Ferdinand Dies, Charles Inherits Spain

January 23, 1516

King Ferdinand of Aragon, grandfather of Europe's most tangled dynastic knot, died at Madrigalejo. His sixteen-year-old grandson Charles of Habsburg, raised in Flanders and barely speaking Spanish, became ruler of Castile, Aragon, Naples, and a fledgling empire in the Indies. A universal monarchy was coalescing. The young king's Flemish upbringing and inability to speak Spanish created immediate tension with the Castilian Cortes.