For centuries, the Low Countries were not one country. It was a collection of separate provinces in present-day Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Since 1482, the House of Habsburg had come into possession of these provinces through inheritance, conquest and marriages. In 1506, the Habsburg emperor Charles V became the ruler of all the seventeen provinces. Later he also became the king of Spain..Charles V ruled an empire that included large parts of Europe, but also overseas territories, with some in America. It was said that in his empire the sun would never set. During his reign, the Habsburg Empire and the provinces of the Low Countries all remained in the hands of one ruler. But when Charles V abdicated in 1555, his empire was split up. His brother Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor, and his son Philip II ruled Spain with its overseas territories and the Low Countries.