The Edicts of Charles V, c1861. This scene is set in the artist's native Antwerp, identifiable because of the famous church spire in the distance. Between 1520 and 1550, Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, issued 11 edicts making the practice of Protestantism a crime punishable by death. Antwerp served as a major centre of learning and finance that had attracted many foreigners, especially Jews and Protestants.