On this day in 1500, Joanna (Juana) of Castile (1479-1555) gave birth to a son, Charles (Carlos), by her husband, Philip (Felipe) I of Castile (1478-1506), in the Belgian city of Ghent, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire. His maternal grandparents were King Ferdinand (1452-1516) and Queen Isabella (1451-1504) of Spain, which made him both heir to the throne of that country and the nephew of Joanna’s sister, of Catherine (Catalina) of Aragon (1485-1536). His father, in the meantime, was the son of Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I (1459-1519).
Thus by the time he was 19 Charles was the most powerful man in Europe, ruling over a vast territory that included Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, the kingdom of Naples (southern Italy), Sicily, and Austria (until 1521, when Austria was assigned to his brother, Ferdinand).
