Charles Quint was born in Flanders, spoke French, and became Duke of Burgundy as a child. As he grew up, he inherited three more crowns from different grandparents: Hapsburg of Austria, Spain and the German lands.
He first went to Spain as a foreigner from Flanders, not speaking a word of Spanish - but he soon regarded Spain as the most important part of his empire, and set out to create the powerful Hapsburgs dynasty for his family.
He became King of Spain (as Charles I, 1516 - 56), and archduke of Austria (as Charles I, 1519 - 21), who inherited a Spanish and Hapsburg empire extending across Europe from Spain and the Netherlands to Austria and the Kingdom of Naples and reaching overseas to Spanish America.
This coin is in excellent condition but is not easy to reproduce so we do not think it will be on our lists for very long.
