​SPAIN 1 ESCUDO 1504-55 "CROSS OF JERUSALEM" PCGS DETAILS GOLD DOUBLOON COIN! Charles V (1500-1558) was ruler of the Holy roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556. On the eve of his death in 1558, his realm, which has been described as one in which the sun never sets, spanned almost 4 million square kilometers.