9 sentences with “possessions”

Moreover, one of Charlemagne's most prized possessions was his pet elephant, sent to his distant court by al-Rashid as a goodwill gift.

Around 280, Antony sold his possessions and withdrew into the desert to contemplate the divine, avoiding all worldly goods in imitation of Christ's poverty.

Charles V ruled not only the Habsburg possessions in Europe, but also the huge new (Spanish) empire that had emerged in the New World since the late 15th century.

These privateers began a campaign of raids against Spanish possessions in the New World and even Spanish ports, culminating in the sinking of a Spanish fleet anchored at Cadiz in 1587.

One specific group of Turks, the Seljuks, had already seized much of the Middle East in the 11th century, and over the next two hundred years deprived the Byzantine Empire of its remaining possessions outside Constantinople and its immediate environs.

Charles V finally abdicated in 1558, and recognising that the Habsburg lands were almost ungovernable, handed over power to his brother Ferdinand I in Austria (Ferdinand also became Holy Roman Emperor) and to his son Philip II in Spain and its possessions.

An important note regarding European colonial power: this period saw the consolidation of European possessions in the New World and the beginning of empires in places like India, but did not include major land holdings in Africa, the Middle East or East Asia.

Philip II was able to exert great control over Spanish society. However, he found it much harder to impose similar control and religious unity in his foreign possessions, especially in the Netherlands, a collection of territories in northern Europe that he had inherited from his various royal ancestors.

The sheer number and variety of Charles V's territorial possessions and related titles reaches almost comical levels from a contemporary perspective. He was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Grand Duke of several territories in Poland and Romania, Count-Prince of the lands of southern Germany, Duke of others, and even claimed sovereignty over Jerusalem (though, of course, he did not actually control the Holy Land).