Editing Holy Roman Empire (section)

=== Reformation and Renaissance ===
{{Further|Reformation|German Renaissance}}
{{See also|Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}
[[File:Lutherstadt Eisleben, Luther´s Sterbehaus, Bildnis Kaiser Karl V.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Caesar Charles V]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]].]]
[[File:Deutschland im XVI. Jahrhundert (Putzger).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century]]

In 1516, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], grandfather of the future Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], died.{{Sfn|Mullett|2010|p=81}} Charles initiated his reign in [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] and [[Aragon]], a union which evolved into [[Spanish Crown|Spain]], in conjunction with his mother [[Joanna of Castile]].

In 1519, already reigning as ''Carlos I'' in Spain, Charles took up the imperial title as ''Karl V''. The Holy Roman Empire would end up going to a more junior branch of the Habsburgs in the person of Charles's brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]], while the senior branch continued to rule in Spain and the Burgundian inheritance in the person of Charles's son, [[Philip II of Spain]]. Many factors contribute to this result. For [[James Tracy (historian)|James D. Tracy]], it was the polycentric character of the European civilization that made it hard to maintain "a dynasty whose territories bestrode the continent from the Low Countries to Sicily and from Spain to Hungary{{snd}}not to mention Spain's overseas possessions".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tracy|first=James D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7nADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|title=Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506–1566: The Formation of a Body Politic|date=2018|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-5203-0403-1|page=46|language=en|access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Others point out the religious tensions, fiscal problems and obstruction from external forces including France and the Ottomans.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nexon|first=Daniel H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7u5NuuVMOWgC&pg=PA135|title=The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change|date=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-6911-3793-3|page=135|language=en|access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> On a more personal level, Charles failed to persuade the German princes to support his son Philip, whose "awkward and withdrawn character and lack of German language skills doomed this enterprise to failure".{{Sfn|Whaley|2011|p=326}}

Before Charles's reign in the Holy Roman Empire began, in 1517, [[Martin Luther]] launched what would later be known as the [[Reformation]]. The empire then became divided along religious lines, with the north, the east, and many of the major cities – [[Strasbourg]], [[Frankfurt]], and [[Nuremberg]] – becoming [[Protestantism|Protestant]] while the southern and western regions largely remained [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].

At the beginning of Charles's reign, another ''Reichsregiment'' was set up again (1522), although Charles declared that he would only tolerate it in his absence and its chairman had to be a representative of his. Charles V was absent in Germany from 1521 to 1530. Similar to the one set up in the early 1500s, the ''Reichsregiment'' failed to create a federal authority independent of the emperor, due to the unsteady participation and differences between princes. Charles V defeated the Protestant princes in 1547 in the [[Schmalkaldic War]], but the momentum was lost and the Protestant estates were able to survive politically despite military defeat.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holborn|first=Hajo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=350Qosar-UcC&pg=PA48|title=A History of Modern Germany: The Reformation|date=1982|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-6910-0795-3|page=48|language=en|access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> In the 1555 [[Peace of Augsburg]], Charles V, through his brother Ferdinand, officially recognized the right of rulers to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism (Zwinglians, Calvinists and radicals were not included).{{Sfn|Whaley|2012a|p=334}} In 1555, [[Pope Paul IV|Paul IV]] was elected pope and took the side of France, whereupon an exhausted Charles finally gave up his hopes of a world Christian empire.<ref>{{Cite book|last=MacCulloch|first=Diarmaid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dikJzCnL7eUC&pg=PT362|title=The Reformation|date=2005|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-1015-6395-3|page=362|language=en|access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Isom-Verhaaren|first=Christine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|title=Allies with the Infidel: The Ottoman and French Alliance in the Sixteenth Century|date= 2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-8577-3227-9|page=58|language=en|access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>