Germany / Spain: Detail of a portrait of a young Charles V (1500-1558), 30th Holy Roman emperor, oil on wood painting by Bernhard Strigel (1461-1528), c. 1516. Charles V (24 February 1500 - 21 September 1558) was ruler of both the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and the Spanish Empire (as Charles I of Spain) from 1516, as well as of the lands of the former Duchy of Burgundy from 1506. He stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556.