READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER XIV

CHARLES V’S DIFFICULTIES

WHILE the negotiations were still pending at Cambray, Charles left Spain for Italy, where he wished to carry out a general pacification on the basis laid down in the treaty of Barcelona, as well as to receive the Imperial Crown from the hands of the Pope. At the head of 8,000 Spanish troops, and accompanied by most of the great nobility of Spain, he landed at Genoa, August 12th, 1529, which Republic was now under his protection.

With this voyage to Italy a new epoch begins in the life of Charles. During the last seven or eight years he had resided quietly in Spain, conducting everything through his ministers or captains, and though his armies had been gaining splendid victories, taking little or no personal share in affairs. In Italy, to the surprise of all, he began to show himself in quite different colors. His backward nature had at length developed itself. He now began to conduct his own negotiations, to lead his own armies, to appear in those parts of Europe where his presence was required. Yet though he had adopted as his device the words plus ultra (still further), he continued to the last to be slow and cautious. All his deliberations were conducted with the greatest circumspection, and his first answers were generally ambiguous, in order that he might have an opportunity for reconsideration. Every resolution gave him a great deal of pains: couriers were often kept waiting a couple of days; but when once he had arrived at a decision, he pursued it with a firmness which, as he himself allowed, often degenerated into obstinacy. He consulted nobody but Gattinara, and after his death in 1530, Perrenot de Granvelle. A like character might be observed in Charles’s physical constitution. Whilst arming himself, he would tremble all over; once armed, he was all courage—it was a thing unknown that an Emperor had been shot. A change was even remarked in his personal appearance. He had cut off the long flowing locks which had been the characteristic of his family, under pretext of a vow for a safe passage, but in reality on account of a pain in his head.

While Charles was still at Genoa, ambassadors arrived from the Florentines, who were not aware that the Pope and Emperor had bargained away their freedom, and now applied to be put on the same footing as the Genoese, and to remain a Republic under Charles’s protection. But he repulsed them harshly, reproached them with their attachment to the French and their animosity towards himself, and, agreeably to his engagement with Pope Clement, insisted upon their recalling the Medici. Upon their refusal, the Prince of Orange was instructed to lay siege to Florence, which he accordingly invested, October 14th.

Florence did not fall without a struggle worthy of its ancient glories, and such as could have been inspired only by the love of freedom. The populace and the clergy, especially the friars of San Marco, displayed a remarkable energy. To facilitate the defence of the city, the beautiful suburbs, gardens, and villas for a mile around it were destroyed. Savonarola’s Republic was revived, the Kingdom of Christ proclaimed. The superintendence of the fortifications was entrusted to Michael Angelo, the sculptor and painter, who exhibited in them a skill which attracted the attention of Vauban a century and a half later; though in other respects the great artist did not display the qualities of a soldier, and, with many other citizens, fled on the approach of the enemy. The Florentine army was commanded by the celebrated condottiere, Malatesta Baglioni, and by Francesco Ferrucci, a Florentine, who, though not bred a soldier, displayed great military genius in the defence of Empoli. Ferrucci and Baglioni not only long defended the city, but even maintained themselves against the Prince of Orange in the field. At length, August 3rd, 1530, they were defeated in the battle of Gavinana, in which Ferrucci was slain, or rather captured and murdered. The Prince of Orange also fell in this engagement, and was succeeded in command by Ferdinand Gonzaga, brother of the Duke of Mantua. After this defeat, Baglioni, now the sole Florentine general, who had formerly been Lord of Perugia, entered into secret negotiations with the Pope—not, indeed, to regain his rule at Perugia, but to recover his lands in that neighborhood—and on the 12th of August, Florence surrendered by capitulation. The city was condemned to pay 80,000 gold crowns, to give hostages, to admit a garrison, and to accept such a constitution as might be agreed upon between the Pope and the Emperor. Although the Florentines were Guelfs, and had never admitted the jurisdiction of the Emperor, the constitution was published in an Imperial decree, October 28th. The forms of a Republic were preserved, but Alessandro de' Medici was declared its head, with the title of Duke, and with succession to his male heirs; in other respects the ancient rights of the Florentines were confirmed, if such a confirmation could be of any value under a despotism. Alessandro subsequently married Charles’s illegitimate daughter Margaret. Thus ended the great Florentine Republic, which had been neither a pure commonwealth nor an absolute principality. King Francis had secretly encouraged the Florentines in their resistance, but lent no aid to those old and faithful allies. The Pope violated the capitulation to which he had agreed. The foremost citizens of Florence either died on the scaffold or were compelled to fly; an obnoxious preacher, named Foiano, was imprisoned by Clement in the dungeon of St. Angelo, where he was suffered to die of hunger. The genius of Michael Angelo procured him an amnesty: he was wanted to complete the frescoes of the Sixtine chapel.

From Genoa Charles had proceeded by easy journeys to Bologna, which he entered in state, November 5th, 1529. The Pope was waiting there to receive him, and at their first meeting, Charles, according to ancient custom, sunk on his knees before him, and kissed his foot and hand. Clement made a sort of apology for accepting this ceremony, kissed the Emperor thrice, and thanked him for his favors. They lived several months in adjoining houses connected by a door, to which each had a key; and it was here that the pacification of Italy was arranged, from which only the Florentines were excluded.

The advance of Sultan Solyman upon Vienna this summer had, indeed, awakened hopes among the northern Italians that they should find in the Turks a counterpoise to the power of the House of Austria. Venice and Milan had entered into a closer league, and the war had been partially renewed in Lombardy; but after Solyman’s speedy retreat, it was deemed prudent to abandon an opposition, which at best would end only in trifling advantages. The Venetians had, indeed, gradually become convinced that the period of their conquests was gone for ever; and from this time a new era opens in their history, the character of which is determined by their relations to Spain. They accepted the terms kept open for them by the treaty of Barcelona, namely, to restore Ravenna and Cervia to the Pope, to Charles all the ports in Apulia which they had taken during Lautrec’s invasion of Naples, besides paying a considerable sum of money. Francesco Maria Sforza was cited to Bologna, and a treaty was concluded with him also, December 23rd, by which he was allowed to retain Milan, in consideration of a large payment, for the security of which the citadels of Milan and Como were retained. The Emperor, to insure Sforza’s fidelity, gave him the hand of his niece Christina, daughter of King Christian II of Denmark. Pavia was erected into a county in favor of Antonio de Leyva for life. The Duke of Ferrara was admitted into the peace on his returning some of the towns which he had seized. Even the Duke of Savoy and the Marquis of Montferrat came to Bologna to swell the retinue of Princes that waited on the Emperor; and Charles, in order to retain the former in his alliance, presented him with the County of Asti, the spoil of the King of France. The above-mentioned Powers, together with King Ferdinand, formed with the Emperor what was called a perpetual peace, which was published January 1st, 1530.

The Emperor crowned at Bologna

For centuries no Emperor had exercised such power in Italy as Charles at this juncture; all the Italian States seemed to exist only by his sufferance. Nothing was wanting to his dignity but the outward symbol, which was soon afterwards added. It had been his first intention to celebrate his coronation at Rome, and then to proceed to Naples; but he was induced to alter it at the pressing solicitation of his brother Ferdinand, who represented to him the necessity for his immediate presence in Germany. Charles’s Imperial coronation seemed rather that of a Spanish King than of a Roman Emperor. The only German Prince present at it was Philip of Bavaria, who had indeed acquired a name by the defence of Vienna, but held no official post. In fact, this Bolognese coronation may be regarded as the symbol of the real dissolution of the close connection between the Holy Roman Church and Holy Roman Empire, which had lasted so many centuries. None of the Electors had been invited to Bologna, and their functions were performed by Italian Princes. The scepter was borne by the Marquis of Montferrat, the sword by the Duke of Urbino, the crown by the Duke of Savoy. The procession was headed by noble Spanish youths, followed by the principal grandees of Spain, who vied with one another in magnificence of apparel; then came the heralds, and even these were not German, but of the various Spanish realms. Charles received the Imperial Crown from the hands of the Pope on the 24th of February, the anniversary of his birthday. He was invested with the sandals and the Imperial mantle, studded with jewels, which had been adopted from the Byzantine Court. He had been crowned two days before with the Iron Crown of Italy. According to precedent he should have received the Lombard Crown in the church of St. Ambrose at Milan, and that of the Empire in the Vatican Basilica; but he persuaded the Pope to give him both crowns at Bologna. This was the last Imperial coronation performed by a Pope in Italy, nor had any such taken place for eighty years before. While Charles was at Bologna he bestowed, as King of Naples, the islands of Malta and Gozzo on the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who, since their expulsion from Rhodes, had had no proper place of abode, and had become a burden on the Pope.

Having thus effected the settlement of the Italian peninsula, which seemed wholly obedient to his power, Charles, about the beginning of April, 1530, set out for Germany, where his presence was required at the Diet which had been summoned to meet at Augsburg. Since the Diet of Spires in 1526, till that in the same place in 1529, the Reformers had gained considerable accession of strength: but they were now to be made the peace-offerings of the reconciliation between the Emperor and the Pope; the extirpation of the Lutheran heresy being, as we have said, one of the conditions of the treaty of November, 1527. Charles’s severities towards the Reformers in the Netherlands had occasioned the worst anticipations. On the 1st of August, 1528, had appeared an Imperial decree for the assembling of a Diet the following year at Spires, couched in terms in the highest degree arbitrary and violent. The Emperor complained that the religious disputes in Germany prevented him from offering any adequate resistance to the Turks; he announced that, as the foremost Prince of Christendom, he would no longer permit his commands to be disregarded, in allusion to the Edict of Worms; he forbade all innovations in religion, and formally annulled the recess of the Diet of Spires of 1526. This arbitrary act excited the greatest alarm and discontent among the adherents of the Reformation. There was, indeed, nothing very pointed in the recess in question; yet its very indefiniteness had given satisfaction, as betokening moderation and affording hopes of an ultimate adjustment. But this decree was calculated to bring matters to a violent issue. Some of the timid Reformers began to waver; the bold only put on a more determined front. John of Saxony and Philip of Hesse appeared at Spires, accompanied by their preachers and a large retinue of well-armed knights; and when, on the following Sunday, they caused the Evangelical service to be performed at their hotels, it was attended by more than 8,000 persons.

The Diet was opened March 15th, 1529, by King Ferdinand, Frederick Count Palatine, Duke William of Bavaria, Duke Eric of Brunswick, and Bernhard, Bishop of Trent, as Imperial commissioners. Pico, Count of Mirandola, was the Papal Legate. The affairs of religion were referred to a committee, in which the Catholics predominated. Their decision was, that a General Council should be held in some German town within a year, or at most a year and a half, or failing that, a general assembly of all the German States for the settlement of all religious disputes; and as the articles of the last Diet of Spires had been much misunderstood, and occasioned great mischief, it was resolved that where the Edict of Worms had been admitted, it should continue to be obeyed, and that in places where it had been rejected, and where there might be much danger in absolutely abolishing the new tenets, all further changes should be arrested till the General Council referred to assembled; that in particular the doctrine against the real presence should not be accepted by any State of the Holy Roman Empire, nor allowed to be openly preached; that the saying of Mass should not be done away with in any church, and that in places where the new doctrines were predominant, nobody should be prevented from hearing or performing Mass. There were other articles, but these were the principal.

The Lutheran Princes and States, on the other hand, objected, that such resolutions could not be made and enforced by a mere majority; that it was not the fault of the dissentients, if the General Council had been so long delayed; that the resolution authorizing the new doctrines to subsist only where they could not be abolished without disturbance, showed that they were regarded as only fit to be rejected, and that their abolition would be sought wherever disturbances were not anticipated to follow; it was not satisfactory that all further propagation of the truth was forbidden, and that Mass, which had been proved to be ungodly, was to subsist together with the reformed worship, whilst, on the other hand, the reformed worship was not allowed to subsist along with Mass; that the restoration of priests and Church property would cause the greatest confusion; that the expression, God’s word was to be preached according to the exposition of the doctors of the Church, was ambiguous, as it left undetermined who expounded it rightly; and that to accept these resolutions would be altogether detrimental to their party.

Origin of the name “Protestants”

The Diet treated these objections with the greatest contempt. The Lutherans were ordered to conform to the opinion of the majority; and when they retired awhile to consult among themselves, King Ferdinand and the other Imperial commissioners suddenly left the assembly and could not be induced to return. The Lutherans then drew up (April 19th) that celebrated protest, embracing the grounds of objection just specified, which procured for them the name of Protestants—an appellation first applied at a later period by the Papal Nuncio Contarini to the whole body of the Reformers, and accepted by them as a title of honor. The protest was signed by John, Elector of Saxony, the Margraves of Brandenburg and Anspach, the Dukes Ernest and Francis of Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Prince of Anhalt, and fourteen Imperial cities. The subscribers required that this protest should be inserted among the acts of the Diet; and they sent a copy of it to King Ferdinand, who refused to accept it. On the 22nd of April the Lutherans were again required by George Truchsess to submit to the majority; and it was intimated that, in case of refusal, their names could not be appended to the recess. They were likewise requested not to publish the protest, as it would occasion great difficulty; but permission was given to insert it in the acts of the Diet, and to forward it to the Emperor. The Reformers, however, subsequently published it, with a solemn appeal to the Emperor and a future General Council.

Charles had expressed his disapprobation of the protest while he was still in Spain, and the Protestants therefore sent a deputation to him in Italy to justify the step which they had taken. The envoys found him at Piacenza, on his road to Bologna; when he expressed to them his former disapprobation, refused to receive the protest, and manifested great displeasure when they placed it on the table at which his secretary sat. He and his Spanish courtiers were so highly offended when Michael Kaden, one of the deputation, handed in to the orthodox Emperor, the temporal head of Christendom, a treatise of Lutheran tendency entrusted to him by the Landgrave of Hesse, that the envoys were kept for a time in durance, till at last they contrived to make their escape.

By his subsequent coronation oath the Emperor bound himself to be the constant defender of the Papal supremacy and of the Roman Catholic Church; at the same time, however, he pressed upon the Pontiff the necessity for calling a General Council in conformity with the recess of the Diet of Spires. Clement did not meet this proposition with a direct negative. He contented himself with insinuating a variety of doubts and objections; intimated that some of the questions raised by the Protestants had already been decided by General Councils; that others were perverse and incapable of solution; that the See of Rome, indeed, had nothing to fear from a Council, since its authority was founded on Scripture and had been confirmed and augmented by every successive assembly of the Church; but that the Emperor should consider whether such a proceeding might not prove derogatory to his own power and dignity, and whether some more convenient method might not be discovered for settling these disputes. Charles replied, that important questions could not surely be insoluble; that the strength or weakness of each opinion would be discovered by discussion; and that an end might thus at last be put to controversy by the drawing up of some well-considered articles of faith. The Court of Rome, however, evaded any further agitation of the question, and, as a last resource, the Emperor resolved to summon another Diet at Augsburg. One serious objection to a Council Clement had omitted to state in his arguments. At the first report of such a measure, all saleable offices in the Roman Court fell considerably in price, and with difficulty found purchasers.

Luther and Zwingli at Marburg.

Meanwhile, since the Diet of Spires, the greatest diversity of opinion had prevailed among the Protestants respecting their future course. The Landgrave Philip and the more zealous Reformers were for supporting the new doctrines by force of arms; and with this view Philip, who was inclined to the tenets of Zwingli, was desirous of bringing about an alliance of the Protestant towns of Switzerland and Swabia with himself and the Elector of Saxony. Some of the Swabian and other South German towns, as Ulm, Strassburg, and others, although they had joined the Lutherans in signing the protest, were more inclined to the teaching of Zwingli than to Luther’s doctrines. It was through Bucer and Capito, ministers at Strassburg, that the Landgrave Philip chiefly hoped to effect a union between the German and Swiss Reformers. But Luther’s bitter hatred of the Zwinglians left but little hope of such a result. He and Zwingli had attacked each other with the keenest personal animosity in their writings; nevertheless, Philip, with the view of effecting a union, and thus strengthening the Protestant cause, invited them both, with other doctors on each side, to a conference at Marburg. After much reluctance, and not before he had obtained a safe conduct, Luther at length consented to this meeting, which took place on the first three days of October, 1529. Zwingli here displayed a much more liberal spirit and larger political views than Luther. On fourteen out of fifteen points of discussion he was ready to make concessions; and although on the fifteenth, which concerned the Lord’s Supper, he could not yield his opinions, still he was anxious that it should not stand in the way of any political alliance. Luther, however, who regarded the “Sacramentaries”, as he called Zwingli’s followers, with horror, would listen to no accommodation: the meeting was broken up by the sweating sickness, and, like most such religious conferences, the members parted only with feelings more embittered. With all his merits, it must be allowed that Luther’s reading of Scripture was somewhat narrow and sectarian. He would abide only by the literal sense, even where it forced him to adopt a jargon not easily intelligible, as in his doctrine of the Eucharist. The Elector John, who was of a phlegmatic temperament, submitted himself implicitly in these matters to his theologians, and would connect himself with none who would not accept the doctrines of Wittenberg in every point: a bigotry which was a source of weakness to the Protestant cause.

The Diet appointed to be held at Augsburg was now approaching. The invitations to it, drawn up while the Emperor was at Bologna, were couched in the mildest terms; they offered a complete contrast to the mandate of 1528, annulling the recess of the Diet of Spires; since the issuing of which, the Turks had appeared before Vienna. But for Solyman and his Janissaries, the Reformation would probably have been crushed in its infancy, and the Turks must undoubtedly be regarded as having contributed to the purification of Christianity. It was now deemed expedient by the Emperor to try conciliation; all threats were consequently omitted which would have marred the intended effect; counsels which appear to have been instilled into the Emperor by his confessor, Garcia de Loaysa, Cardinal-Bishop of Osma and Siguenza, who had accompanied him into Italy, and in whose advice he put the greatest confidence. In case, however, this method should fail, it had long been determined to resort to force on the first favorable opportunity. The death of Charles’s chancellor, Gattinara, who expired at Innsbruck while accompanying him to Augsburg, was an unfortunate event for the Protestants. He had long been an opponent of the Papal policy, and would probably have modified the Emperor’s views.

Charles descended into Germany from the Tyrolese Alps like a foreigner—almost like an enemy. He had not, as we have seen, invited the Electors to his coronation, nor had they been consulted in the treaties effected with the Italian powers; on which account they afterwards made a formal protest, that if there should be anything in those treaties that now or hereafter should be to the disadvantage of the Holy Roman Empire, they would not have consented to it. Still more offensive to the Protestant Princes was the manner in which Charles had treated their ambassadors at Piacenza. It could hardly but be plain to them that the Emperor, in spite of his assumed mildness, would act as despotically in Germany as in Spain or Italy, if he had but the power. The opening of the Diet had been fixed for May 1st, and towards the end of April those who had been summoned to it began to assemble at Augsburg. The Landgrave Philip came attended by 120 horse. The Lutheran clergy were represented by Melanchthon. Luther still lay under the ban of the Empire, and it was therefore thought advisable, in order to avoid all possible offence and danger, that he should remain behind at Coburg, on the border of the Saxon Elector’s dominions, where he would be near at hand in case his advice should be required. Here he was lodged in the upper story of the castle, and constantly guarded by twelve troopers. The Emperor having lingered in Lombardy, Tyrol, and Bavaria, did not enter Augsburg till the 15th of June. He wore a Spanish costume: his appearance was splendid, his bearing affable, yet dignified. At his side rode King Ferdinand and Cardinal Campeggio, the Papal Legate. When he had approached within fifty paces, the assembled Electors and Princes dismounted from their horses, but the Legate and other princes kept their mules. It was observed, however, that when the Legate gave the blessing the Protestant Princes remained standing, although the Emperor fell on his knees.

Diet of Augsburg, 1530

Before the proceedings of the Diet began, the Emperor summoned the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke Francis of Lüneburg, and the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, to a private apartment, where they were required, through King Ferdinand, to silence their preachers. The elder Princes were shocked at this demand, yet held their peace. The young Landgrave, however, defended the preachers, affirming that they taught nothing but the pure word of God as understood by St. Augustine. At this reply the color mantled on the Emperor’s cheeks, and he caused his demand to be repeated still more emphatically. But he was dealing with men of sterner stuff than the Italian Princes. Margrave George now came forward. “Sire”, he exclaimed, “rather than swerve from God’s word, I would kneel down here and submit to have my head cut off”. Charles, who had for a moment forgotten his assumed policy of mildness, was reminded of it by these words, and answered in his broken German, “Lieber Fürst, nit Kopf ab, nit Kopf ab”: (“Dear Prince, not head off, not head off!”) The Protestant Princes, however, at last consented to the Emperor’s demand, but not before Charles had ordered his own party to do the same. On a later occasion he endeavored to alarm the Elector of Saxony by threatening that he would not grant him investiture of the Electorate to which he had succeeded, nor sanction the marriage of his son with Sibylla of Cleves, if he opposed the Edict of Worms and deserted the orthodox Church. But John steadfastly replied, that by the constitution of the Empire his investiture could not be refused, and that, even before the attempt was made, it must be shown that his creed was not that of true Christianity.

The Diet was opened on the 20th of June by a solemn procession and Mass. The Emperor, under a hot sun, in a heavy purple mantle, his head uncovered, and a wax taper in his hand, piously followed the Host, which was borne by the Archbishop of Mainz. None of the Protestant Princes attended this ceremony except the Elector of Saxony, whose office it was, as High Marshal of the Empire, to carry the sword of state before the Emperor; but he took care to show that he was present at Mass only by virtue of this function. The Lutheran question formed, of course, the chief business of the assembly, though that respecting the Turks was put first. The Protestants had thought it advisable, in order that their real tenets might be known, to draw up a Confession of their faith, to be presented to the Diet by way of manifesto. This was the celebrated Confession of Augsburg, the symbol of the Lutheran faith. The preparation of this document had been entrusted to Melanchthon, who not only possessed a more ready pen than Luther, but also a conciliatory temper. It was drawn up with the undeniable design of approaching as nearly as possible the Roman Catholic faith. The aim of it is purely defensive; the Lutheran doctrines are justified, but those of Rome are not attacked. The line of separation from the Zwinglians is drawn quite as strongly as that from the Papists. The former body were multiplying very fast in Germany, and were regarded with some jealousy. Most of the citizens of Augsburg were Zwinglians.

After Melanchthon’s Confession had been examined by several theologians and approved by Luther, it was subscribed by the Saxon Elector, the Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke Ernest of Lüneburg, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, and the Deputies of Nuremberg and Reutlingen. It was read on the afternoon of Saturday, June 25th, 1530, in the chapel of the Bishop of Augsburg’s palace, where the Emperor was residing. Charles wished it to be read only in Latin, but the Princes reminded him that in Germany the German language might be allowed. None, however, were admitted into the chapel but Princes or deputies. The Electoral Chancellors, Bruck and Bayer, stood forth in the middle of the chamber one with a German, the other with a Latin, copy. The reading of the former, which occupied nearly two hours, was listened to with deep attention, and was performed in so loud a voice that many in the court below could hear. The documents were then handed to the Emperor’s secretary, but Charles himself stretched out his hand for both, keeping the Latin copy himself, and handing the German one to the Imperial Arch-chancellor. Before the close of the Diet, the Confession was also translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, as many foreign Princes were anxious to know the real tenets of the Protestants. The towns of Strassburg, Memmingen, Constance, and Lindau handed in a separate Confession called the Confessio Tetrapolitana, which differed from that of Augsburg only in the matter of the Lord’s Supper.

After the Lutheran Confession had been read, the Emperor inquired whether the Protestants had anything further to advance. To answer such a question unconditionally, either in the negative or affirmative, would have been dangerous, and the Protestants, therefore, contented themselves with saying that they could admit nothing that was at variance with their Confession; that the document just read contained all their principal tenets; and that they did not wish to render the examination of it more difficult, nor to incur the charge of punctilious obstinacy, by a useless enumeration of minor points. Eck, Cochlaeus, and a few other of Luther’s most zealous opponents were then commissioned to draw up a reply to the Confession; which work they performed in a manner so diffuse, intemperate, and unsatisfactory, that the Diet rejected the paper. Another answer, after being subjected to a long and severe scrutiny, was read before the Diet on August 3rd. Although this paper only contained a reassertion of the usual Roman Catholic arguments in favor of transubstantiation, the seven sacraments, the invocation of saints, &c., it was solemnly decreed and proclaimed that the Protestants, after this exposition of their errors, must conform in all points to the Church of Rome; and that in case of refusal the Roman Emperor, as protector and guardian of the Church, would feel himself compelled to resort to further measures.

As the Protestants could not accede to this decision, a committee of sixteen members was appointed, with the view of settling the points in dispute: but these peace-makers fell themselves into the most violent altercations, and almost came to blows. The Landgrave Philip saw the uselessness of remaining any longer at Augsburg, and on the evening of the 6th of August set off homewards, without taking leave of the Emperor, or even communicating his intention to his Protestant brethren. This sudden step alarmed the Catholics, who thought that Philip had taken it in concert with his party, and with the intention of appealing to arms. The Archbishop of Mainz and the Franconian Bishops feared that their neighbor, the Landgrave, might attack their dominions under pretence of religion; and even the Emperor and King Ferdinand were alarmed for the latter’s Duchy of Würtemberg, as it was known that Philip was in close alliance with Ulrich, the banished Duke. The Emperor, at first, caused all the gates of Augsburg to be guarded, to prevent the flight of any more of the Princes; but, on the representation of the Elector of Saxony, this step was discontinued.

A smaller committee was now appointed to discuss the contested points, and then another still smaller; both with the same unsatisfactory result. Charles, now finding that through the firmness of the Protestants his interference had exposed the weakness of the Imperial dignity, lost his temper and even descended to threats. The means of conciliation had been exhausted, yet he was not in a condition to resort to force. He had with him but some 1,400 German and Spanish infantry; nor, if he appealed to arms, could he rely on the support of even the Catholic Princes, who were already jealous of the grasping spirit displayed by the House of Austria, especially in the seizure of the Duchy of Würtemberg and they would not have stood by Charles in an attack on the German Constitution, and the freedom of the Diets. The Dukes of Bavaria in particular, since their defeat in the Bohemian election, owed a grudge against Austria, which had been increased by the failure of a plan formed against the Emperor by the Pope and the French King, during the late war, of placing the Imperial Crown on the head of the Bavarian Duke William. Nay, so much had the devotion of the Bavarian family towards the Church of Rome been cooled by their jealousy of the House of Austria, that, as they had before entered into negotiations with Ferdinand's rival, John Zapolya, so they were now minded not to deprive themselves of the possibility of an alliance with the Protestants. Nor were these views unknown to the Emperor.

The phlegmatic Elector John himself at length lost all patience, and, on the 20th September, asked the Emperor’s leave to depart; and it was with difficulty he could be persuaded to stay a few days longer to hear the Emperor’s decision respecting the Lutheran demands. It sounded something like a declaration of war, and its ill effect was increased by the harsh and ungracious manner in which it was delivered by the bigoted Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg. A period till the 15th of April following was to be allowed the Protestants to return to the Church in the interval, they were to attempt no further innovations, to print no new religious works, to entice or protect no subjects of other States, to concede to their own subjects of the Roman religion the free use of their worship, and to repress the Sacramentaries and Anabaptists. The Emperor, on his side, engaged to induce the Pope to summon, very shortly, either a General or a National Council. To this decision Joachim added some threats of his own, which, however, were disapproved of by the other Catholic Princes.

Recess of the Diet

The Diet was continued amid further wranglings. The Catholic majority advised Charles to issue a new decree, grounded on the Edict of Worms; and, if the Saxon Elector and his adherents should refuse to obey, to summon them before him, adjudge the proper penalty, and proceed to its execution. The Diet’s Recess was accordingly drawn up to this effect, and the Imperial decree published November 22nd. The Emperor announced therein his determination to execute the Edict of Worms; numerous instances of its violation were adduced and condemned, whether by Lutherans, Zwinglians, or Anabaptists; the maintenance of the old rites and doctrines was enjoined; the jurisdiction of the Bishops was reasserted; and the Imperial attorney-general was instructed to proceed legally against the refractory. The Imperial Chamber was reconstituted, the assessors increased from eighteen to twenty-four, and bound to act in pursuance of the recess. The Protestant deputies put in a declaration that those whom they represented would not subscribe the recess; neither would they contribute to the Turkish contingent, nor to the maintenance of the remodeled Imperial Chamber.

Such was the conclusion of the famous Diet of Augsburg, whose proceedings put the finishing hand to the constitution of the Lutheran Church, and arrayed one half of Germany against the other. Charles, however, gained one of his objects. The majority of this Diet granted an “eilende Hülff” or hasty succor of 40,000 foot and 8,000 horse, for the Turkish war, which was double the number usually voted. These forces were to be available not only for that year, but any subsequent one in which they might be required; and their term of service was extended, in case of need, from six to eight months.

The Augsburg Confession was advantageous to the Protestants, both by helping to disseminate juster notions of their tenets, and serving as a rallying signal and bond of union. The measures which the Emperor was preparing to take soon impressed them with the necessity of forming a closer league. They looked with suspicion on the projected abolition of the Council of Regency, the alterations in the Imperial Chamber, and the preparations making to prosecute them at law. The House of Austria had long seen that from the inefficiency of the Council it would either be necessary to choose a new administrator, or to recur to the Vicars of the Empire, one of whom was the Saxon Elector; and, in order to avoid this alternative, the Emperor had resolved to make his brother Ferdinand King of the Romans. This was, indeed, one of the reasons that had induced Charles to receive the Imperial Crown at Bologna, as it would obviate an objection which Maximilian had experienced on a similar occasion; namely, that as he himself was not a crowned Emperor, the dignity of King of the Romans was not vacant.

The Protestant Princes assembled at Smalkald towards the end of December, 1530, with the view of entering into a league for their mutual defence, and the protection of their religious liberties. It was an anxious question for the Elector John whether he, with a small strip of land on the Elbe, and the little territory of Thuringia, should oppose himself to the Emperor, who had just subdued the King of France and pacified Italy, and who had a majority of Princes of the Empire. The idea seemed absurd, and he was further hampered by doubt whether he had a right to resist. The younger and more vehement Landgrave of Hesse had already decided both these questions in the affirmative, and soon after his departure from Augsburg had concluded a separate league with Zürich, Basle, and Strassburg. Luther, in the Castle of Coburg, had taken a cooler and broader view of the political horizon than John of Saxony, and did not at all participate in the somewhat desponding feeling of the Elector. My Lord Par ma foi, as he called the French King, would, he thought, never forget Pavia; my Lord In nomine Domini (the Pope), besides being a Florentine, could not have any agreeable reminiscences of the sack of Rome; the Venetians still remembered the injuries of Maximilian; the union of these Powers with the Emperor, therefore, belonged to the chapter of non credimus. Even the opinions which Luther had drawn from Scripture respecting the unlawfulness of resisting the Emperor, underwent considerable modification at Smalkald. The jurisconsults showed that Germany was in reality an oligarchy; that while the Imperial dignity was elective, most of the Electors were hereditary; that the States reigned along with the Emperor, who was therefore no real monarch. These reflections sufficed to banish Luther’s scruples, in so far, at least, that he left the jurisconsults to act as they thought proper.

League of Smalkald

The League op Smalkald was signed December 31st by the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, Dukes Philip, Ernest, and Francis of Brunswick and Lüneburg, the Counts of Mansfeld, and the cities of Magdeburg and Bremen. At subsequent meetings in the spring and summer of 1531 the League was joined by other States, especially the towns of the Tetrapolitan Confession, and others both in North and South Germany, as Lübeck, Brunswick, Gottingen, Ulm, etc.; so that it finally included seven Princes, two Counts, and twenty-four Imperial cities. It was a confederacy for mutual defence for a term of six years. John of Saxony and Philip of Hesse were ultimately chosen its leaders.

The Elector of Saxony drew up a protest against the election of Ferdinand as King of the Romans, which was presented by his son John Frederick to the Emperor at Cologne, whither he had proceeded after the breaking up of the Diet of Augsburg but it produced no effect. It had been at first contemplated to deprive the Saxon Elector of his vote, as a heretic, under the bull of Leo X; but the other Electors would not agree to a stroke which might next fall upon themselves. The five Catholic Electors, the Rhenish Palatine, Brandenburg, Mainz, Treves, and Cologne, had been easily gained by gifts and promises; and Ferdinand himself, as King of Bohemia, had a vote in the choice of a King of the Romans, though in the ordinary proceedings of the Imperial Diet the King of Bohemia (as such) could take no part. Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans January 6th, 1531, and two days afterwards crowned at Aix-le-Chapelle. In his capitulation he pledged himself to observe the recess of the Diet of Augsburg. From this time forward, Charles left the government of Germany mostly to his brother, requiring only to be consulted in things of the last importance. The Dukes of Bavaria, having themselves pretensions to the Empire, had viewed with a jealous eye the election of Ferdinand to be King of the Romans, and, on the 24th of October, 1531, they entered into an alliance at Saalfeld with the confederates of Smalkald, in so far as regarded the protest against Ferdinand’s election. The latter, however, soon found that his title and dignity did not give him more power than he possessed before.

Charles's attention was also directed at this time to the appointment of a new ruler in the Netherlands, his aunt Margaret, who had long directed the affairs of those countries with great prudence and success, having died on the 1st of December, 1530. He installed in her place his sister Mary, widow of Louis the late King of Hungary; and, in order to see her authority firmly established, he remained some months in Brabant and Flanders.

The appeals of the Protestants to Francis I and Henry VIII

Although Francis I was burning Lutherans in France, and though Henry VIII had entered into a controversy with Luther, in which he had been assailed with the most virulent abuse by that Reformer, the confederates of Smalkald did not hesitate to appeal to those two Kings to support them against the Emperor; and such is the power of political interest to cement together the most opposite and even personally hostile parties, that their application was received with favor. Francis was ready to employ any instrument, whether infidel Turk or German heretic, that would but afford him the means of weakening Charles. With this view he had connected himself with the Genevese, and also made advances to Zwingli, who was not backward in courting the alliance of the French King. Towards the end of 1530, Zwingli had sent to Francis, together with a project for a treaty, his book entitled A brief and clear Exposition of the Christian Faith, in which that most liberal and enlightened of all the Reformers did not hesitate to assign a place in heaven to such pious heathens as Socrates, Aristides, and Cato. Francis, however, declined Zwingli’s proposals for fear of offending the Catholic Cantons. Zwingli did not long outlive these transactions, for he was killed in the battle of Kappel, October 11th, 1531. He had persuaded the Zürichers to take up arms against the four original Forest Cantons, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Lucerne, together with their old adherent Zug, all which had remained inflexibly attached to the Church of Rome, and had rejected the application of the reformed Cantons in favor of toleration. Zwingli, impatient of waiting for his allies, went out with less than 2,000 men against the Catholic host of 8,000. They met at Kappel on Mount Albis, about three leagues from Zürich, and in the bloody battle which ensued the men of Zurich were defeated with great loss. Zwingli was struck down by a stone, and after being trampled on by his flying friends, was found after the battle, under a tree, by two of the enemy. One of them called upon him to invoke the Virgin and Saints, and Zwingli, who was already on the point of death, having made sign of refusal, the man thrust a pike through his throat. Next day Zwingli’s body was quartered and burnt, and the ashes scattered to the winds.

Francis had no cause to hesitate in allying himself with the German Protestants and other malcontents, and he came to an understanding on this subject with Henry VIII, between whom and the Emperor the question of the divorce was every day widening the breach. Francis dispatched an envoy to the German Princes, and, on May 26th, 1532, an alliance was concluded at Kloster Zevern, near Munich, between Saxony, Hesse, Bavaria, and France, to oppose the recognition of Ferdinand as King of the Romans; and Francis engaged to deposit 100,000 crowns with the Dukes of Bavaria. At the same time he renewed his alliance with Zapolya. These machinations were, however, defeated by the threatening attitude of the Turks, which induced the Emperor to negotiate a peace with the Protestants. To check the progress of the Turks, and to coerce the German Lutherans, were the two principal objects of Charles’s reign, and to these his other policy was made subservient. But, as the former was the more pressing of the two, he was often obliged to sacrifice his animosity against the Protestants in order to avert the danger threatened by the Infidels; and it was from this cause that he entered into the negotiations just referred to, which terminated in the Religious Peace of Nuremberg.

The Emperor and his brother Ferdinand, guided apparently by the counsels of Charles’s confessor, the Cardinal-Bishop of Osma and Siguenza, had, indeed, previously attempted to effect a peace with the Turks, which would have left their hands free to act against the Smalkaldic League. Ambassadors had been dispatched to Constantinople in the autumn of 1530 who were empowered to offer to Solyman an annual tribute, disguised under the name of a pension of 100,000 ducats, if he would enter into a peace, and restore to Ferdinand all Hungary with the exception of Belgrade. There seemed to be no prospect of wresting Hungary by force of arms from John Zapolya, who towards the close of the year had been in vain besieged in Buda. An attempt to assassinate him was not calculated to help Ferdinand’s cause. Habardanacz, who had on a former occasion been Ferdinand’s ambassador to the Porte, made his way into Buda with the design of taking Zapolya’s life; but being discovered by the dagger hidden in his sleeve, was, according to the usage of Turkish law, sewed in a sack and cast into the Danube. After a siege of six weeks the attempt on Buda was abandoned, and, on the 31st of January, 1531, a truce of three months was concluded with Zapolya, which was afterwards extended for a year. The Hungarians of each party were weary of the contest, and even talked of choosing a third King who might be recognized by both sides.

The Vizier Ibrahim received Ferdinand’s ambassadors and their proposals with cool contempt. Hungary did not belong to Ferdinand, nor even to Janusch Krai (king John Zapolya), but to the Sultan; nay, Vienna also was his, and all that Ferdinand possessed in Germany. The demands of the ambassadors were met by a counter one, that Ferdinand should surrender all the Hungarian fortresses which he still occupied. They were told that another expedition was preparing, and that the Sultan would come in person to meet the King of Spain—such was the only title with which the Porte condescended to honor Charles. The title of Emperor belonged to Solyman himself; he was the head of the Roman Empire, and he cherished the idea of making Constantinople the immediate capital of the world.

In the spring of 1531, Ferdinand, whose advice had always great weight with his brother, strongly urged upon Charles the necessity of defending Hungary, grounding himself principally on its importance to the safety of Germany and Italy, and he strongly recommended that the Protestants should be conciliated. The Emperor accordingly opened negotiations with the confederates of Smalkald, through the Elector of Mainz and the Elector Palatine, which led to what has been called the First Religious Peace, or Religious Peace of Nuremberg, concluded at that city in July, 1532, and ratified August 2nd, at the Diet then sitting at Ratisbon. The principal articles were: That the Lutherans should not be molested on account of their tenets; that they should be permitted to preach and publish the doctrines contained in the Confession of Augsburg, and in the Supplement and Apology; that they should retain the church property of which they were in possession; that the jurisdiction of the Imperial tribunals in religious causes should be suspended; and that some Protestant assessors should be introduced into the Imperial Chamber. On the other hand, the Lutherans engaged not to protect the Zwinglians and Anabaptists; to preserve their obedience to the Emperor; to aid him with their money and counsels, and to contribute to the succors against the Turks. These terms were to be in force till the holding of a General Council, or in its default, of a new Diet of the States of the Empire, and the violation of them was to be attended with the same penalties as attached to breaches of the public peace. By this treaty the Lutherans obtained a temporary toleration; but by submitting their tenets to the decision of a Council, instead of asserting them unconditionally, they ultimately strengthened the Emperor’s hands by affording him a pretext for reopening the whole subject. The danger, however, was pressing, and the success of the Turks would have effectually disposed of the question of liberty of worship. The peace was regarded with horror by Joachim of Brandenburg and other Catholic zealots; nor, on the other hand, was it approved of by the Landgrave of Hesse, who thought that the Protestants had thereby deprived their party of all chance of future increase. His ambassadors at first refused to sign; but he at length found himself obliged either to comply or to stand alone. The Emperor pressed the States assembled at Ratisbon to raise the contingent granted by the Diet of Augsburg to 60,000 men. This demand was refused; though the Princes and States showed an unusual alacrity in raising the forces voted. John Frederick especially, son of the Elector of Saxony, who, during the mortal illness of his father, had conducted the negotiations for the peace, zealously displayed his attention to the Emperor by providing a good force, which he proposed to lead in person; but this offer was declined. He succeeded to the Electorate on the death of his father shortly afterwards (August 16th, 1532).

The Caroline Ordinance

At this same Diet of Ratisbon was passed the famous Caroline Ordinance, so named after the Emperor Charles V. It was a codification, though a somewhat clumsy and inconsistent one, of the criminal law of Germany. Hitherto every petty Sovereign and State had exercised the privilege of inflicting capital punishment, and often under the most dreadful forms of torture. By this ordinance not only was the severity of the criminal law much mitigated, but also a uniform scale of punishments established throughout the Empire.

Charles had not confined his demands for aid against the Turks to his Protestant subjects in Germany; he had also applied to other European States, and especially to the King of France, who was bound to assist him by the terms of the treaty of Cambray; and an application to that effect was made to Francis early in 1531. Such a demand was not likely to be heard with equanimity, and the manner of it disgusted Francis still more than the substance. The French forces raised were to be under command of the Emperor, who, it was intimated, would be still better pleased with a money payment only, instead of troops. Francis gave vent to his displeasure at this demand in a remarkable letter to François de Dinteville, Bishop of Auxerre, his ambassador at the Papal Court in which he expressed his astonishment that he should be asked for money instead of troops, when it was well known that he and his forefathers had always been accustomed to march at the head of their own forces; nevertheless he was ready, as soon as the Pope wished it, to appear in Italy with 50,000 foot, 3,000 horse, and the necessary artillery—no obscure threat that his pretensions in that country were not abandoned. He remarked that he was not disposed to enter into a war with the Turks merely for the private quarrels of others; especially as the Emperor and King Ferdinand might have obviated all danger by making a peace with King John (Zapolya); and he expressed his own readiness to enter into such a treaty. He had, indeed, long before this, as we have already seen, made an alliance with Zapolya, which he now further strengthened. It happened that Hieronymus Lasczy, King John’s ambassador, was at the French Court when the Emperor made the demand just mentioned, through whom Francis offered John the hand of Isabeau, sister of the King of Navarre, as well as a sum of money; but with the hypocritical admonition that it was not to be employed against any of the French King’s allies, and in no case was Zapolya to avail himself of the help of the Turks. A little after, however, Francis addressed another letter to the College of Cardinals (February 2nd), in which he said that he should want his troops himself, as Hayraddin Barbarossa, the Turkish pirate, was about to make a descent on Provence. Francis, indeed, subsequently endeavored to prevent Solyman’s invasion of Hungary, in 1532, though with no design of serving the Emperor or King Ferdinand. He saw that the danger with which they were menaced from the Turks helped in reality to increase their influence and power, by obliging them to conciliate the Protestants, and, towards the end of 1531, he dispatched Rincon to the Porte, to dissuade the Sultan from his contemplated enterprise. His ambassador, however, having been detained by illness, did not meet with the Sultan till he was already at Belgrade, when Solyman observed, that if he now returned it would be said that it was for fear of “Charles of Spain”.

These transactions serve to show the nature of the relations between Francis and the Porte. The French King, ever since his captivity, had been on the most friendly terms with Solyman. In 1528 the Sultan confirmed to the French and Catalan merchants their commercial privileges in Egypt; and, in the same year, Francis seems to have been desirous of extending his protection to the Christians in Jerusalem—one of the earliest traces of the pretension still asserted by the French nation to protect the Christian subjects of the Porte. Solyman granted them the use of the churches in Jerusalem, except the chief one, which had been converted into a mosque. Francis appears to have entertained the idea of going in person to Constantinople, to render the Sultan thanks for the aid promised during his captivity, and then paying a visit to the Holy Sepulchre.

Charles’s applications to the Pope and the Venetians for help against the Turks were as fruitless as those to Francis, and he was thus driven to rely on his own resources. Never had an Imperial army been so promptly assembled. On the plain of Tulln between Linz and Vienna, Charles found himself at the head of about 80,000 men, mostly Germans, but with an intermixture of Italians, Spaniards, and Netherlanders. Of this army, 24,000 men had been contributed by the Lutheran States.

Solyman march to Hungary, 1532

Solyman began his march from Constantinople, April 26th, 1532, with all the magnificence of Oriental pomp. A long train of 120 cannon was followed by 8,000 chosen Janissaries, and by droves of camels carrying an enormous quantity of baggage. Then came 2,000 horsemen, the Spahis of the Porte, with the holy banner, the eagle of the Prophet, gorgeously adorned with pearls and precious stones. Next in the procession were the Christian tribute children educating by the Porte, habited in cloth of gold, having long locks like women, and scarlet caps with white feathers, all bearing similar lances, artfully worked after the fashion of Damascus. Then was borne in state the Sultan’s crown, made at Venice at the cost of 115,000 ducats, followed by his domestics, 1,000 men of gigantic stature, the handsomest that could be found, armed with bows and arrows; some of whom held coupled hounds, while others carried hawks. In the midst of them rode Solyman himself, in a crimson robe trimmed with gold and a snowwhite turban covered with jewels, mounted on a chestnut horse, and armed with a superb sword and dagger. The procession was closed by the Sultan’s four Viziers, among whom Ibrahim was conspicuous, and the rest of the nobles of the Court with their servants. Thus did Solyman set out on his march. On the way he was joined by troops from all quarters, and when he entered Hungary his army was estimated at 350,000 men.

Ferdinand had resolved to try the effect of another embassy, which found the Sultan at Belgrade. Rincon, the French ambassador, was also there. The Austrian envoys were conducted through a lane of 12,000 Janissaries to Solyman’s tent, where they found him sitting on a golden throne, before the legs or pillars of which were two gorgeous swords, in sheaths set with pearls; also bows and quivers richly ornamented. The ambassadors estimated the value of what they saw at 1,200,000 ducats. Their errand was of course fruitless. The Sultan seemed only anxious to know the distance to Ratisbon, where the Diet was then sitting; and, on being told that it was a month’s journey on horse­back, he expressed his determination to go. The ambassadors were detained two months among the Turks, and compelled to follow their movements. On the 20th of July the Turks crossed the Drave at Eszék, on twelve bridges of boats. The march of Solyman through Hungary resembled a progress in his own dominions. The fortresses sent him their keys as he approached, and he tried and punished the magnates who had deserted Zapolya. The Turkish fleet also ascended the Danube as far as Presburg; at which point, Solyman, instead of directing his march towards Vienna, turned to the south, and leaving the lake of Neusiedl on his right, took the road to Styria. On the 1st of August he arrived before the little town of Güns. This insignificant and ill-fortified place was destined to inflict upon Solyman the most humiliating disgrace ever experienced by the overweening pride of Oriental despotism, since the memorable in­vasion of Attica by Xerxes. All that pomp and splendor of Eastern warfare, all those myriads of Turkish troops, led by the Grand Signor in person, were detained more than three weeks by a garrison of about 700 men, of which only 30 were regular troops, and those cavalry. Under command of Nicholas Jurissich, who had been one of the Austrian ambassadors to the Porte, this heroic little band repulsed no fewer than eleven assaults, and the Sultan was at length obliged to content himself with a capitulation, by which ten Janissaries were allowed to remain an hour in the place in order to erect a Turkish standard. This delay, and the defeat by Sebastian Schartlin of a body of 15,000 Turkish horse who were to enter Austria by the Sommering Pass, proved the salvation of the country. The French and Venetian ambassadors in Solyman’s camp advised him not to venture, with an army thus weakened and discouraged, a general engagement with Charles’s fresh and well organized forces, and the diversion caused by Andrea Doria with his fleet in the Morea served to support this advice. Doria, after capturing Koron, Patras, and the two castles which defend the entrance of the Gulf of Lepanto, the Dardanelles of the Morea, had landed his troops, and excited the Greeks to revolt. After investing Gratz, which was well defended, Solyman reluctantly abandoned an enterprise for which he had made such vast preparations, and on the success of which he had so proudly relied. Charles was prevented from pursuing the retreating enemy by the lateness of the season, the want of provisions, the sickness which began to prevail among his troops, and the desire of several of the Princes to return home; yet, on the whole, his first appearance at the head of his armies had been attended with considerable glory and success. The subsequent dispersion of the Imperial army much annoyed King Ferdinand, who had hoped to recover with it the whole of Hungary, Belgrade included : but the German leaders would not listen to such a proposal; it was not in their instructions, nor, with the majority of them, would it have been popular. For fear of such an event, however, Solyman, at the request of John Zapolya, left 60,000 men behind at Eszék. In the following year (June 22nd, 1533) a peace was concluded at Constantinople between Ferdinand’s ambassadors and the Porte, by which the former was to retain all that he held in Hungary, and make what terms he pleased with Zapolya.

After the retreat of the Turks, the Emperor again passed into Italy on his way to Spain, and had another interview with the Pope, at Bologna, in December, 1532; when the treaty of 1529 was confirmed and extended, and an alliance formed with the Dukes of Milan and Ferrara and the Republics of Genoa and Siena, for the maintenance of the status quo in Italy. Pope Clement, who was now intriguing with Francis, manifested great unwillingness to enter into the Emperor’s views. He was particularly offended with Charles by his deciding that the House of Este should hold Ferrara as a fief of the Apostolic See, and Modena and Reggio as fiefs of the Empire. Charles pressed the Pope to summon the Council so often demanded, and Clement was obliged, though very unwillingly, to issue a fresh proclamation for that purpose.

While the Emperor was confronting the Turks in Germany, Henry VIII and Francis I had an interview at Boulogne. They felt that they should render themselves odious by taking open part against Charles at such a juncture, and in the treaty which they concluded, October 28th, 1532, they even agreed to oppose with an army of 80,000 men “the damned violence of the Turk”. Henry’s motive for courting the French King at this period was his quarrel with the Pope, and consequently with the Emperor also, on the subject of his divorce. When Henry, by the advice of Thomas Cranmer, resolved to refer this question to the Universities of Europe, he absolved Francis from the payment of the 500,000 crowns which he had engaged to pay for the Emperor, as the latter’s penalty for the breach of his promise to espouse Mary, and he allowed the other debt of 400,000 crowns to be discharged in the course of five years. For these considerations Francis employed himself in procuring a verdict favorable to the English King from those Universities which his influence could reach; using for that purpose sometimes bribes and sometimes threats, as in the case of the University of Paris. During the interview between the two Sovereigns, the subject of the divorce was much discussed. Henry had brought Anne Boleyn, now Marchioness of Pembroke, with him to Calais, where he repaid Francis’s hospitalities at Boulogne, and where the French King danced with that fascinating heretic. Henry quoted Scripture and ecclesiastical history to prove that his marriage with Catharine was invalid; and he endeavored to inspire Francis with all that hatred of the Pope which had so recently taken possession of his own bosom. The French King was at once surprised and amused at this, to him, incomprehensible display of so much passion combined with so profound a submission to Church authority; and he advised Henry to marry Anne at once, without further ceremony. He himself, indeed, though negotiating with Clement for political ends, was half inclined to throw off the Papal yoke. He was grievously sensible of his own poverty; he looked with an envious eye on the riches of the Gallican Church; and he observed that the Kings of Denmark and Sweden had acquired great accession of power by the peaceful reformation accomplished in their dominions. But his views were still directed towards Italy, where the help of the Pope was necessary to his schemes. Henry, who had no such projects, weary at length of so many years of fruitless pleading, resolved to take the advice of Francis; and he privately celebrated a marriage with Anne Boleyn, January 25th, 1533. Soon after, Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, having pronounced a sentence of divorce against Catharine, Anne was solemnly and publicly crowned, June 1st, 1533. The Pope, at the instance of the Emperor, had issued a bull prohibiting the marriage, December 23rd, 1532; but it seems not to have been published till the following February.

In the course of the same year, Francis drew still closer his relations with the Pope. Ever since June, 1631, negotiations had been carrying on for a marriage between the French King’s second son, Henry Duke of Orleans, and Catharine de' Medici, whose birth we have already recorded; but they were not brought to a conclusion till the time of the Emperor’s second sojourn at Bologna, when Clement, irritated by Charles’s conduct towards him, and especially by his pressing the demand for a Council, agreed to meet the French King at Marseilles in the following autumn, and there to arrange the nuptials. Francis had demanded that a principality should be erected for his son, to consist of Pisa, Leghorn, Reggio, Rubiera, Modena, Parma, and Piacenza; also Urbino, and even Milan and Genoa; and that the Pope should help in reconquering these places. Clement was willing to satisfy these demands when an opportunity offered; only he would not speak out about Milan and Genoa. The arrangements were of course kept as secret as possible. The interview took place at Marseilles, towards the end of October, 1533, and lasted three weeks. The Pope himself performed the wedding ceremony, October 27th, and bestowed his benediction on the youthful pair. Henry Duke of Orleans, who, by the death of his elder brother, subsequently became Dauphin, and then King of France, was at this time nearly fifteen years of age; Catharine de' Medici was a little older, and is described as short, thin, and plain, with the large eyes peculiar to her family. Francis ceded all his claims in Italy to his son. Charles V, who could at first scarcely believe that Francis seriously contemplated debasing the royal blood of France by mixing it with that of the Medici, so recently mere private citizens of Florence, took no steps to prevent the marriage.

Quarrel of Henry VIII and Clement VII

The news of Henry VIII’s marriage had reached Rome months before this meeting (May 12th), whither it had been transmitted in all haste by the widowed Queen Mary, Governess of the Netherlands, to the Cardinals of the Imperial faction. Only a few years before Clement had himself advised Henry to such a step; but he was not then, as now, under the immediate influence of the Emperor: besides which he had committed himself by the inhibitory brief. Henry was immediately cited to appear at Rome either in person or by proxy. It might be anticipated that, when the news of the divorce pronounced by Cranmer should arrive in Rome, the last and most terrible sentence of the Church would be fulminated. Henry resolved therefore to blunt the edge of the Papal weapons by anticipating them, and, on the 29th of June, he made a formal appeal, before the Archbishop of York, from the expected sentence of the Pope to the next General Council.

The news of the divorce produced a violent scene between the Pope and the English ambassadors at Rome. One of them, Bonner, the future notorious Bishop of London, who could ill control his tongue, made use of such intemperate language, that Clement threatened to boil him in a cauldron of lead. Henry, however, exhorted him to be firm, and to dispute the matter point by point, and on further deliberation, the Pope thought it prudent to reserve for a while the last blow. By a brief published July 12th, Cranmer’s sentence of divorce was declared null and void; but though the King by his disobedience had incurred the penalty of excommunication, the fulmination of it was deferred till the end of September, to allow him the opportunity of resuming his former position. Henry at this time endeavored to establish friendly relations with the Elector of Saxony and the German Lutherans; and with that view dispatched Vaughan as ambassador to the Court of John Frederick at Weimar; who, however, met with so cool a reception, that he soon took his departure. The German Lutherans were now at least temporarily reconciled with the Emperor, and were not disposed to give him any new cause of offence.

The Duke of Norfolk, Henry’s ambassador to Francis, if he failed to persuade that King to abandon his intended interview with Clement, was ordered to return home instead of proceeding to Marseilles, that he might not be compelled to be present with the Pope, his master’s enemy. Bonner, however, followed the Pope from Rome, and arrived at Marseilles, on the 7th of November, with Henry’s appeal. He has left a graphic description of the Pope’s anger on receiving it, in a letter to the King, dated November 13th. Francis appears to have made strong representations to the Pope in Henry’s favor. Before the meeting broke up, Clement went so far as to say that if the King of England would, only as a mere matter of form, acknowledge the Papal jurisdiction, he would pronounce sentence in his favor, as he believed his cause to be just; he even waived the citation to Rome, and offered to appoint a court to sit at Cambray; but Henry, who, not without reason, suspected that the Pope might still deceive him, rejected the offer; and subsequently, in a letter to Francis I, he very forcibly pointed out how much the Pope had committed himself by acknowledging the goodness of his cause, yet refusing to do him justice without extorting conditions. Such a proposition on the part of Clement shows, however, how much he trusted that his connection with Francis would render him independent of the Emperor.

These events were followed by that memorable session of the English Parliament, early in 1534, which abrogated the Papal jurisdiction in England. The law was mitigated in favor of suspected heretics. The act abolishing annates, which had been begun, but left unratified, now received the royal assent; a proceeding which also involved a reform in the appointment of bishops; for as no annates were to be sent to Rome, so no pallium and bull of confirmation were to be expected thence. The Crown had already usurped from the chapters the appointment of bishops, and the Pope’s share in the transaction had also become a mere shadow. The congé d'élire was now restored to the chapters, but it was accompanied with a nomination by the Crown, to be made absolute within twelve days, under pain of incurring a proemunire. Thus the chapters regained a merely nominal freedom, while the appointment of the Crown was left wholly uncontrolled. Peter’s pence and other payments to the Pope were abolished; and unless the Pope did the King justice within three months, his jurisdiction in England was to cease altogether. The session was wound up by the Act of Succession, by which the King’s marriage with Catharine was declared invalid, Cranmer’s sentence of divorce confirmed, the marriage with Anne Boleyn pronounced lawful, and the issue of it appointed to succeed to the Crown.

Scarcely was the session ended when the news arrived in England (April 7th), that the Pope had pronounced judgment against the King. Through the mediation of the Bishop of Paris, Clement had been induced to defer his sentence to the 23rd of March, and Henry, meanwhile, appears to have agreed to the terms proposed; but his courier having been accidentally delayed on the road, Clement, at the instigation of the Spanish Cardinals, who, since the treaty of Barcelona, possessed supreme influence in the Roman Curia, declared the King’s first marriage valid, and himself excommunicate if he refused to obey this judgment. In pursuance of this sentence, the Emperor was to invade England within four months, and depose the King. Large bodies of troops were actually assembled in the Netherlands; Francis offered Henry his assistance, and that summer the Channel was guarded by a French fleet. The die was now irrevocably cast. The Papal authority in England was abolished by Convocation on the same day that the news of the Pope’s decision arrived. On the 25th of June a royal proclamation was issued against the Pope’s supremacy; and in the next session of Parliament, in November, 1534, it was abrogated by an act which substituted that of the King in its stead.

Death of Clement VII and excommunication of Henry VIII by Paul III

Before this last formal blow to the Papal authority, Clement had expired. He died towards the end of September—the exact day is uncertain. He was naturally grave, diligent in business, and full of ambition; but false and insincere. Although his capacity was large, his judgment was often perverted by timidity, to which also his apparent insincerity must often be ascribed. He was an excellent adviser in a subordinate situation; but paralyzed by irresolution when the responsibility of decision fell upon himself. During his pontificate, Rome experienced one of the most serious disasters it had ever sustained. Clement had seen his capital in the hands of the enemy, and himself a prisoner; he had beheld the establishment of the Reformation in many parts of Germany and Switzerland, and the separation of England from the Roman See.

In choosing Clement’s successor a severe struggle ensued between the French and Imperial parties, which ended in the election of Alessandro Farnese, a man devoted to neither (October 12th, 1534). He assumed the title of Paul III. Farnese was a Roman by birth, of good abilities and education. He had studied under Pomponio Leto at Rome, and at Florence in the gardens of Lorenzo de' Medici; yet he was not free from the superstition of astrology, so prevalent in that age. He was of an easy, liberal temper, fond of magnificence, and very popular at Rome; yet, after all, perhaps his chief recommendations to the Conclave were, his age of sixty-seven, and the many rich benefices which his elevation would cause to be distributed among the Cardinals. Like so many of his predecessors, he was addicted to nepotism. It was he who founded the Farnese palace.

On the question of the divorce Cardinal Farnese had always been on Henry’s side, and even after the passing of the final sentence, had advised its reconsideration. After he had ascended the Papal throne, overtures for a reconciliation were made to Henry, both through the French King and indirectly from the Pope himself. But Henry was resolved not to be again deceived, and rejected all these offers. Paul III therefore issued, early in November, 1535, a bull of excommunication against the King, in which Henry was deprived of the throne, his marriage to Anne Boleyn declared invalid, his subjects were released from their obedience, and exhorted to take up arms against him, all his treaties with foreign Princes and Powers were pronounced null and void, and the nations of Europe were called upon to make war upon him till he should be reduced to obedience to the Holy See.

The death of Clement sadly interfered with Francis’s designs upon Italy. These had taken a more definite form ever since the death of his mother, Louise, when he found himself the heir of a larger sum of money than he had ever before possessed; and from that time he began his preparations. One of the most important of them was the placing of the French army upon a new and more effective footing, especially by the raising of seven legions of French infantry, each of 6,000 men (1534); a force for which France had relied hitherto upon foreigners. But the jealousy of the nobility prevented this plan from being carried out to its full extent.

Francis, however, made his first attacks on the Emperor in Germany. After his treaty with the Pope at Marseilles, he had dispatched M. de Langey into that country to form an intimate alliance with the Princes who were dissatisfied with King Ferdinand’s election, and, in particular, to support the restoration of the Duke of Würtemberg, whose expulsion, and the usurpation of his dominions by the House of Austria, we have already recorded. In January, 1534, Francis himself had an interview with the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the chief supporter of Ulrich, at Bar-le-Duc, when he agreed to advance 125,000 dollars for the affair of Würtemberg, but under pretence of purchasing Mömpelgard, in order that he might not openly violate the peace of Cambray. He had previously paid down 100,000 crowns to the Dukes of Bavaria, in pursuance of the former treaty respecting the election of the King of the Romans; and he engaged to pay a third of the expenses of any war that might arise.

Piracies of Hayraddin Barbarossa

Besides the death of Clement, another reason which induced the French King to postpone awhile his meditated invasion of Italy, was the expedition preparing by the Emperor against the corsairs of Barbary; for he felt that to attack Charles at a juncture when he was performing a service beneficial to all Christendom would draw upon himself the execration of Europe. For many years the coasts of Spain and Italy had been infested by Mahometan pirates, whom the Knights of St. John were quite unable to keep in check. The danger and inconvenience had much increased since Hayraddin, or Chaireddin, surnamed Barbarossa, the son of a Lesbian potter, had by his talents and bravery become commander of a considerable fleet, and had succeeded to the Kingdom of Algiers on the death of his elder brother Horuc, by whom it had been seized. To Barbarossa resorted, as their proper leader, the renegades and freebooters of Southern Europe, and especially the oppressed Moriscoes of Spain. Barbarossa had not even spared the coast of Provence, and, in 1533, Francis had concluded with him a separate truce. His subsequent appointment as the Sultan’s admiral brought him into friendly relations with Francis, who contemplated making use of his fleet in order to recover Genoa, engaging in return to second the enterprises of the Turks. Nay, the French King even sent an ambassador to Solyman, pressing him to terminate his Asiatic wars, and act in person against the Emperor. His defensive alliance with Solyman may perhaps be in some degree excused on the plea of its necessity against the overwhelming power of the House of Austria; but this offensive league, a shameless aiding and abetting of those unspeakable atrocities which called down the execration of Europe, has no such justification. On the coasts of Italy and Spain, and for some miles inland, no father of a family could go to rest in the confident security of finding his wife and children in the morning. In 1534, Barbarossa had infested the coasts of Naples and Sicily with its flying squadrons, inflicting a good deal of damage; then, after plundering the coasts of Sardinia, he passed over to Tunis, and on pretence of punishing Muley Hassan for his tyranny, took possession of his Kingdom. This increase of Barbarossa’s power made him still more dreaded. The Spaniards, in particular, were loud in their complaints, and Charles, who had been resident in Spain since 1533, was obliged to dismiss for a while the politics of Europe, and to direct in person all his forces against Africa, in an expedition which assumed the appearance of a crusade. Before he embarked at Barcelona, the Emperor visited the shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, walking in procession with uncovered head; while the admiral’s ship displayed for its ensign a crucifix with Mary and John standing by.

The only aid which Charles received was from Portugal; not, indeed, from King John, but from his brother Louis, who furnished twenty-five ships, and 2,000 men fully equipped, besides sixty transports. Francis was applied to for aid, but declined to take any part in the enterprise, although there were many French prisoners languishing in Tunis. The army which assembled at Cagliari, under command of the Emperor in person, consisted of 25,000 foot and 2,000 horse, composed of Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese. The expedition sailed in June, 1535, and on the 16th arrived at Porto Farina, near the ancient Utica. The Goletta, the fortress which protects Tunis, was easily taken by storm. On the 20th Hayraddin Barbarossa was defeated in a pitched battle, and put to flight, and five days afterwards, with the help of the Christian slaves, Tunis was captured. In these operations Charles displayed not only personal courage, but also the qualities of a good general. Muley Hassan was restored to his dominions under a treaty by which he engaged to put down piracy, to leave all Christians unmolested, to allow them the free use of their worship, and to pay a yearly tribute of 12,000 ducats.

Charles at Naples.

Having achieved this brilliant conquest, the Emperor reembarked, August 17th, and landed at Palermo on the 4th of September. Thence he proceeded to Naples, where he spent several months, and celebrated the carnival with fetes and tournaments, in which he himself combated in a Moorish dress. It was during his stay at Naples that Charles confirmed the marriage of his illegitimate daughter, Margaret, with Alessandro de' Medici. Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, who, after the death of Clement VII, had become the head of that family, had, at the instance of some leading Florentines, preferred a long list of complaints against his kinsman Duke Alessandro to the Emperor, who was then at Tunis. Charles promised to inquire into the charges on his return; but meanwhile Alessandro bribed the Cardinal's cup-bearer to poison him (August 10th, 1535). Notwithstanding his death, the charges were pursued; Alessandro was cited to Naples; yet, though condemned by a tribunal, he was suffered to retain his power, and in June, 1536, celebrated with royal pomp his marriage with Margaret. The Florentines offered Charles large sums of money to annul the treaty which he had entered into with Pope Clement, and to restore the Republic; but though he rejected their proposals he seems to have put some check to the tyranny of Alessandro.

After the Emperor’s return from Tunis, Francis resolved to invade Italy, for which what he called the murder of his ambassador Maraviglia, or Merveilles, served as a pretext. This man, without any publicly accredited post, had been employed by Francis as a sort of spy at the Court of the Duke of Milan, and Charles had required Francesco Maria Sforza to dismiss him; but an opportunity arose to put him out of the way in a more effectual manner. Some of Maraviglia’s people had killed Count Castiglione in a street brawl (July, 1533); and Maraviglia was consequently arrested, and, after summary process, put to death. This act was a pledge of reconciliation between Charles and Sforza, and the latter now received the Emperor’s niece in marriage, as previously arranged by treaty. Francis, on the other hand, chose to regard the execution of Maraviglia as a breach of the law of nations, and demanded satisfaction both from the Duke and the Emperor. Sforza had no doubt acted with precipitation and injustice; but Francis had postponed his demand of redress till the Emperor’s return; refusing, in the meantime, the most humble apologies on the Duke’s part, and the most liberal offers of reparation. The death of Sforza, October 24th, 1535, put matters on a new footing. He was the last of the ducal branch of his house, and left the Emperor his heir, who took possession of Milan as an Imperial fief, and appointed Antonio de Leyva to the government of it. The French King now shifted his ground. He pretended that, by the treaty of Cambray, he had renounced his claims to the Milanese only in favor of Francesco Maria Sforza; that they were consequently revived by the death of that Prince without issue; and on this pretence, he demanded investiture from the Emperor. Instead, however, of following up this demand by striking a vigorous blow, he suffered the Emperor to amuse him some months with fruitless negotiations. Charles held out the hope that he would confer the Milanese on the French King’s third son, the Duke of Angouleme, except in case that the latter should succeed to the Crown of France; whilst Francis wished to procure it for his second son, the husband of Catharine de' Medici, on the condition that he himself should first hold it during pleasure.

Meanwhile, however, Francis, unwilling that his large forces should remain unemployed, resolved to seize Savoy. It is said that Clement VII first suggested this idea to him during the interview at Marseilles, pointing out that all his former Italian expeditions had failed for want of a proper base of operations. Such a step was now all the more necessary to his contemplated invasion of Italy, as Duke Charles III of Savoy, although uncle of Francis, belonged to the Emperor’s party, and was indeed his brother-in-law, having married Beatrix of Portugal, sister of the Empress. The French King had at hand several pretexts for hostilities. He complained that the Duke had mediated an alliance between the Emperor and the Swiss; that he had refused to lend the Castle of Nice for the interview between himself and the Pope; that he had sent the Prince of Piedmont to be educated at Madrid; that he had lent Bourbon jewels, which the latter pawned to raise troops; with other charges of the like kind. More particularly was he offended that the Duke, or rather his consort Beatrix, had accepted the County of Asti, which Francis had been compelled to renounce by the peace of Cambray; a proceeding which he regarded almost as a personal affront. Besides alleging these grievances, Francis set up a claim to part of his uncle’s dominions. Louise, his mother, was the second child of Duke Philip II, and by his first wife; his uncle, Duke Charles, was the third child, but second son, and by a second wife. Charles, however, had now been thirty years in possession, having succeeded to the Duchy on the death of his brother Philibert, in 1504; Louise and her husband, Charles, Count of Angouleme, had renounced all pretension to Savoy at the time of their marriage; although, without such renunciation, the claim of the male heir was preferable, the succession being regulated as in France by Salic law. Francis pretended indeed that this law had been abrogated on the marriage of his grandmother, Margaret of Bourbon, with Philip of Savoy; but he could never produce the deed of abrogation. Nevertheless he sent Poyet, President of the Parliament of Paris, to make the following demands on his uncle: a payment of 180,000 crowns, the dowry of his grandmother; Bresse, the ancient appanage of his grandfather Philip, together with its revenues for the last forty years; Asti and Vercelli, as possessions of the House of Orleans; the County of Nice, the Lordship of Faucigni, and several domains in the Marquisate of Saluzzo, as old fiefs of Dauphine and Provence; nay, even Turin itself and great part of Piedmont, as having formerly belonged to Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis! Duke Charles offered to refer his nephew’s claims to arbitration; but Francis interpreted this offer as a refusal, and declared war against him.

Covert hostilities had already taken place between France and Savoy. It had been the object of Duke Charles’s reign to get possession of Geneva, the feudal sovereignty of which had been ceded to the House of Savoy at the beginning of the fifteenth century by Odo de Villars, Count of Geneva; but the Genevese had, as we have seen, protected themselves from the attempts of the Duke by an alliance with Freiburg and Bern. Farel, the precursor of Calvin, having, however, abolished Popery at Geneva in 1535, Freiburg abandoned the alliance, and the Duke renewed his attempts upon the liberties of the city. Francis had dispatched two small expeditions to the aid of the Genevese for the purpose of annoying his uncle; but both had been defeated by the vigilance of the Duke’s officers, and these checks had increased the ill-humour of the French King. In February, 1536, the admiral Chabot de Brion, Francis’s lieutenant-general, marched against Duke Charles at the head of a French army. Bresse and Savoy were soon overrun; the Duke abandoned Turin on Brion’s approach, and took refuge at Vercelli, and all the country as far as the Dora Grossa was speedily subdued. The admiral even crossed that river, and was preparing to attack Vercelli, when the Cardinal of Lorraine, who had arrived at the French camp, April 18th, forbade him to do so, on the ground that as Vercelli properly belonged to the Duchy of Milan, an attack upon it would be a virtual declaration of war against the Emperor.

Charles, meanwhile, had proceeded from Naples to Rome, in which he entered on April 5th, and there learned the progress of the French arms in Savoy. On the 17th of the same month he gave an audience to the French ambassadors in presence of the Pope and assembled Cardinals, when he recapitulated in a long speech all his former grounds of complaint against Francis; and he concluded by making three proposals : that the French King should accept Milan for his third son, the Duke of Angouleme, and evacuate Savoy; or that Francis should meet him in a duel, to be fought in their shirts with sword and dagger, the vanquished to renounce all pretensions either to Burgundy or Milan, as the case might be, and to undertake the extirpation of heresy and the overthrow of the Turks; or thirdly, to decide their differences by war. During these negotiations Charles had collected an army of 50,000 or 60,000 men in Lombardy, with 100 guns, besides another in the Netherlands for the invasion of Picardy, while some bodies of troops on the northern frontier of Spain threatened Languedoc. By the aid of the Marquis of Saluzzo, who went over to the Imperialists, Fossano was taken, and Charles now called a council of war to deliberate concerning the invasion of France itself. The Marquis del Guasto and Don Ferrante Gonzaga strongly dissuaded him from the enterprise; Antonio de Leyva as strongly urged it. The Emperor referred the question to the decision of the army, who, with a unanimous shout of approval, declared for the invasion. The Var was crossed July 25th, the anniversary of Charles’s victory at Tunis. Francis had neglected the defence of his frontier, and as the danger approached, resorted, by the advice of Montmorenci, to a barbarous method of defence. The whole district between the sea and the Durance, the Alps, and the Rhone, was laid waste; the mills were destroyed; the crops burnt; the wells poisoned; the towns, even Aix itself, the capital, dismantled and abandoned. Three places only, Arles, Tarascon, and Marseilles, were to be defended against the enemy. Such was the misery which the reckless ambition of Francis had drawn down upon one of his finest provinces. On the other hand Charles might have been warned by the fate of Bourbon how difficult an enterprise he had undertaken, though he could hardly have anticipated the desperate measures adopted by the French. The death of the Dauphin Francis at this juncture (August 10th) seemed to open a prospect of accommodation. Charles intimated that, if the French King would demand Milan for the Duke of Angouleme, peace might still be made. Francis, however, was not content with such an arrangement, nor was he disposed to give up his conquests in Piedmont. A projected attempt upon Arles by the Imperialists was abandoned; the Pope’s town of Avignon, which was inclined to the Emperor, had been seized by Montmorenci, who took up his head-quarters there, whilst Francis himself was at Valence, higher up the Rhone. The march of the Imperialists was therefore directed on Marseilles, to which siege was laid August 25th. Want of provisions, however, and an epidemic among his troops, soon obliged Charles to raise it, and on the 10th of September he began a disastrous retreat, leaving behind him a considerable quantity of guns and baggage. Fortunately for the Imperialists they were not pursued by Montmorenci, or hardly one could have escaped; their loss, as it was, is said to have been 30,000 men. Antonio de Leyva perished in this retreat; a man in whom the qualities of a great general were blotted by avarice, cruelty, and superstition. Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the best pastoral poets of Spain, also fell. He was fired upon by some peasants posted in a tower in the village of Muy, who, from his brilliant equipage, mistook him for the Emperor. Charles arrived at Genoa towards the end of November, fatigued and dispirited, and immediately sailed for Spain. The Imperialists were also repulsed on the northern frontier of France. Nassau had penetrated as far as Péronne, the siege of which he was forced to abandon, September 11th. The French still had possession of Piedmont; Turin had not even been attacked.

The Dauphin’s death occasioned in Francis the impression, heightened probably by the actual presence of Charles in French territory, that his son had been poisoned. The Dauphin’s cup-bearer, Montecuculi, was arrested, subjected to torture, and was condemned to be quartered alive. The only colorable evidence against the accused was that a MS. treatise on poisons had been found in his possession. It is difficult to imagine that Francis could seriously have believed in the Emperor’s guilt, and, indeed, at a later period, he appears to have dismissed the thought. The circumstances of the Dauphin’s death suffice to account for it from natural causes—he had drunk a glass of iced water when heated by a game at tennis.

XV

ENEMIES OF CHARLES V.