Charles of Austria was born on 24 February 1500 in the Prinsenhof of Ghent, a Flemish city of the Habsburg Netherlands, to Philip of Austria and Joanna of Trastámara. His father Philip, nicknamed Philip the Handsome… See more

Charles's mother went into labour at a ball in February 1500. He was named in honour of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had tried to turn the Burgundian State into a continuous territory. When Charles was born, a poe… See more

The Burgundian inheritance included the Habsburg Netherlands, which consisted of a large number of the lordships that formed the Low Countries and covered modern-day Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. It excluded … See more

In 1506, Charles inherited his father's Burgundian territories that included Franche-Comté and, most notably, the Low Countries. The latter territories mostly lay within the Holy Roman Empire and its borders, bu… See more