In 1611 Sebastian de Cobaroubius, reflecting on the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor,

King of Germany, Italy and Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the

Netherlands, described him as monarch of the world.

And it was not so well to claim, because by the time of his abdication, Charles's

possessions span a quarter of the globe, because in addition to his vast European dominions,

he ruled two million square kilometers of America.

He was the most powerful ruler of the Western world since Charlemagne.

At his death, Louise Quirada wrote that the greatest man who has ever lived or will

ever live just died in Christ's arms.

To talk about Charles V today, I'm joined by Geoffrey Parker, distinguished university professor

and Andreas Dorpeland professor of European history at Ohio State University and fellow

of the British Academy.

He has written edited or co-edited 40 books, many of which have been translated into multiple

languages.

He's one of the leading lights of European history and it is an honour to speak with him

now.

Among his many books, he has written an extraordinarily brilliant biography of Charles V.

It is a work of profound scholarship.

He draws an almost unimaginable volume of documentary evidence.

I'm going to ask him how he did it later.

And it's also very engagingly written.

I was flicking through it again last night and one of the subtitles, the Emperor Strikes

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