Emperor

A New Life of Charles V

By: Geoffrey Parker

Narrated by: Nigel Patterson

Length: 26 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

The life of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), ruler of Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and much of Italy and Central and South America, has long intrigued biographers. But the elusive nature of the man (despite an abundance of documentation), his relentless travel and the control of his own image, together with the complexity of governing the world's first transatlantic empire, complicate the task.   

Geoffrey Parker, one of the world's leading historians of early modern Europe, has examined the surviving written sources in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, as well as visual and material evidence. He explores the crucial decisions that created and preserved this vast empire, analyzes Charles' achievements within the context of both personal and structural factors, and scrutinizes the intimate details of the ruler's life for clues to his character and inclinations. The result is a unique biography that interrogates every dimension of Charles' reign and views the world through the emperor's own eyes.

©2019 Geoffrey Parker (P)2019 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"This is a splendid book. It's well-written, engaging the reader, even while marshalling to good use a truly impressive erudition...." (James D. Tracy, author of Emperor Charles V)

Amazing.

The amount of study involved in the making of this book was significant. I can't believe how long this book is. Time just flew by the book is so interesting. Narration was also great.

Excellent Content and Narration

Narration: Nigel Patterson is great, does a great job on emphasis and story development

The content is great for the historical reader. Germany, Spain, Reformation, Netherlands, France, England, Papacy, and Ottoman politics in depth. You almost can't say you know the Renaissance period without knowing this story.

You also get great context on the importance and management of the New World for Charles V. It was actually quite the side show. You get awesome clarity on the age of exploration and how it unfolded within the framework of the dynastic struggle in Europe.

You will probably enter the book with England, France, Spain, and Austria as the major players in Europe.. But what you leave understanding is that (to the leaders) the most important thing was House of Tutor, House of Hapsburg, House of Trastamara, and House of Valois. The players were not religious or national zealots. They were political and dynastic tigers, some extremely slimy. France was selling out Christians to Ottoman allies. Even the interpretation of Luther was wrapped in Dynastic colors as much as religious.

Great book

best read on Charles V

best narrated book on Charles v. overall excellent historical background on family and the habsburgs.

Well Researched but…

Very well researched. The author knows their subject matter. Yet, the author is good at stringing source material together, which is great but I don’t think the author has any real conclusions of their own at the end. Just more of what other people thought. It wasn’t bad at all. I would read something from this author again but this one wasn’t very good compared to other historical works I have read. Very, very dry which, of course, can be expected from an academic piece like this one.

Interesting story about a historical person

I liked the book. It was very detailed. I did find it a little repetitious but still enjoyed it.

Cool

It's really good but it needs some pictures to make the story more interesting and fun...😉

Excellent biography

I really appreciate the style by Parker. He brings Charles to life with great skill. Narration is also flawless.

Probably better "read" with the eyes

I love audiobooks and this one is well done. However, when the timeline jumps around topically, it can be confusing for a bit until you realize that the topic has caused a jump backwards in the timeline. Since I often multi-task when listening to audiobooks, I think that I personally would have done better to have read this one with my eyes rather than as an audiobook.

Great Biography of Charles V

I’ll start this review by stating I’m a bit biased in that I was already interested in the time period and subject matter before beginning this book. With that said, I enjoyed it a lot. Charles lived an amazing life, and the author does an amazing job of bringing it to life by referencing not only the writings of Charles himself but of his contemporaries as well. I really gained an understanding of how Charles lived and how he was viewed in his own time. The narrator does a great job as well. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in early modern Europe, the history of Spain, or the Habsburgs.

Needed some editing

Bit too long and could have done with tighter editing. But excellent in depth look at the life and times of a remarkable man

Outstanding

Well written and researched, academic and readable and never loses sight of the aim of biography. First class narration too, particularly the latin and spanish!