Emperor A new life of Charles V

Parker's impressive biography reflects 50 years of researching the 16th-century Spanish monarchy. Raised in the Burgundian Netherlands, Charles became king of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor before the age of 20. His Spanish inheritance brought him wars with France, with the papacy in Italy, and with the Ottoman Turks in North Africa and the Mediterranean. It enriched him with America's vast resources but also challenged him in governing a distant empire. As Emperor, Charles struggled with Luther and his Protestant supporters while defending Christendom against the Ottomans in Hungary. Parker's thorough research in numerous archives provides the knowledge to present and analyze the complexities of his subject's political world and contradictions of his personal life. Parker chronicles four phases of Charles's biography through narrative enriched by extensive quotes from Charles, his family, his advisers, ambassadorial observers, and his enemies. The first three phases end with a verbal "portrait" of Charles at a personal turning point, the fourth with a postmortem examination of Charles's legacies. Parker concludes with an analytical epilogue. His compelling account is gracefully written. Includes appendixes, chronology, maps, colored figures and plates, discursive endnotes, and a massive bibliography. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Peter G. Wallace, emeritus, Hartwick College