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.019 the Silicon Valley meets Wall Street of Europe. 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:19.040 Really? Oh, yeah. Wealthy trading cities like 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.759 Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp. There were manufacturing 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.759 centers, banking hubs. The wool trade with England 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:27.879 made them fantastically rich. It's a huge inheritance 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:29.860 on its own. It provided the cash flow for everything 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:32.220 else. Right. But then you look at his maternal 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:35.579 grandparents. His mother was Joanna of Castile. 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:39.360 Her parents were Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.279 I of Castile. The famous Catholic monarch. The 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:44.160 ones who finished the Reconquista and funded 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:47.259 Columbus. The very same. So from them, Charles 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:50.509 inherits Spain. which was actually a union of 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:52.490 the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Which is 00:05:52.490 --> 00:05:55.089 a big deal in itself. Plus parts of Italy like 00:05:55.089 --> 00:05:58.089 Naples and Sicily, and crucially this exploding 00:05:58.089 --> 00:06:00.470 massive territory in the Americas that was just 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:02.649 being mapped out. It feels like he rolled a natural 00:06:02.649 --> 00:06:05.089 20 on his birth stats. He has the money from 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.430 the Netherlands, the prestige from Austria, the 00:06:07.430 --> 00:06:10.829 military power from Spain, and the just raw potential 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:13.329 of the New World. It's an unbelievable combination. 00:06:13.709 --> 00:06:15.850 But here's where it gets really interesting to 00:06:15.850 --> 00:06:19.370 me. Reading through the background. He wasn't 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:21.610 supposed to get all of this. No. He wasn't the 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:24.069 primary heir for everything, was he? Not at all. 00:06:24.110 --> 00:06:26.750 He was an accidental king in many ways. If you 00:06:26.750 --> 00:06:29.389 look at the Spanish side, his mother, Joanna, 00:06:29.629 --> 00:06:31.610 was a younger daughter. So she wasn't first in 00:06:31.610 --> 00:06:34.009 line. Not even close. There was a whole line 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:36.269 of succession ahead of her. There was Prince 00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:39.189 John, her older brother, the golden boy, the 00:06:39.189 --> 00:06:41.589 heir apparent. Okay. There was her older sister, 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.829 Isabella, queen of Portugal, and then Isabella's 00:06:44.829 --> 00:06:48.209 son, Miguel. So what happened? Did he eliminate 00:06:48.209 --> 00:06:51.089 them? No, nothing so sinister. It was just nature. 00:06:51.269 --> 00:06:54.910 A series of really tragic deaths cleared the 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:57.269 path. It's like a final destination movie from 00:06:57.269 --> 00:07:00.250 the Renaissance. Wow. Prince John died in 1497. 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:04.029 Isabella died in 1498 during childbirth. Her 00:07:04.029 --> 00:07:06.370 son, Miguel, who would have united Spain and 00:07:06.370 --> 00:07:09.470 Portugal, died as a baby in 1500. So in the span 00:07:09.470 --> 00:07:11.730 of three years. The entire line of succession 00:07:11.730 --> 00:07:14.370 is wiped out, and suddenly Joanna is the heiress 00:07:14.370 --> 00:07:16.910 to all of Spain. And Joanna's situation is tragic 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:20.009 in its own right. Extremely. Joanna's husband, 00:07:20.310 --> 00:07:22.370 Philip the Handsome Charles's dad, died young 00:07:22.370 --> 00:07:26.569 in 1506. Joanna was devastated. She was eventually 00:07:26.569 --> 00:07:29.589 deemed mentally unstable. History remembers her 00:07:29.589 --> 00:07:32.250 as Joanna the Mad, though that is a very controversial 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:34.730 and complex label today. Right. Many historians 00:07:34.730 --> 00:07:37.110 now argue she was just politically inconvenient 00:07:37.110 --> 00:07:41.439 and... essentially gaslit by her own father and 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:43.939 son. A very strong case for that. But regardless, 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.720 the outcome was that she was confined to a castle 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:49.180 in Tordesillas for decades. So the political 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:52.240 result was that Charles, her son, became the 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:54.259 effective ruler of everything at a very young 00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:56.839 age. Yes. He inherited the Netherlands at age 00:07:56.839 --> 00:07:59.800 six. He became king of Spain at 16. Imagine being 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:02.600 16. Most 16 -year -olds can't keep their room 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.040 clean, and he's handed the keys to Spain. But 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.100 looking at the accounts of his arrival in Spain... 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.180 He wasn't exactly welcomed with a parade, was 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.240 he? No. This introduces the Stranger King dynamic, 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:14.399 which is really important to understand his character. 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:16.639 You have to remember, Charles was born in Ghent, 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.079 in Flanders. In the Netherlands. His first language 00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:21.899 was French. He grew up in the Burgundian court, 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:24.720 which was very opulent, very chivalrous -think 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.620 knights and tournaments. When he arrived in Spain 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:30.000 to claim his crown, he looked foreign, he dressed 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.179 in foreign clothes, and he didn't speak a word 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:34.620 of Castilian. That's a bad start for a new boss. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.440 Hello, I am your king. I don't understand what 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.259 you're saying, but send me your money. It gets 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:42.299 worse. He arrived with a massive entourage of 00:08:42.299 --> 00:08:45.100 Flemish advisors, his friends from home, and 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:47.240 he started giving them lucrative Spanish offices 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:50.860 and titles. Oh, no. He essentially promised the 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.799 Spanish Cortes, their parliament, that he wouldn't 00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:55.740 appoint foreigners. And then he immediately broke 00:08:55.740 --> 00:08:58.570 that promise. The Spanish saw him as a foreign 00:08:58.570 --> 00:09:01.129 prince looting their country to fund his ambitions 00:09:01.129 --> 00:09:03.289 elsewhere. Which actually led to a rebellion, 00:09:03.370 --> 00:09:05.330 didn't it? The Revolt of the Comuneros. Yes, 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:07.870 in the 1520s. And it was a serious civil war. 00:09:07.950 --> 00:09:10.070 It wasn't just a protest. Entire cities were 00:09:10.070 --> 00:09:12.529 rising up. So this was a real threat to his rule. 00:09:12.690 --> 00:09:15.649 A huge threat. The rebels actually went to Tordesillas 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:18.149 and tried to get his mother, Joanna, to sign 00:09:18.149 --> 00:09:20.690 a document deposing Charles and taking the throne 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:22.730 herself. That would have been a massive plot 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:26.279 twist. What did she do? She refused to sign against 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:29.080 her son, which essentially saved his reign. But 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.559 it was a harsh lesson for Charles. He learned 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:33.519 that he couldn't just be an absentee landlord. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.240 Yet it becomes Spanish. He realized he had to 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.740 respect local customs. He stayed in Spain. He 00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:42.580 learned Spanish fluently. And eventually he earned 00:09:42.580 --> 00:09:45.100 their respect. He became his Catholic majesty. 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:48.019 I love that quote attributed to him about languages. 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:51.220 I speak Spanish to God. Italian to women, French 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.700 to men, and German to my horse. It is a great 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:56.220 - line it's likely apocryphal or at least polished 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:59.059 by history but it reflects the reality of his 00:09:59.059 --> 00:10:01.720 life he was a multinational corporation in human 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.320 form he had to be different things to different 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:07.080 people he had to code switch constantly which 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:09.360 brings us to the sheer logistics of this job 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.779 let's move into the threats he faced because 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:15.149 once he has all these titles he realizes Everyone 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:17.470 wants a piece of him. It's like playing guacamole 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:19.809 on a continental scale. The logistics were a 00:10:19.809 --> 00:10:21.830 nightmare. Because he wanted to be a universal 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:24.470 monarch, he couldn't just sit in a capital city 00:10:24.470 --> 00:10:27.029 like Paris or London. He didn't have a fixed 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:29.330 capital. Right. He spent his life on the road. 00:10:29.450 --> 00:10:31.730 I have the numbers here from our sources, and 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:33.990 they are exhausting just to read. Lay them on 00:10:33.990 --> 00:10:36.529 me. He made 40 major journeys across Europe. 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:39.919 He spent 10 ,000 days in the Low Countries, 6 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.860 ,500 days in Spain, 3 ,000 in Germany, and 1 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:46.580 ,000 in Italy. Think about what travel was like 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:48.580 in the early 16th century. We aren't talking 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:51.080 about private jets or high -speed trains. No, 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:54.039 this is muddy roads, horse -drawn carriages with 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:57.059 no suspension, and dangerous storms at sea. He 00:10:57.059 --> 00:11:00.019 spent literally years of his life just getting 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:02.320 from point A to point B. He wrote in a letter, 00:11:02.419 --> 00:11:07.090 And it wasn't cheap. You'd think owning the Americas 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:10.090 makes you rich. He has literal mountains of silver 00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:12.549 coming in. But the sources say he was constantly 00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:15.230 broke. How is that possible? It's the classic 00:11:15.230 --> 00:11:17.889 startup problem. High revenue, but insane burn 00:11:17.889 --> 00:11:20.809 rate. Wars are incredibly expensive. Mercenary 00:11:20.809 --> 00:11:22.730 armies need to be paid in gold, and they need 00:11:22.730 --> 00:11:24.409 to be paid on time. And if you don't pay your 00:11:24.409 --> 00:11:26.370 mercenaries? They don't just quit. They sack 00:11:26.370 --> 00:11:29.929 your own cities. Charles was relying on massive 00:11:29.929 --> 00:11:32.230 high interest loans from the great banking families, 00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:34.789 the Fuggers and the Welsers. He was borrowing 00:11:34.789 --> 00:11:37.289 against future income from the colonies. He was 00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:39.789 essentially running a massive deficit to fund 00:11:39.789 --> 00:11:42.309 the defense of the empire. Defense against who? 00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:44.450 Let's talk about the rivalries. Enemy number 00:11:44.450 --> 00:11:47.559 one seems to be France. Francis I of France, 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:50.980 he was Charles' great nemesis. If Charles was 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:55.519 the stoic, dutiful, serious CEO, Francis was 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:59.919 the dashing, charismatic, uh... playboy rival. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.200 And France was physically stuck in the middle 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:04.700 of Charles's lands. Exactly. Look at a map from 00:12:04.700 --> 00:12:07.240 the time. Charles owns Spain to the south, the 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:09.200 Netherlands to the north, and the Holy Roman 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.679 Empire to the east. France is encircled. Completely. 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:14.379 I felt Klaus Froeg. He felt he had to fight his 00:12:14.379 --> 00:12:16.279 way out of this Habsburg ring or France would 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:19.039 be suffocated. And they fought a lot. But there 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.820 is one battle that stands out in the records. 00:12:21.179 --> 00:12:24.990 The Battle of Pasea. In 1525. This was the climax 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:27.370 of their rivalry. They met in Italy. Charles' 00:12:27.490 --> 00:12:30.169 forces, using new tactics with Arcboussiers, 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:32.909 these early guns, absolutely crushed the French 00:12:32.909 --> 00:12:35.549 army. A total victory. But they didn't just win. 00:12:35.769 --> 00:12:38.090 They captured Francis III. The king of France 00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:40.470 himself. On his birthday, no less. Talk about 00:12:40.470 --> 00:12:43.750 a bad birthday present. So Charles has the king 00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:46.690 of France in prison. That should be checkmate, 00:12:46.750 --> 00:12:48.490 shouldn't it? Game over. It should have been. 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:51.480 Charles kept him in Madrid. They signed the Treaty 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.580 of Madrid. Francis gave up land, renounced claims 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:57.299 in Italy. He signed everything just to get free. 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:00.759 The moment he crossed the border back into France 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.659 on his horse, he reportedly shouted, I am still 00:13:03.659 --> 00:13:06.620 the king, and claimed he signed that under duress. 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:10.340 He tore the treaty up. That is... Bold. Yeah. 00:13:10.580 --> 00:13:12.940 Dishonorable, maybe, but bold. It's politics. 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.240 But Francis, I was so desperate to break the 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.980 Habsburg encirclement that he did something unthinkable 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:20.980 for a king who called himself the most Christian 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:23.539 king. He allied with the Ottoman Empire. The 00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:25.960 scandal. I can only imagine the PR nightmare 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.399 that caused it in the 1500s. It was huge. The 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:30.980 lily and the crescent. France allied with the 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:33.279 Muslim superpower to attack the Christian emperor. 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.139 This brings us to enemy number two. The Ottoman 00:13:36.139 --> 00:13:38.759 Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent. A rival emperor, 00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:42.179 in a way. Absolutely. And Suleiman was pressing 00:13:42.179 --> 00:13:45.879 deep into Europe. In 1529, the Ottomans were 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.419 at the gates of Vienna. This wasn't a remote 00:13:48.419 --> 00:13:50.960 border skirmish. This was an existential threat 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.059 to Central Europe. If Vienna fell, the road to 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:56.600 Germany was open. The fear in Europe was palpable. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:59.559 The Turk was the bogeyman of the age. And it 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:02.500 wasn't just on land. The Mediterranean was a 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:05.399 war zone. The Barbary pirates, led by figures 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.600 like Barbarossa and backed by the Ottomans, were 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:10.919 terrorizing the coasts of Spain and Italy. They 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:12.860 were kidnapping people from coastal villages 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:16.080 to sell into slavery. A constant threat. Truong 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.299 felt a personal duty to stop this. He actually 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:20.779 led military expeditions himself. He had a great 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:23.820 victory at Tunis in 1535. He was hailed as a 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:26.139 hero of Christendom, depicted in art as a Roman 00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:28.659 emperor. But then there was Algiers in 1541. 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:31.740 A complete disaster. A total humiliation. He 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.059 insisted on attacking late in the season against 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:36.720 the advice of his admirals. A massive storm hit. 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:41.059 He lost 150 ships. 150 ships. Just gone. He had 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.240 to retreat. It showed that even the emperor couldn't 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:45.220 control the weather or the sea. It was a check 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.559 on his ego. So he's fighting the French in the 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.919 west, the Ottomans in the east and south. And 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:52.940 then from the inside, the floor starts rotting. 00:14:53.059 --> 00:14:56.120 Enemy number three, Martin Luther. The internal 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:59.120 fracture. The Protestant Reformation starts right 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:00.940 at the beginning of Charles's reign as emperor. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.580 He summons Luther to the Diet of Worms in 1521. 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:07.600 Just for our listeners, the Diet of Worms is 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.539 a meeting in the City of Worms, not a weird culinary 00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:14.039 choice. Correct. An imperial assembly. Charles 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:16.000 expects Luther to back down. He's the emperor. 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.279 He expects this monk to apologize and return 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:20.600 to the fold. But Luther refuses. He refuses. 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:23.820 And Charles issues his famous declaration. He 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:26.000 lists his ancestors, the emperors, the kings 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.059 of Spain, the archdukes, and says they were all 00:15:28.059 --> 00:15:30.620 faithful to the church. And then he says, that 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:33.019 monk will never make me a heretic. He draws a 00:15:33.019 --> 00:15:35.639 line in the sand. But, and here's the whack -a 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:37.639 -mole there. He doesn't crush the Protestants. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.799 Why not? If he's the emperor, why not just arrest 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:41.460 them all or burn them as heretics immediately? 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:44.159 This is the central tragedy of his political 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.940 life. He wanted to crush the heresy. He believed 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:50.019 it was his duty. But he needed the German princes, 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:53.100 many of whom were turning Protestant. He needed 00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:55.460 their armies. He needed their troops to fight 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:58.139 the Ottomans. So he's trapped. If he attacks 00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:00.340 the Lutherans, the Ottomans take Vienna. If he 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.580 fights the Ottomans, the Lutherans spread. Exactly. 00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:05.320 He was forced into these temporary truces, like 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:08.500 the standstill of Nuremberg. He had to tolerate 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:11.440 the thing he hated most just to keep the empire 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.840 physically safe. And that tolerance allowed the 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:17.779 Reformation to put down deep roots. It did. By 00:16:17.779 --> 00:16:20.419 the time he finally went to war against the Schmalkaldic 00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:23.080 League... The Protestant alliance. It was too 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:25.960 late. The genie was out of the bottle. Europe 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.940 was religiously divided. And his dream of a united 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.580 Christendom was dead. It sounds exhausting. Just 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:34.600 lifting it is exhausting. But we have to pivot 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:37.500 to the one area that was actually making money, 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:40.200 even if it brought a whole new set of headaches. 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:42.519 The New World. Let's talk about the New World 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:44.600 and the moral crisis. This is a fascinating part 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:46.620 of Charles's reign because it challenges the 00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:49.580 stereotype of the ruthless conqueror. We mentioned 00:16:49.580 --> 00:16:51.600 the money. The quintal reel, the royal fifth. 00:16:52.220 --> 00:16:55.659 This is the 20 % tax on all precious metals mined 00:16:55.659 --> 00:16:57.779 in the Americas. This is what paid the bankers 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.580 and the armies. The conquest of the Aztecs by 00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:03.159 Cortes and the Incas by Pizarro happened on Charles' 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:06.440 watch. He was receiving ships full of bullion. 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:08.940 But unlike many rulers who would just take the 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:11.240 cash and look the other way. He caused. He actually 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:15.099 had a crisis of conscience. This is the aha moment 00:17:15.099 --> 00:17:17.579 for me in the research. An emperor pausing to 00:17:17.579 --> 00:17:21.539 ask. Are we the baddies? Essentially, yes. He 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:24.279 was hearing reports from missionaries, specifically 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:27.599 a Dominican friar named Bartolome de Las Casas, 00:17:27.660 --> 00:17:30.119 about the atrocities being committed against 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.519 the indigenous people. And Las Casas did not 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:34.900 hold back in his descriptions. No, he was graphic. 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:37.019 He talked about the encomienda system, which 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:39.079 was basically forced labor, slavery, and all 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:42.279 but name, and how it was brutal. Las Casas told 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.960 Charles that these conquests were unjust, illegal 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.460 in the eyes of God, and that the indigenous people 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:49.839 were being... destroyed so what did he do did 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.000 he just send a strongly worded letter he did 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.819 much more than that in 1542 he passed the new 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:57.240 laws these were radical for the time what did 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:59.700 they do they banned the enslavement of indigenous 00:17:59.700 --> 00:18:02.740 people and crucially stated that the encomiendas 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.579 could not be inherited so when the current holder 00:18:05.579 --> 00:18:09.059 died the land and the people reverted to the 00:18:09.059 --> 00:18:11.410 crown It was an attempt to dismantle the colonial 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:14.089 feudal system. Exactly. I imagine the conquistadors 00:18:14.089 --> 00:18:16.190 guys like the Pizarro's who had just fought through 00:18:16.190 --> 00:18:19.150 jungles, risked their lives, and felt they were 00:18:19.150 --> 00:18:22.170 owed this land, didn't take that well. It caused 00:18:22.170 --> 00:18:24.950 a civil war. In Peru, the settlers rebelled. 00:18:25.049 --> 00:18:27.470 They were furious. They actually killed the viceroy 00:18:27.470 --> 00:18:30.130 that Charles sent to enforce the laws. They killed 00:18:30.130 --> 00:18:32.589 the king's representative. They did. Gonzalo 00:18:32.589 --> 00:18:34.950 Pizarro, brother of Francisco, basically ruled 00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:38.089 Peru as an independent king for a while. Charles 00:18:38.089 --> 00:18:40.359 had... back down a bit to regain control, didn't 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:42.680 he? He did. He had to revoke the inheritance 00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:45.039 clause to stop the bleeding and regain loyalty. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.660 But he stood firm on the slavery issue. And he 00:18:47.660 --> 00:18:50.240 crushed the rebellion. Pizarro's head ended up 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:52.799 on a pike. But the most remarkable thing happened 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.079 in 1550. The Valadolid debate. Yes. Charles V 00:18:57.079 --> 00:18:59.900 literally ordered a halt to conquests. Imagine 00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:02.880 that. the most powerful expansionist engine in 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.480 the world, and he hits the brakes. He stopped 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:07.779 the expansion of the empire to hold a debate 00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:10.019 in the city of Valladolid. What was the debate 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.180 about? He brought in the best minds of the de 00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:14.640 las Casas, who argued for indigenous rights, 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:18.279 and Juan Ginés de Sepulveda, a famous scholar 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:21.019 who argued that some people were natural slaves, 00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:23.119 according to Aristotle. So they were debating 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:25.440 the very soul of the indigenous people. And the 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.759 very justification for the empire itself. Think 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:31.210 about that for a second. The most powerful man 00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:34.289 in the world pauses his empire building to have 00:19:34.289 --> 00:19:37.130 a philosophy debate about human rights. It was 00:19:37.130 --> 00:19:39.730 the first time a European empire halted expansion 00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:42.220 to discuss the morality of colonization. Now, 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:43.779 we have to be realistic. Did it fix everything? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.579 No, of course not. The abuse continued on the 00:19:46.579 --> 00:19:48.759 ground. The distance between the laws in Spain 00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:51.720 and the reality in Peru was vast. But the fact 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:54.279 that the debate happened and that the crown legally 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.880 recognized indigenous people as subjects with 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.460 rights, not just resources, was a significant 00:19:59.460 --> 00:20:02.019 moment in the history of international law. It 00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:04.519 shows a depth to Charles that you don't see in 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.619 a caricature of a king. He wasn't just a warlord. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.680 He was a man wrestling with his soul. Which is 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:12.680 a perfect transition to the next part of our 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:15.380 analysis, the man behind the crown. Because while 00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:18.720 his soul was willing, his body was falling apart. 00:20:19.059 --> 00:20:21.680 We have to talk about the jaw. The Habsburg jaw. 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:24.900 It's in all the portraits. If you've seen a painting 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:27.599 of him by Titian, you can't miss it. It is the 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:31.019 defining feature. In medical terms, it's mandibular 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:34.380 prognathism. His lower jaw jutted out so far 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:36.500 that his teeth didn't meet. He couldn't close 00:20:36.500 --> 00:20:38.339 his mouth properly. Horses say he had trouble 00:20:38.339 --> 00:20:40.539 chewing his food. He couldn't chew. He had to 00:20:40.539 --> 00:20:43.099 swallow his food almost whole, which led to terrible 00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:46.039 indigestion his entire life. He also spoke with 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:48.359 a lisp because of it. It was a source of mockery 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:51.089 for his enemies. And sadly... this was the result 00:20:51.089 --> 00:20:54.450 of generations of inbreeding the happy austria 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:57.750 marriage strategy had a severe genetic cost marrying 00:20:57.750 --> 00:21:00.109 your cousins for centuries will do that and his 00:21:00.109 --> 00:21:02.549 diet didn't help he reportedly loved red meat 00:21:02.549 --> 00:21:05.750 and beer he suffered from severe gout if you've 00:21:05.750 --> 00:21:08.069 never had gout it is described as feeling like 00:21:08.069 --> 00:21:10.509 your joints are being crushed by glass agonizing 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:13.529 by the end of his life he couldn't walk he had 00:21:13.529 --> 00:21:16.150 to be carried in a litter or a chair he was in 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:18.789 constant agonizing pain while trying to rule 00:21:18.789 --> 00:21:21.680 the world But despite the pain and the deformity, 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:25.460 he wasn't a loveless political robot. He actually 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:28.400 had a real romance. This is the softer side of 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.839 Charles. He married Isabella of Portugal in 1526. 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.819 It was originally a political match uniting Spain, 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:38.519 and Portugal is always good strategy. But they 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:41.369 fell deeply in love. The sources mention their 00:21:41.369 --> 00:21:44.369 honeymoon in Granada. They spent months at the 00:21:44.369 --> 00:21:46.710 Alhambra. It was the happiest time of his life. 00:21:46.869 --> 00:21:49.150 He even commissioned a Renaissance palace right 00:21:49.150 --> 00:21:51.329 there inside the Alhambra complex, the Palace 00:21:51.329 --> 00:21:53.390 of Charles V, though it was never finished. And 00:21:53.390 --> 00:21:55.329 she wasn't just a wife. She was a political partner. 00:21:55.630 --> 00:21:58.549 Absolutely. When he was away on his endless wars, 00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:01.710 she ruled Spain as regent. And by all accounts, 00:22:01.829 --> 00:22:03.710 she was incredibly capable. She wasn't just a 00:22:03.710 --> 00:22:05.970 figurehead. And when she died? It broke him. 00:22:06.109 --> 00:22:10.420 She died in 1539. Charles was devastated. He 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:13.380 shut himself in a monastery for two months. He 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:16.240 never remarried, which was very rare for a king 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.180 who could have used another marriage for a new 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:20.759 alliance. He wore black for the rest of his life. 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:23.779 For almost 20 years. And he commissioned Titian, 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.059 his favorite painter, to create posthumous portraits 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:29.740 of her. He carried those paintings with him everywhere 00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:32.779 he went. Even to his final retirement? Yes. I 00:22:32.779 --> 00:22:34.720 think it's also important to highlight the other 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.400 women in his life. The Habsburg Empire seems 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:39.400 to have been run by women behind the scenes. 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:42.420 It's a crucial point. Because Charles was always 00:22:42.420 --> 00:22:44.819 traveling, he relied on his female relatives 00:22:44.819 --> 00:22:47.819 to govern the pieces he left behind. His Aunt 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:50.279 Margaret of Austria and his sister Mary of Hungary 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:52.819 served as governors of the Netherlands. And they 00:22:52.819 --> 00:22:55.240 were brilliant administrators. They dealt with 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.000 the trade guilds, they kept the money flowing, 00:22:57.180 --> 00:22:59.619 and they kept the provinces quiet while Charles 00:22:59.619 --> 00:23:01.579 was off fighting. He literally couldn't have 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:04.059 managed the empire without them. So let's reset 00:23:04.059 --> 00:23:07.160 the scene. We have a man who is physically broken, 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:10.900 grieving his wife, exhausted by 40 years of travel, 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.559 and realizing that he can't stop the Lutherans 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.099 or the Ottomans. This leads to the most unique 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:20.339 moment of his reign. The abdication. Most kings 00:23:20.339 --> 00:23:23.099 die in their beds or on the battlefield. They 00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:25.140 hold on to power until the last breath. They 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:28.079 don't quit. But Charles V had the self -awareness 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:31.700 to realize the job was too big for one man. He 00:23:31.700 --> 00:23:33.880 recognized that his dream of universal monarchy 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:36.779 had failed. Paint the scene for us. It's Brussels, 00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:39.400 1555. It's in the Great Hall of the Kuttenberg 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:42.839 Palace. The room is packed with nobles, knights, 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.500 and dignitaries. Charles enters, but he can't 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:47.829 stand on his own because of the gout. He's leaning 00:23:47.829 --> 00:23:49.809 on someone. He is leaning on the shoulder of 00:23:49.809 --> 00:23:52.069 a young man, William of Orange. Which is ironic 00:23:52.069 --> 00:23:54.230 because William of Orange would later lead the 00:23:54.230 --> 00:23:56.569 great rebellion against Charles' son. History 00:23:56.569 --> 00:23:59.190 loves irony. So Charles stands there, leaning 00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:01.910 on William, and he gives a speech. He recounts 00:24:01.910 --> 00:24:04.269 his travels, his wars, his efforts. He lists 00:24:04.269 --> 00:24:06.869 every journey. And he's emotional. He's crying. 00:24:07.049 --> 00:24:09.150 The audience is crying. It's highly emotional. 00:24:09.450 --> 00:24:11.890 And he apologizes. That is the part that gives 00:24:11.890 --> 00:24:15.599 me chills. A holy Roman emperor, an absolute 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:17.880 monarch standing before his subjects and saying, 00:24:17.980 --> 00:24:20.920 I know I made mistakes. I never intended to harm 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:23.839 anyone. And if I did, I ask for your forgiveness. 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:27.079 It was a moment of supreme humility. Unheard 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:29.440 of. And then he starts divvying up the empire 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.200 like he's liquidating assets. He realized the 00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:34.940 empire was ungovernable as a single unit. It 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:37.759 was too big. So he split it. This is where we 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.119 get the two branches of the Habsburgs. His son, 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:43.210 Philip II. gets the spanish inheritance philip 00:24:43.210 --> 00:24:45.950 gets the wealthy parts spain the americas italy 00:24:45.950 --> 00:24:48.890 and the netherlands this becomes the spanish 00:24:48.890 --> 00:24:51.250 empire and his brother ferdinand ferdinand had 00:24:51.250 --> 00:24:53.069 been running the german lands for years anyway 00:24:53.069 --> 00:24:55.670 so ferdinand gets austria and the title of holy 00:24:55.670 --> 00:24:58.089 roman emperor so charles washes his hands of 00:24:58.089 --> 00:25:01.130 it all where does a retired emperor go florida 00:25:01.130 --> 00:25:05.069 not quite he went to a remote part of spain extremadura 00:25:05.069 --> 00:25:08.750 to the monastery of used he built a small modest 00:25:08.750 --> 00:25:12.460 palace attached to the monastery He wanted peace. 00:25:12.740 --> 00:25:15.119 And he brought his clocks. He was obsessed with 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:17.839 clocks and watches. He filled his room with them. 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.519 He employed a master clockmaker to keep them 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:23.019 running. He spent hours trying to get them all 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.380 to chime at the exact same second. There's a 00:25:25.380 --> 00:25:27.420 heavy metaphor there. Historians have always 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:30.400 pointed it out. He spent his life trying to make 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:32.940 Europe different cultures, languages, religions, 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.130 move, and perfect unison. He failed. And in retirement, 00:25:37.349 --> 00:25:39.650 he couldn't even get his clocks to agree. It 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:42.390 symbolizes the impossibility of total control. 00:25:42.789 --> 00:25:46.410 He died in 1558, and the last thing he held was 00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:48.990 the same cross his wife held when she died. A 00:25:48.990 --> 00:25:52.170 poignant end. A man who owned the world, dying 00:25:52.170 --> 00:25:54.589 in a simple room, thinking of the wife he lost 00:25:54.589 --> 00:25:57.470 20 years prior. So let's wrap this up. When we 00:25:57.470 --> 00:25:59.730 look back at the source material, what is the 00:25:59.730 --> 00:26:02.589 takeaway from the life of Charles V? He is the 00:26:02.589 --> 00:26:04.630 bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern 00:26:04.630 --> 00:26:07.480 world. He was the last attempt at a universal 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:10.839 monarchy, a Christendom united under one ruler. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.460 If you look at the scorecard, he failed to stop 00:26:13.460 --> 00:26:16.099 the Reformation, he failed to decisively defeat 00:26:16.099 --> 00:26:18.420 the Ottomans, and he bankrupted his kingdoms. 00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:20.880 That sounds like a harsh report card. It is. 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:24.019 But look at what he held together. He kept the 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:27.089 Ottomans out of Germany. He established the legal 00:26:27.089 --> 00:26:29.230 framework for the Spanish Empire that lasted 00:26:29.230 --> 00:26:31.630 centuries. He survived challenges that would 00:26:31.630 --> 00:26:34.130 have destroyed lesser states. He held the line. 00:26:34.230 --> 00:26:36.710 He held the line, and he showed us the physical 00:26:36.710 --> 00:26:40.210 and human limits of power. Exactly. Even if you 00:26:40.210 --> 00:26:42.769 own the world, you are still just a man. You 00:26:42.769 --> 00:26:45.569 still get gout, you still grieve, and you still 00:26:45.569 --> 00:26:48.309 have to face your own conscience. Here's a provocative 00:26:48.309 --> 00:26:51.400 thought to leave our listeners with. Charles 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:54.640 V ordered a halt to his conquests to debate the 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.799 morality of what he was doing. He literally hit 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:59.140 the pause button on empire building to ask, is 00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:01.759 this right? It is a striking precedent. It's 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.059 hard to imagine a modern superpower doing that. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.220 Today, we are in an era of rapid expansion, not 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:10.619 of land, but of technology, AI, bioengineering, 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:13.299 globalization. We are conquering new frontiers 00:27:13.299 --> 00:27:15.660 at breakneck speed. And the question is? Do we 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:18.380 have a Charles V moment in us? Are we capable 00:27:18.380 --> 00:27:21.039 of pausing the conquest to debate the morality 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.000 of what we're building before it's too late? 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:25.380 Or will we just keep rolling the dice? Something 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:28.059 to think about. That's it for this deep dive 00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:31.539 into the CEO of the 16th century. Thanks for 00:27:31.539 --> 00:27:32.400 listening. Thank you.