READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

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

CHAPTER XIII

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION

SEVERAL concurring causes had assisted the German Reformation. After the Diet of Worms the Emperor proceeded into the Netherlands, and thence, as we have seen, to Spain, where he remained seven years, and seemed to have forgotten Church affairs, nay, almost indeed, those of the Empire itself. His brother Ferdinand, whom he had left at the head of the Imperial government, was very young, and the influence which the Elector Frederick of Saxony naturally possessed in the Council of Regency, as well from his having been one of its original founders, as from his wisdom and experience, invested him in a great degree with the government of the Empire. The majority of the Council, including, as it afterwards appeared, the Elector Palatine, who was associated with Ferdinand in the administration, were in favor of Luther; and thus the body which represented the Imperial power protected the very person against whom the Emperor himself had issued his ban. The election to the Papal chair of Adrian of Utrecht, who declared himself favorable to some reform in the Church, was calculated to support Luther’s cause, although Adrian was hostile to that reformer and his doctrines; and under all these circumstances no great result could be anticipated from the ban. Luther’s success was, indeed, more endangered by the indiscreet zeal of his followers than by the hostility of his adversaries. In his retreat at the Wartburg, which he called his “Patmos”, he spent ten months under the name of Junker, or Squire, George. His solitude, however, was not passed in idleness. Besides writing several tracts, he applied himself assiduously to the study of Greek and Hebrew, and translated the New Testament into German : till at length some disturbances at Wittenberg determined him, at whatever risk, to return to that town.

In spite of the length to which he had carried his speculative opinions, Luther had as yet made no alterations in the forms and observances of religion, when, towards the end of 1521, the Augustinian friars of Meissen and Thuringia formally abolished the saying of Mass, and dissolved their convents; a proceeding which alarmed a great part of the clergy, and created much anxiety at the Court of Elector Frederick. Carlstadt, who officiated at Wittenberg, during Luther’s absence, pushed these innovations still further, and Melanchthon had not courage to oppose him. Dislike of celibacy was one of the chief causes which favored the advance of the Reformation among German ecclesiastics. Two priests of the Wittenberg school, Jacob Seidler, of Glashütten, and Bartholomew Bernhardi, of Kempen, had this year set the German clergy the first example of marriage. Seidler, who lived in the dominions of Duke George of Saxony, was thrown into prison, where he died; while of Bernhardi, who was under the rule of Elector Frederick, no notice was taken. Although the lawfulness of a priest’s marriage was a question that had only just begun to be mooted, and though Luther himself had not made up his mind on the subject, Carlstadt, after publishing a treatise against celibacy, took a wife, and invited all the Saxon princes and gentry to be present at his wedding. Wishing to distinguish himself as a reformer, he incited the students to break down the altars and images in the churches, began to administer the sacrament in both kinds, to abolish the elevation of the Host, to admit communicants without confession, and to make other innovations. He repaired to the stalls of cobblers for instruction in Scripture, denounced all profane learning, and recommended the students to betake themselves to manual labor, so that the University began to break up. In short, he had joined a band of fanatics, founded by one Klaus Storch, a clothier of Zwickau, who made their appearance at this time in Wittenberg. Another leader of Storch’s band was Thomas Münzer, of whom we shall hear again. These men, who pretended to supernatural visions and revelations, and insisted specially on the necessity of adult baptism, obtained the name of the Zwickau prophets. From them sprang the sect of Anabaptists.

These outbreaks of fanaticism, the unavoidable accompaniments of the Reformation, have been made one of its standing reproaches; but in all great revolutions are to be found men whose enthusiasm, when once released from the fetters of authority, can no longer be controlled. Luther, who was distinguished by the cautiousness with which he adopted his conclusions, as much as by the uncompromising boldness with which, when once formed, he carried them out, viewed these excesses with alarm, as likely to alienate the minds of the wise and prudent from his cause; and he resolved to put a stop to them, by returning immediately to Wittenberg. The Elector Frederick admonished him that the Imperial edict stood in the way, and that if called upon to enforce it, he knew not how he could decline; but Luther, conscious of his power, determined to leave the Wartburg. His letter to the Elector, from Borna, March 5th, 1522, when on his way back to Wittenberg, in which he talks in a high tone of protecting Frederick, rather than the Elector him, seems to reverse the relations of lord and subject.

Luther arrived safely in Wittenberg, March 7th. The Elector made him draw up a sort of apology, in which he acknowledged that he had taken this step of his own accord; and this letter, after its wording had been made a little more civil, was forwarded by Frederick to the Imperial Council at Nuremberg. Luther, after his return, preached eight consecutive days, inculcating the need of moderation and caution. These discourses are among the best he ever delivered. Like those of Savonarola, they are truly appeals to the people, but with the view of calming instead of rousing their passions. By degrees his influence and authority allayed the storm. He did not indeed absolutely disapprove of all the changes which had been made at Wittenberg; his chief objection to them was that they were premature; he even retained some of the most essential ones, and left others, as things indifferent, to the option of the people. In the course of the year he published the German Testament which he had been preparing at the Wartburg: a book which, together with Luther’s other literary works, eventually made the High-German dialect the literary and polite language of all Germany, to the exclusion of the Low-German of the north and west. Luther examined the Zwickau prophets, and soon dismissed them as altogether contemptible—a treatment more galling to these fanatics than the bitterest persecution. Enraged at Luther’s cool contempt, Carlstadt, Storch, and Münzer and their followers, withdrew from Wittenberg, loading him with all the opprobrious epithets which rage could suggest. These symptoms caused Luther much anxiety. He foresaw that the agitation of his doctrines must produce a period of disturbance before the Reformation could be established; and he expressed these feelings in some letters which he wrote at this period. A silent movement had, indeed, begun among the people, who applied Luther’s method to politics, and had he been so inclined, he might have easily kindled a rebellion in Germany. He was conscious of this power himself, and says in one of his writings, “Had I wished to proceed with violence, I might have made Germany a scene of blood; nay, I might have played such a game at Worms that the Emperor himself would not have been safe. But what would it have been?— a fool’s game.”

Although, however, Lutheranism was spreading through the greater part of Germany, there were some States in which it was successfully repressed by the government. Duke George of Saxony forbade attendance on the evangelical worship, under pain of banishment, while the preaching or propagating of the new doctrines was punished capitally; he recalled all his subjects who were studying at Lutheran places, and prohibited the reading and sale of the German Bible. In Bavaria the Reformation had at first made as much progress as in any other part of Germany; no attention had been paid to Leo’s bulls, nor had the Edict of Worms been put into execution. The Dukes of Bavaria seemed as much opposed as other German Princes to the meddling of clergy in temporal affairs; but towards the end of 1521 they began to draw towards the Papal Court, and on the 5th of March, 1522, they issued a mandate commanding their subjects to abide by the ancient doctrines, and prescribing severe penalties against those who disobeyed. They seem to have been determined to this course chiefly by the disturbances created at Wittenberg by Carlstadt and the Zwickau prophets. Dr. Eck, the well-known opponent of Luther, was the principal agent in effecting this union between the Bavarian Dukes and the Court of Rome, in which the former found their temporal advantage. Pope Adrian granted them the fifth of all ecclesiastical incomes within their dominions; a concession which was renewed from time to time, and continued to form one of the chief bases of the Bavarian system of finance. Thus, by a union with Rome, the Dukes of Bavaria obtained, although at the cost of their independence, what other Princes seized by separating from her. About the same time Bavaria and Austria entered into a compact against the Lutherans.

Lawlessness of the German knights.

Luther’s prophetic vision of future civil disturbances was probably suggested, not only by the fanaticism of the Zwickau prophets, but also by the spirit which he saw fermenting among the Ritterschaft, or knighthood, of Germany. The Landfriede, or public peace, was set at naught by this order. Nuremberg itself, though the seat of the Council of Regency and of the Imperial Chamber, was surrounded with the wildest feuds. In 1522 the most reckless of the knights, under the leadership of Hans Thomas von Absberg, scoured all the roads: no merchant or caravan was safe. They still retained the barbarous custom of cutting off the right hand of those whom they made prisoners. The rising of the Rhenish knights under Franz von Sickingen the same year, assumed the proportions of regular warfare; and though its object was political, it was partly connected with religious motives. Sickingen was then the richest and most powerful knight in the Rhenish country: his reputation had been increased by the part which he played in the Imperial election, and he was, moreover, an Imperial counselor, chamberlain, and general. In the spring of 1522 Sickingen became the head of a league, formed at Landau by the knights of the Upper Rhine, with the view of defending their order against the Princes of the Empire. The knights were discontented with the new institutions; with the Swabian League, at once complainant, judge, and executioner, with the Imperial Chamber, with the Council of Regency, in short, with everything which threatened to curtail their lawless and irresponsible power. They made religion the pretext of their violence, and their hatred of the clergy drew many to their standard. These noble robbers professed themselves friends of the Gospel; and in Sickingen’s castle of Ebernburg and its neighborhood the purity of evangelical worship had made greater progress even than at Wittenberg itself! He claimed the support of Luther, to whom he had often tendered his protection, and the adherence of the monk of Wittenberg would have given wonderful strength to his cause; but Luther had always declared against the employment of force, and Sickingen received from him nothing but exhortations to peace.

On the 27th of August, 1522, Sickingen, although the custom, as we have seen, had been legally abolished, declared a feud, or private war, against Richard von Greiffenklau, Archbishop and Elector of Treves, “for the things which he had done against God and the Emperor’s Majesty”; and in his manifesto he promised the subjects of the Archbishop, “that he would release them from the heavy antichristian law of the priests, and help them to Gospel freedom”. The immediate cause of the war, however, originated in one of those deeds of violence which the German knights regarded themselves as privileged to commit. Two knights belonging to the League of Landau, having demands on two vassals of the Archbishop, broke into the Electorate of Treves, and carried off two of the richest inhabitants, one of whom was the suffragan’s father, in order to extort an exorbitant ransom. For this Sickingen made himself responsible, and the two captives were dismissed; but on their return they obtained from their superior lord, the Archbishop, a release from their engagement. This act was the pretext of Sickingen’s foray, who appears to have reckoned, though without foundation, on the support of the Emperor himself. An army of knights and mercenaries, consisting of 5,000 foot and 1,500 horse, assembled at the Castle of Ebernburg, near Kreuznach, where Sickingen occasionally resided, and with these forces he appeared before Treves. He was assisted in his enterprise by Albert, Elector of Mainz; but Philip, the young Landgrave of Hesse and friend of Luther, was against Sickingen, as well as the Palsgrave Frederick, who had formerly supported him. By the vigilance of Philip and the Palsgrave, Sickingen was deprived of the help which he had expected from the other knights of Germany, and after remaining a week before Treves, was compelled to abandon the siege. On the 8th of October he was put under the ban of the Empire, and soon after his castles of Drachenfels, Ebernburg, Kallenfels, Neustuhl, Hohenburg, and Linzenburg being either captured or threatened, he caused Landstuhl, near Kaiserslautem, to be fortified anew, where he hoped to defend himself till the knights should come to his assistance. But this was prevented by the allied Princes. In April, 1523, Philip of Hesse, the Elector of Treves, and the Palsgrave, appeared before Landstuhl with a formidable artillery; the castle walls, twenty-four feet thick, were breached and reduced almost to a heap of ruins; yet Sickingen defended himself like a hero till the 7th of May, when having been severely wounded, he was forced to capitulate. When the Princes entered the castle, they found him lying in a vaulted chamber at the point of death. “What have I done”, exclaimed the Archbishop, “that you should attack me and my poor people?”. “Or I”, added the Landgrave, “that you should overrun my land in my minority?”. Sickingen replied, “I must now answer to a greater Lord”. Then his chaplain, Nicholas, asked him if he would confess? and Sickingen said, “I have already in my heart confessed to God”. Hereupon the chaplain addressed to him the last words of consolation; and as he lifted up the Host on high, while the Princes bowed their heads and kneeled, Sickingen expired. The Princes said a paternoster for his soul.

The fall of Landstuhl was the death knell of feudal violence in Germany. The harnessed knights and their strong castles yielded at length to the progress of modern ideas and improvements in the art of war. All the strongholds of Sickingen and his friends, twenty-seven in number, now fell into the hands of the Princes. Ebernburg was the only castle that made any prolonged defence, and here a rich booty was taken. At the same time the Suabian League, whose army of 16,000 or 17,000 men had assembled at Nordlingen, under command of George Truchsess, of Waldburg, destroyed the greater part of the castles of the Franconian knights. The German knighthood never rose again.

It was fortunate for Luther and his cause that he had not joined the party of the knights. The religious disputes now began gradually to assume a political aspect. The conference at Jüterbog, in 1523, where the Elector of Saxony, the Dukes of Brunswick, and the Princes of Anhalt, all partisans of Luther, discussed the means of securing themselves against the effects of the Edict of Worms, laid the foundation of the subsequent Lutheran League at Torgau.

Relations between Rome and Germany.

In November, 1522, Pope Adrian had complained to the Diet assembled at Nuremberg that the Edict of Worms remained unexecuted, nay, that Luther was encouraged by many distinguished persons, and particularly by the Saxon Elector; and he required that the arch-heretic should be destroyed with fire, unless he immediately retracted his errors. At the same time Adrian instructed his Legate, Chieregato, to admit that many abuses prevailed in the Church, for which these heresies might be regarded as a divine visitation, and to notify his resolution to reform the Court of Rome. These confessions, as had been foretold by the more worldly-minded prelates, were eagerly seized upon by the States; who, after adverting to them, required the abolition of annates, and the calling of a General Council within a year in some German city. They declined to resort to any violent measures for fear of creating disturbances; but they engaged to use their influence with the Saxon Elector, to prevent Luther from publishing anything further; and they took the opportunity again to present their Centum Gravamina, or list of a hundred abuses in the Church. Before the termination of the Diet, the Legate Chieregato pressed once more for the punishment of Luther, and for a restriction of the liberty of the press; but the States dismissed his application with a short answer, that they were busy with other matters, and could do nothing till their list of grievances had been handed to the Pope, and some prospect of redress afforded.

Diets were also held at Nuremberg, then the seat of government, in 1523 and 1524. When Cardinal Campeggio attended the latter Diet as Legate of Clement VII, he found the state of religious feeling completely altered since his previous visit to Germany. He had then seen that country full of submission to Papal authority; now, on passing through Augsburg, and, after the traditional fashion, giving his benediction with uplifted hand, he was only received with ridicule. In consequence of this reception, as well as of a hint from the Council of Regency, he laid aside his Cardinal’s hat, and omitted all the usual ceremonies on entering Nuremberg; and instead of going to St. Sebald’s Church, where the clergy were waiting to receive him, he proceeded at once to his lodgings. Clement VII, with his usual crooked policy, instructed Campeggio to act as if the Centum Gravamina had never reached the Court of Rome in a formal shape; and, treating them merely as a document drawn up by private individuals, to point out the assumed perversity and exaggeration of the complaints. This palpable stratagem gave great offence, and the reforms proposed by Campeggio were regarded as ridiculously inadequate. The recess of the Diet (April 18th, 1524) ordered that the Edict of Worms should be executed “as far as possible”—a vague expression, which left everyone to act as he chose—that a General Council should be summoned, and that meanwhile the list of Gravamina should be drawn up afresh, and discussed in a new Diet to be held at Spires in the following November.

Campeggio at once saw the danger of such an assembly, and determined to prevent it. With this view he convoked at Ratisbon, towards the end of June, a meeting of those princes and prelates who were zealous supporters of the Court of Rome, as the Archduke Ferdinand, the Dukes of Bavaria, the Archbishop of Salzburg, and others; and he persuaded them to make such representations to the Emperor as induced him to prohibit the intended Diet at Spires. Charles addressed from Burgos, a letter to the States, in which the views of the Papal party were supported in the warmest terms. He complained that the Edict of Worms remained a dead letter, and that a General Council was insisted on without even asking his opinion; he declared that he would never consent to a meeting like that appointed at Spires, in which the German States were to enter upon a subject which not all Europe, with the Pope himself at its head, was competent to settle; he denounced Luther, whom he compared to Mahomet, as the promulgator of inhuman opinions; and he concluded by forbidding the appointed Diet under pain of incurring the penalty of high treason and the ban of the Empire. The States yielded to the Emperor’s commands so far as concerned the calling of the Diet; but they took no steps to enforce the Edict of Worms, although the Kings of England and Portugal, at the instance of Clement, seconded the exhortations of the Emperor.

It was evident that the government was unable to repress the movement. Luther, however, ill content with the resolutions of the Diet of Nuremberg, published a treatise, in which he pointed out and ridiculed in the boldest language the contradictions between them and the Edict of Worms. He was every day growing bolder in his reforms. He had published, in 1523, directions to the clergy respecting the Church service; and he expected municipal magistrates to put their hands to the work without consulting the Elector Frederick, whom he represented as acquiescing in what was done by others, though unwilling to do anything himself. Frederick appears to have felt some compunction at abolishing the saying of Mass, and was filled with alarm at the riots which accompanied these innovations. The Chapter of Wittenberg also resisted Luther’s views, and it was not till Christmas eve, 1524, that he succeeded in establishing his new liturgy. He had just before taken the final step which severed him from the Roman communion. On the 9th of October he quitted the Augustinian convent at Wittenberg, laid aside his monk’s habit, and entered the church in the dress of a secular priest.

On the other hand, the Catholics were uniting to uphold the Church. In spite of the jealousy between the Houses of Bavaria and Austria, Campeggio, the Papal Legate, persuaded Dukes William and Louis of Bavaria to unite with the Arch­duke Ferdinand in defence of the Church. An agreement was entered into at Ratisbon, July 6th, 1524, between these three Princes, the Archbishop of Salzburg and the Bishops of Trent, Ratisbon, Bamberg, Spires, Strassburg, Augsburg, Constance, Basle, Freising, Passau and Brixen, to enforce in their territories the Edict of Worms, and the recesses of the last two Diets of Nuremberg; also, not to alter the Church service, not to permit the marriage of the clergy, and, in general, to use their best endeavors to extirpate heresy. At the same time several reforms in the Church were adopted. In short, it was the first attempt to restore Catholicism by improving it, and thus to blunt the weapons of the reformers. It shows, however, a great change in public opinion, that neither the Elector Joachim of Brandenburg, nor Duke George of Saxony, the two most decided opponents of Luther, joined this combination; nor any of the Imperial cities, nor of the spiritual Electors. The alliance of Bavaria and Austria alone secured the Roman Church in Germany. The enemies of the Reformation were beginning to imbrue their hands in the blood of the reformers. In 1524 a crazy Dominican in Swabia, named Reichler, caused all the Lutherans he could lay hands on to be hanged on the next tree. Henry of Zutphen, whose martyrdom has been described by Luther, was put to death at Dietmar. Similar executions took place at Buda and Prague, as well as at Vienna; and two Augustinian friars were burnt at Brussels.

Peasant war

An insurrection of the peasantry at this period threatened, however, more danger to the Lutheran cause than any measures which the Roman party might adopt. The peasants, as well as the inhabitants of the smaller towns in Upper Germany, had long been discontented with their condition, the villein services exacted from them, the wasting and plundering of their lands during private wars, and other grievances, particularly the increased taxes on their favorite drinks; and they were animated to resistance by the example of the Swiss, who had fought for and won their freedom. Insurrections had repeatedly taken place, of which two are especially remarkable : that called the Bundschuh, in 1502, and the League of Poor Conrad in Würtemberg, in 1514, to which we have already adverted. The religious revolution set on foot by Luther was undoubtedly fitted to stir up these elements of discontent: and it cannot be denied that his address to the people on the recess of the Diet of Nuremberg, in which he denounces, as tyrants, and persecutors of the Gospel, the Emperor and the Princes of the Empire, and in the words of Scripture threatens them with a fall, was calculated to foment these commotions, which, however, were originally little connected with any religious question. Symptoms of insurrection began to manifest themselves in June, 1524, but it was not till the following year that they attained any importance. The revolt began in Swabia and the Thurgau, where the Abbot of Reichenau had forbidden his subjects to listen to evangelical preachers. The Swabian League succeeded in temporarily restoring order; the leaders of the malcontents were put to death or outlawed: but nothing was done to alleviate the grievances complained of. In the beginning of 1525 the insurrection broke out afresh, with more violence. The peasants of Swabia, Franconia, Lorraine, Alsace and the Palatinate now rose in open revolt, and published a manifesto containing their demands in twelve articles, which very much resembled those previously urged by the Bundschuh. The principal were, that the peasants should be allowed to choose their own pastors; that tithes should be paid in kind only, and should be appropriated to the clergy, the poor, and purposes of public improvement; that serfdom should be abolished; that the right of hunting and fishing, and the use of forests should be free: together with other articles respecting taxes and penal laws. This manifesto, and another writing, the peasants submitted to the judgment of Luther, a proceeding which very much embarrassed him. In the Exhortation which he published in reply, he told the spiritual and temporal Princes who had opposed his doctrines, some home truths respecting their government; and he ascribed the disturbances to the repression of the Gospel: then, addressing himself in friendly language to the rebels, he inculcated the duty of submission, by which he incurred the charge of hypocrisy.

In February, 1525, Ulrich, the expelled Duke of Würtemberg, broke into Swabia with 10,000 Swiss mercenaries; when the peasants, who had formerly complained of his tyranny, flocked to his standard, and talked of the good days they had once enjoyed under his sway. He pushed on as far as Stuttgart; but the Swiss being recalled by their government after the battle of Pavia, he was obliged to make a hasty retreat. Truchsess, of Waldburg, head of the Swabian League, who had taken the field against the peasants, refused to make any concessions. Whilst he was in the Allgau, and on the Lake of Constance, the peasants, led by one Metzler, penetrated into Franconia, plundering and burning down monasteries and castles. Hearing that Truchsess had caused some of their comrades to be put to death, they retaliated by killing Count Ludwig von Helfenstein and sixty of his followers, whom they had captured when they surprised the town of Weinsberg: and they turned a deaf ear to the supplications of his wife, an illegitimate daughter of the Emperor Maximilian. This deed, which, however, had been provoked by the cruelties of Count Ludwig, enraged the nobles against them. It also spoilt their cause in the eyes of Luther, who denounced them all as murderers; called upon the princes and nobles to show no forbearance or pity, and urged them to the work of death in harsh and even bloodthirsty language.

Some of the knights and nobles joined the revolt, either from fear or the hope of obtaining a share in the plunder, and among them the renowned Götz von Berlichingen, who became one of the leaders of the peasants, but, as he protested, by compulsion. He stood in an equivocal light with both parties. The peasants were at first successful, and besieged and occupied Würzburg. Truchsess, who was aided by George Frunsberg, advancing from the Lake of Constance with the army of the Swabian League, overthrew a body of them on the 2nd of May, and speedily reduced the whole of Würtemberg to obedience to Archduke Ferdinand. At Fürfeld, Truchsess united his army with that of the Elector Palatine, and marched against another body of the peasants; they could not withstand the cannon and cavalry of their opponents; and after a defeat at Königshofen, early in June, could offer little further resistance. Innumerable prisoners were taken and hanged on the high roads, or otherwise put to death, sometimes with tortures. About the same time Duke Anthony of Lorraine and his brother Claude, Count of Guise, overthrew the insurgent peasants in Lorraine and Alsace, with great slaughter. It is reckoned that about 100,000 persons perished in this rebellion, which reduced the most populous and fertile districts to solitudes, filled with smoking ruins. Götz von Berlichingen was captured, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment in his own castle, where he remained eleven years: but after the dissolution of the Swabian League, he was pardoned by the Emperor, and subsequently served some campaigns in Hungary and France.

Fanaticism of Tomas Münzer

The revolt would have sooner come to an end had not its dying embers been fanned and kept alive by the fanaticism of Thomas Münzer, whose expulsion from Wittenberg has been already recorded. From that place Münzer proceeded to Altstedt in Thuringia, where, inspired, as he pretended, by the Holy Ghost, he set about restoring the Church as it existed under the Apostles, till he was banished at the instance of Duke George of Saxony. A like fate attended him at Nuremberg; but at the Imperial city of Mühlhausen he was favorably received by the populace, with whose aid he deposed the magistrates and drove the monks from their convents. Münzer, however, though a wild and extravagant fanatic, did not indulge in those violences and excesses which afterwards characterized the Anabaptists of Münster. His aim was to establish a theocratic government, and he instituted at Mühlhausen a body called the “Perpetual Council”, of which he was himself the president. He now proclaimed liberty, equality, and community of goods: doctrines which drew to Mühlhausen crowds of the idle, the disaffected, and the knavish. As frequently happens in such cases, Münzer soon lost the control of the movement which he had excited. One Pfeiffer, a renegade monk of Reiffenstein, a still greater and more dangerous fanatic than himself, insisted on extending the sec beyond the walls of Mühlhausen. The insurrection of the peasants encouraged the design; inroads were made on the surrounding districts; churches, convents, and castles were plundered, and the assertors of community, of goods returned home richly laden with those of other people. Pfeiffer made a devastating expedition into the Eichsfeld, and Erfurt was sacked by a body of many thousand boors. All the country was at that time in arms, from the Lake of Constance to Northern Germany. Münzer thought the moment had arrived for raising the standard against the Princes; and he proceeded, with this design, to Frankenhausen, where he found a great body of Mansfeld miners, who had fled thither to escape the arms of their lord, Count Albert. The Landgrave Philip of Hesse, having quelled the insurrection in his own dominions, now allied himself with Duke Henry of Brunswick, Duke George of Saxony, and some neighboring Princes, in order to put down the Anabaptists. Having marched on Frankenhausen, and being willing to avoid an unnecessary shedding of blood, they dispatched a young nobleman to treat of peace, whom Münzer barbarously caused to be put to death. Battle was now the only alternative. On the 15th of May, 1525, Münzer led forth his defenseless herd, without discipline or arms, promising them the miraculous protection of God, and invoking the Holy Ghost with hymns and prayers. Their trust was soon converted into despair. They were defeated and slaughtered almost without resistance, and Münzer, who had attempted to hide himself, was captured and examined under torture.

In the midst of these disturbances died the Elector Frederick the Wise (May 5th, 1525). He was succeeded by his brother, John of Saxony, who joined the allied Princes, and proceeded with them to Mühlhausen. Pfeiffer was inclined to defend the place, but the inhabitants were of a different opinion, and Pfeiffer fled in the night with about four hundred followers. He was captured at Eisenach, where he and some of the older prisoners were beheaded. Münzer, who was also brought to the camp for execution, returned, when on the point of death, to the Catholic faith.

Marriage of Luther

John, surnamed the Steadfast, the new Elector of Saxony, was a much more zealous supporter of the Reformation than his brother had been. Frederick had merely tolerated Luther; John became his declared adherent. Encouraged by his support, Luther abolished the remnants of Papistry still retained in the Castle Church at Wittenberg, announced the abolition of episcopal jurisdiction, and ordained the first evangelical minister in that city (May 14th). These innovations were also adopted by the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Dukes of Brunswick, Celle, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania. In the following month Luther took to wife Catharine of Bora, who, like himself, had been the inmate of a cloister. This act gave his enemies an excellent opportunity for slander and abuse.

The Swabian League, in which the confederates of Ratisbon had the chief influence, followed up their victory by persecution. Many who had taken no part in the insurrection were put to death merely on account of their principles; amongst them nine of the richest citizens of Bamberg. A provost, named Aichili, proceeded through Swabia and Franconia with a body of horsemen to superintend the executions, and it is reckoned that in a very narrow circuit he hanged about forty preachers on trees by the road-side. Luther denounced these proceedings as strongly as he had condemned the insurrection of the peasants. It was the first violent restoration of Catholicism in High Germany. Nevertheless, some of the towns belonging to the League itself, as Nuremberg and Augsburg, adopted the evangelical forms; and though Würtemberg had been conquered by the League, its States declared that evangelism was necessary to the peace of that country.

One of the most remarkable revolutions in the neighborhood of Germany this year was the secularization of the Polish territory belonging to the Teutonic Order, its erection into an hereditary duchy, and the establishment there of Lutheranism. We have already related that by the peace of Thorn in 1446, the Teutonic Order made over West Prussia to Poland, and consented to hold East Prussia under the Polish King and Republic. The Grand-Masters of the Teutonic Order soon attempted to shirk the feudal homage due to Poland, and even to recover Western Prussia. At the period at which we are arrived, Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, of the Franconian branch, filled the office of Grand-Master, having been chosen in 1511, in the hope that by means of his family connections he would be able to restore the Order’s independence. This, however, he was unable to do; and in April, 1521, after an unfortunate war, he was glad to conclude, through the mediation of the Emperor, a four years’ truce with Poland. The Order had now fallen into poverty and contempt, and the immoral lives of several of the Knights had rendered it so hateful to the people, that none dared show himself in the mantle of his Order while, on the other hand, many of them had become converts to Lutheranism, and, in spite of their vows, had contracted marriage. During the truce, Albert travelled into Germany, and attended the Diet of Nuremberg, in the vain hope of obtaining help of the Empire. On his way back he had an interview with Luther, whose principles he had himself partly adopted; when Luther advised him to dissolve the Order, take a wife, and convert Prussia into an hereditary principality. Early in 1524 Albert brought the Church service more into conformity with the Lutheran worship; and at the expiration of the truce in April, 1526, instead of renewing the war, he repaired to Cracow, and concluded a peace with King Sigismund I, by virtue of which he received East Prussia as a secular duchy, with succession to his heirs, or in their default to his brother George of Anspach, but still in feudal subjection to Poland. Duke Eric of Brunswick, Commander at Memel, the only member of the Order who refused his consent to this arrangement, was at length persuaded to retire into Germany with an annual pension. The new religion was now thoroughly established in East Prussia; and in the following year Albert married Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark. Such was the origin of the Duchy of Prussia. The Pope declared Albert an apostate, and called upon the Emperor to punish his crime who subsequently placed him under the ban of the Empire. Albert, however, found security in his remote situation, and in the protection of the King of Poland; for, though Sigismund was a zealous Catholic, the interest of his Kingdom required the suppression of the Teutonic Order. Luther also endeavored, though in vain, to persuade Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, to follow the example of his namesake and cousin, and convert his Electorate into a secular principality.

Political character of the Reformation

All these events greatly altered Luther’s situation, and determined the political character of the German Reformation. Instead of the man of the people, Luther became the man of the Princes; the mutual confidence between him and the masses, which had supported the first faltering steps of the movement, was broken; the democratic element was supplanted by the aristocratic; and the Reformation, which at first had promised to lead to a great national democracy, ended in establishing the territorial supremacy of the German Princes. The knights to whom Luther had formerly appealed, had vanished: Götz von Berlichingen was in prison; Franz von Sickingen had died in defence of his last stronghold; and Ulrich von Hutten had ended his eventful life in exile and poverty on a small island in the Lake of Zurich. The Reformation was gradually assuming a more secular character, and leading to great political combinations. We have already adverted to the Catholic assembly at Ratisbon in 1524; which, though its measures were purely defensive, and its views did not extend beyond the territories of the lay and ecclesiastical Princes who had joined it, had nevertheless set the first example of party union. Both Catholics and Reformers had indeed for a while united to put down the insurrection of the peasants, in which they had succeeded without any help from the Imperial government; but after this had been effected, the old antipathies returned more strongly than ever. The evangelical party, who regarded the Ratisbon assembly as a hostile league, had acquired great power and importance since the Elector John of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, whose dominions extended from Cassel to the Rhine, had openly separated from the Romish Church. Besides these Princes, the new Duke of Prussia, the Counts of Hanau and of Oldenburg, the Imperial cities of Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Strassburg, and several others, comprehending great part of Germany, had abolished the Catholic worship. None of these States heeded the commands of the Council of Regency, nor allowed the decisions of the Imperial Chamber to be executed: so that the question was no longer merely one of religious faith, but also of civil government.

League of Torgau.

In July, 1525, some of the most zealous opponents of the Reformation, Duke George of Saxony, the Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg, Albert Elector of Mainz, Duke Henry the younger of Wolfenbüttel, and Duke Eric of Calenberg, met together at Dessau, to consult how the continued attacks upon Church and State might be best arrested; and although there are no authentic records of this meeting, it cannot be doubted that resolutions inimical to the reformers were adopted. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, supposing that a formal league had been entered into by the Catholics, proposed to the Elector John of Saxony to form on their side a league of mutual security.

These negotiations were brought to a conclusion at Gotha, in February, 1526, and were ratified at Torgau on the 4th of March; whence this alliance has generally obtained the name of the League of Torgau. It was disapproved of by Luther; he thought that all such earthly means implied a distrust of God, who would without them protect and foster true Christianity, as he had done in the centuries of persecution. On the other hand, Duke Henry of Brunswick procured from the Emperor a rescript or exhortation, dated at Seville, March 23rd, 1526, and couched in the strongest terms, in which Charles applauded the anti-Lutheran league, exhorted all Catholic Princes, both lay and ecclesiastical, strenuously to oppose the new doctrines, and promised that, after visiting Rome, he would himself come into Germany and aid in putting down the heretics by force of arms. The hopes of the Catholic party were excited to a high pitch by this letter, and Duke George openly asserted that it was in his power to become Elector of Saxony at any moment he pleased. The evangelical Princes bestirred themselves on their side. The Landgrave of Hesse undertook to canvass the States and Princes of Upper Germany in favor of the League of Torgau; but met with little success. The Elector Palatine, indeed, was favorable to the cause, but was not prepared openly to join the League. In Lower Germany the Elector of Saxony was more successful in his canvass, chiefly through his family connections; and at his invitation Duke Henry of Mecklenburg, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, and Counts Albert and Gebhard of Mansfeld, assembled at Magdeburg. The Emperor’s letter from Seville, now first made known to these Princes, struck them with alarm, and on the 12th of June they subscribed the League of Torgau, to which the town of Magdeburg, at the instance of its magistrates, was subsequently admitted. The confederates declared that as their adversaries had contracted leagues and collected money in order to maintain the old abuses and to make war upon those who allowed God’s word to be preached in their dominions; so they had confederated themselves to defend their subjects from unjust aggression, and to assist one another with all their power in case any attack should be made on their religion. Thus a strong and compact evangelical alliance was established, and both parties were fully organized when the Diet of Spires met on the 25th of June.

Diet of Spires, 1526

The Elector John of Saxony appeared at Spires with the greatest splendor. He was attended by a larger number of mounted followers than any other Prince, and had daily to provide for seven hundred mouths. He also distinguished himself by the magnificence of his banquets. The young Landgrave of Hesse was chiefly remarkable for the religious knowledge which he displayed, and is said to have shown himself better versed in Scripture than the Prelates. Both he and the Elector John had adopted as their motto, Verbum Dei manet in eternum, which encircled the armorial shields affixed to their lodgings; and, in conformity with their religious pretensions, they had instructed their followers to observe the most decorous behavior. When the proceedings were opened, the Archduke Ferdinand, who presided, and the commissioners by whom he was attended, at first insisted on the strict observance of the Edict of Worms. But since the date of Charles’s letter from Seville, Pope Clement having organized against the Emperor the Holy League, the rela­tions between them were become completely altered, and they were now at open hostility with each other. In consequence of this change, Charles addressed a letter to his brother Ferdinand, July 27th, in which he instructed him to suspend the penalties enjoined by the Edict of Worms, to refer the religious question to the decision of a council, and to use his endeavors to obtain, with the help of the Lutheran Princes, a vote for a large army to serve against the Turks, whose inroads were now become in the highest degree alarming. Under these circumstances, the recess of the Diet was conceived in the most moderate tone (August 27th). The Emperor was requested to cause a General, or, at all events, a National Council, to be assembled within a year in Germany, and to visit that country himself; and it was resolved that till the Council assembled, every member of the Empire should so conduct himself with regard to the Edict of Worms as he should answer for it towards God and the Emperor; in other words, was to act as he should deem advisable. On the 17th of September the Emperor addressed a violent manifesto to the Pope, in which he accused him of shedding Christian blood to gratify his arrogance and ambition, and called on him to convoke a General Council. A memorable point in the history of Germany and the Reformation! Catholicism probably could not have subsisted in Germany had the Edict of Worms been formally withdrawn; while, on the other hand, if its execution had been insisted on, the evangelical party would not have been able to establish itself by legitimate and peaceful methods. The recess was immediately adopted in Saxony, Hesse, and the neighboring States, and during the two following years, in which Charles was more engaged with politics than religion, matters took their natural and unimpeded course, so that the Reformation soon gained a wonderful accession of strength.

Hungary and the Turks

Before the Diet of Spires was dissolved, alarming news had arrived of the march of Sultan Solyman towards Hungary with an enormous host; the fall of Peterwardein was already announced; yet the Diet, in its recess dated only the day before the fatal battle of Mohacs, contented itself with voting that an embassy should be sent to ascertain how matters really stood! Not a hand was stretched forth to avert the fate of Hungary, which, like Venice previously, was abandoned to its own resources.

It was during this war that Ferdinand of Austria celebrated his marriage with Anne, sister of Louis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia. Louis himself, after the Turks had retreated, solemnized his wedding with Mary, sister of Charles and Ferdinand, in the winter of 1521, and took upon himself the conduct of the government. That youthful King, then only in his sixteenth year, was unable to control the turbulent nobles of Hungary, who declined all military service, or, if they appeared when summoned, came in their coaches instead of armed and on horseback and they imposed impolitic taxes on commerce and manufactures in order to raise mercenary troops. Bohemia was in little better plight, and was moreover shaken by religious dissensions. Germany itself, like both those countries, was, as we have seen, ruled practically by a turbulent oligarchy; and it is not therefore surprising that no advantage was taken of the respite afforded by Solyman’s expedition to Rhodes in order to prepare against any future attacks of the Turks.

Fortunately for the Hungarians the Sultan was too much engaged during the next two or three years with the affairs of the Crimea and of Egypt to attack them, though a border warfare had continued to rage on the frontier of Hungary since the capture of Belgrade. Solyman had purposely abstained from making peace, and he observed the same policy with regard to Persia, whose Shah, Thamasp, successor of Ismael, the founder of the Sofi dynasty, had formed an alliance with the Emperor Charles V, and with King Louis of Hungary. By the year 1525, Achmet Pasha, the rebellious Governor of Egypt, had been reduced to obedience, Asia Minor had been tranquillized, the power of Persia had been shaken, the revolts of the Janissaries had been quelled; the Osmanli army, wasted by the terrible siege of Rhodes, had been recruited to its pristine strength, and Solyman was at leisure to turn his attention towards the north. These results had been achieved principally through the vigilance and talents of the Sultan’s Grand Vizier and favorite, Ibrahim Pasha, the son of a Greek sailor of Parga. Captured when a child by Turkish corsairs, and bought by a Magnesian widow, who caused him to be instructed in several European and Asiatic languages, Ibrahim had early displayed considerable talent, and was fond of studying history; but it was his engaging countenance and a talent for playing the violin that introduced him into the Seraglio, where he soon became Solyman’s chief favorite. Appointed Grand Vizier in 1523, he held that office till his fall and death in 1536; and much of the splendor and importance of Solyman’s reign must be attributed to the influence of this remarkable man. His character formed a strange compound of cunning, audacity and grandeur. Born himself a subject of Venice, his government was swayed by Venetian influence, the man whom he chiefly consulted being Aloysio Gritti, an illegitimate son of Andrea Gritti, who was Doge of Venice from 1523 to 1538.

Alliance between Francis and Solyman.

In 1525 Solyman began his preparations for invading Hungary; and he made a truce for seven years with Sigismund of Poland, so that Louis could hope for no help from that quarter. An alliance had been also contracted between France and the Porte. A French embassy to the Sultan was intercepted by the Sandjak of Bosnia; the ambassador was murdered, together with his twelve attendants, and robbed of all the valuable presents which he was conveying to the Sultan; among them a ruby of great price, which Francis had worn on his finger at the battle of Pavia. This ring was subsequently recovered, and came into the possession of Ibrahim. There is a suspicion that this deed of violence was committed with the privity of Ferdinand, who appears to have known that negotiations were carrying on between Francis and the Sultan: and the Turks have, indeed, often expressed their horror at the assassinations committed by the House of Austria. After this failure, Francis, while still a prisoner at Madrid, contrived to send a member of the Frangipani family as ambassador to Constantinople, who succeeded in effecting an alliance between the French King and the Sultan. Francis pressed Solyman to invade Hungary, whilst the French attacked Spain, to which arrangement the Sultan in general terms assented.

Early in 1526 the most alarming tidings reached Hungary of Solyman’s vast preparations for invading that Kingdom. The Hungarian magnates, at continual feud with one another, were totally unprepared to resist; the lower classes, who had in great numbers imbibed the doctrines of Luther, justified themselves for not taking up arms, by appealing to one of his propositions, which had been condemned by Leo X in his bull of excommunication, viz., “That to fight against the Turks is equivalent to struggling against God, who has prepared such rods for the chastisement of our sins”. Above all, the treasury, ever since the reign of Wladislaus, had been in a state of absolute exhaustion. So complete was this poverty, that the capture of Belgrade, five years before, was attributed to the want of fifty florins to defray the expense of conveying to that place the ammunition which was lying ready at Buda! The only resource was to borrow of the Fuggers, who lent their money on the security of the Hungarian mines, as they did to Charles V on the mines of Tyrol, Spain, and America. At length a Diet was appointed to assemble on the 24th of April. Solyman, after visiting the graves of his forefathers, and of the old Moslem martyrs, had set out the day before from Constantinople with a force of 100,000 men. The Hungarian nobles, instead of adopting energetic measures, did nothing but wrangle with their indolent King, or rather with the Queen, who acted for him. Towards the end of June not a gun nor a vessel was ready at Buda. Louis now revived an ancient custom, and sent round a bloody sabre, as a signal of the most imminent danger.

Battle of Mohács.

Fortunately, Solyman’s march had been retarded by bad weather, and he did not reach Belgrade before the 9th of July. A flotilla of 800 vessels had conveyed up the Danube a large body of light-armed Janissaries. Peterwardein was taken on the 15th, the citadel on the 27th. A Hungarian council of war was still disputing at Tolna about the mode of operations, when the flames which arose from the town of Eszék announced that the Turks had crossed the Drave, and were in full march upon the capital. The Chancellor, Broderith, who accompanied this expedition, and afterwards wrote an account of it, in a letter from Tolna to the Queen (August 6th), told her that he did not expect there would be a force sufficient to meet the enemy within twenty or thirty days. A twelvemonth, however, would scarcely have sufficed; for Solyman’s army had swollen as it advanced, and after his junction with Ibrahim, was said to number 300,000 men. Yet the young King of Hungary was compelled by his nobles to throw himself in Solyman’s way, although he had not yet been joined by his two chief vassals, the Ban of Croatia, and John Zapolya, Voyvode of Transylvania, who was still at Szegedin with his forces. With an army of little more than 20,000 men, whose command was entrusted to the brave but inexperienced Archbishop Tomory and George Zapolya, in the absence of his brother John, Louis awaited, in the swampy plain of Mohacs, the approach of Solyman’s innumerable host.

The King shared the opinion of Broderith, that it would be advisable to retreat to Tolna, and await the arrival of the large forces under John Zapolya. The Palatine and Tomory were, however, for an immediate combat, and infected the army with their rash enthusiasm. On the afternoon of the 29th of August, the Turks began to descend from the hills which the Hungarian generals had left unoccupied. The Hungarians immediately attacked them; but their onslaught was conducted after the ancient fashion. They trusted to their cavalry and their steel cuirasses; infantry and artillery they had little, in comparison with the Turks; while Solyman, though regarded as a barbarian, had adopted all the appliances of the new art of war. His Janissaries were familiar with the use of fire-arms, and 300 pieces of ordnance bristled in his entrenched camp behind the hills. The leading Turkish squadrons were easily repulsed; their retreat, which was a mere ruse, was mistaken for a general flight; the Hungarian cavalry pursued them over the rising ground, and, undeterred by the prospect which now burst upon their view, of the immense extent and impenetrable strength of the Osmanli camp, charged up to the very tent of Solyman himself. They soon paid the penalty of their rashness. Mowed down by the fire of the Janissaries and of the Turkish artillery, they were thrown into disorder, and fled in turn. The young King, led by a Silesian nobleman, had crossed in his flight the muddy stream which traverses the plain of Mohacs, when his horse, in attempting to mount the opposite bank, fell backwards, and buried himself and his rider in the morass. The body of Louis was found some time after the battle. The flower of the Hungarian nobility perished on that fatal day, among them the brave Paul Tomory, and many other prelates who had exchanged the crosier for the sword. The Turks committed the most horrible slaughter, to build up their accustomed pyramid of skulls, and burnt down the surrounding towns and villages. There was now nothing to arrest Solyman’s march to Buda, the keys of which were presented to him at Földvár; for the Bohemian forces, which, under Adam von Neuhaus and George of Brandenburg, had advanced as far as Raab, retreated when they heard of the overthrow at Mohacs. Solyman entered Buda September 10th. According to the Turkish historian, Solaksade, he told the nobles who humbled themselves before his throne at Pesth, that he should be willing to recognize and protect as their King, John Zapolya, the Voyvode of Transylvania, an announcement which doubtless had great effect on the ensuing election. Solyman might probably have subjugated all Hungary, but he was called away by disturbances in Caramania; and after spending a fortnight in Buda, where he celebrated the feast of Bairam, he began his homeward march. He could not prevent a considerable part of the town from being burnt. He or his Vizier Ibrahim carried off the famous library collected by Matthias Corvinus, together with three bronze statues of Hercules, Apollo and Diana, which Ibrahim, who was at no pains to conceal his contempt for the Koran, boldly erected before his palace on the Hippodrome at Constantinople. It is said that more than 200,000 Hungarians were either killed or made slaves during this invasion.

The battle of Mohács was one of those events which decide the fate of nations. By the death of Louis two Crowns became vacant, the succession to which was a subject of vital importance to the future welfare of Europe; and as Solyman was detained the next two years (1627 and 1528) in Constantinople by other affairs, and especially by the disturbances in Asia Minor, the Hungarians were left at leisure to settle the question among themselves. Ferdinand of Austria, who considered himself entitled to Hungary and Bohemia, both by the treaty of Presburg and by his marriage with Anne, the sister of the deceased King, was employed, at the time of the battle of Mohács, in quelling a peasant insurrection which had broken out at Salzburg contemporaneously with that in Swabia and Franconia. He was not therefore in a condition to assert his pretensions by force of arms, and deemed it prudent to submit to the right of election claimed both by the Bohemians and the Hungarians. In both countries he was opposed by a rival candidate. The Bavarian Duke, William I, who competed with him for the throne of Bohemia, was, however, from his intimate connection with the Court of Rome, with which the House of Austria was then at variance, regarded with an evil eye by the Bohemians, who were for the most part inclined to the doctrines of the Reformation; and in October, 1526, Ferdinand was elected by a large majority of the three estates, that is, the nobles, knights, and citizens, and proclaimed King in full assembly. A solemn embassy was sent to Vienna to tender him the Crown; and on the 24th of February, 1527, the anniversary of his brother’s birthday, he celebrated his coronation at Prague. The Bohemian States, however, made Ferdinand sign a deed called a Reverse, by which he acknowledged that he had obtained the Crown by their free choice, and not from any previous right. On the 11th of May he received at Breslau—for Silesia as well as Lusatia was then subject to the Kingdom of Bohemia—the homage of the Silesians, and of those German Princes who held Bohemian fiefs.

John Zapolya, King of Hungary.

In Hungary Ferdinand had to contend with a more formidable rival in John Zapolya. After the death of his brother George, who was killed at the battle of Mohács, John Zapolya was the richest and most powerful of the magnates, and possessed seventy-two castles in Hungary, of which the finest was Trentschin, situated on a high cliff overhanging the river Waag. Notwithstanding his power, however, Zapolya was no Magyar, but a Slavonian by origin, without much education, and destitute of talent either for the cabinet or the field. The Crown of Hungary is said to have been foretold to him at a very early age; and when, after the death of Wladislaus, the Emperor Maximilian’s policy deprived him of the hand of the deceased King’s daughter, Anne, as well as of all share in the government, he fell into the bitterest discontent. The results of the battle of Mohács, enabled him to assert his pretensions to the Hungarian Crown. He was supported, as we have seen, by the recommendation of Sultan Solyman, as well as by the intrigues and money of Francis I and of the Pope; above all he was at the head of a large force, which, not having appeared at the battle of Mohács, was still untouched, and was necessary for the protection of the capital. Soon after Solyman’s departure, John Zapolya was saluted King at Tokay; and on November 11th, 1526, he was crowned at Alba Regia, or Stuhlweissenburg, by the Archbishop of Gran, with the sacred crown of St. Stephen. A considerable party, however, devoted to the House of Jagellon, now represented by Ferdinand’s consort, Anne, met in the same month at Presburg, and elected the Austrian Archduke for their Sovereign. The possession of Bohemia enabled Ferdinand to raise forces to assert his claim. In vain did Sigismund, King of Poland, at a congress held in April, 1527, at Olmütz in Moravia, endeavor to mediate between the rivals; in vain did Pope Clement VII, now the Emperor’s prisoner, excommunicate Zapolya at his dictation; nothing could decide this dispute but the arbitrament of the sword. In the latter part of July, Ferdinand marched towards Hungary with an army of German troops under command of Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg, Nicholas of Salm, and Count Mansfeld. On the 31st, Ferdinand reached the half-ruined tower on the high road from Vienna to Buda, which marked the boundary between Austria and Hungary; and no sooner was he on Hungarian soil than he dismounted from his horse, and in presence of the Palatine Bathory, who, with 200 mounted nobles, had come to welcome him, he swore to observe the laws of the Kingdom, and the privileges of the different orders.

The frontier fortresses of Hungary were speedily reduced. As Ferdinand advanced, Zapolya, or King John, was deserted by many of his adherents, and being finally overthrown by Salm at the battle of Tokay, Ferdinand entered Buda on August 20th, St. Stephen’s day. That very day he published an edict against the printing of Lutheran and Zwinglian books. King John, being now almost completely deserted, fled into Transylvania, and Ferdinand, having assembled the greater part of the nobility at Buda, caused himself to be again elected King, and received the Crown at Stuhlweissenburg on November 3rd. His consort, Anne, was crowned on the following day. Meanwhile Zapolya had been employing himself in seeking for allies. He had dispatched a Pole named Jerome Lasczy, or A Lasco, to the Courts of France and England; where, though he met with a favorable reception, he does not appear to have obtained any available help. Wolsey advised his master to acknowledge the Voyvode’s title as King of Hungary, and to encourage him as a bogge, or bugbear, in order to depress the power of Ferdinand; but to excuse himself from sending any aid, by reason of the great distance between the countries and the war then raging in Christendom. Towards the end of the year Zapolya sent Lasczy to Constantinople, where, with the assistance of the Venetian Gritti, who pretended to follow the trade of a jeweler, he succeeded in February, 1528, in forming an alliance between Solyman and John Zapolya, or as the Turks called him King Janusch; by the terms of which the Sultan not only engaged to supply guns and ammunition, but also to undertake a fresh expedition into Hungary. King Ferdinand also sent ambassadors to the Porte to treat of peace, but as they ventured to ask back the places which the Turks still held in Hungary, they incurred from Ibrahim the bitterest scorn and anger, and were thrown into prison. When at last they were dismissed in March, 1529, after a captivity of several months, Solyman bade them tell their Sovereign that he was coming to visit him in person; and on the 10th of May he again quitted Constantinople for Hungary with a large army. It was a pretension of the Turks, that wherever the horse of the Grand Signor had once trod, and he himself had rested for the night, the Osmanli power was irrevocably established. Solyman had slept in the palace of Buda, and had only refrained from burning it because he intended to return thither : all Hungary, therefore, belonged to the Sultan. As a last resource, Ferdinand dispatched another ambassador, provided with letters for Solyman and his Vizier Ibrahim couched in the most humble terms, and with, instructions to offer a considerable sum under the name of a yearly pension. But it was now too late. Before the ambassador could reach Möttling on the Kulpa, towards the end of August, Solyman was again encamped with an innumerable host on the blood-stained plain of Mohács, Here, where so many of his countrymen had been destroyed, King John, at the head of a large body of Hungarian magnates, met the Sultan, and did him homage. He was received with great ceremony, and admitted to kiss the Sultan’s hand; but the Crown of St. Stephen, the palladium of Hungary, which had adorned the heads of both competitors, was surrendered into Solyman’s possession. Since the battle of Mohács, the Turks had greatly extended their dominions in Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia; Jaicza, the last Hungarian bulwark in Bosnia, had fallen in 1528, and its surrender was followed by that of several smaller places in that and the adjoining provinces. There was nothing, therefore, to oppose the advance of the Turks; for southern Hungary was in the hands of King John’s party. On September 3rd, 1529, Solyman again appeared under the walls of Buda, which capitulated after a resistance of five days: but in spite of his engagement, the Sultan was unable to save the garrison from the hands of his Janissaries. Here Zapolya, or King John, was again crowned by the hands of one of the Turkish generals.

Vienna besieged by the Turks

Solyman in person now marched to Vienna, and invested that capital, while Ferdinand was anxiously waiting at Linz till the German Princes should assemble round him with their promised succors. Even the Protestants—for the German reformers had now acquired that name by their celebrated protest at Spires in the spring of this year—had not withheld their aid from King Ferdinand, and the Elector John of Saxony himself had sent 2,000 men under command of his son. The defence of Vienna against an army of 300,000 Turks with 300 guns, besides a strong flotilla on the Danube, is one of the most brilliant feats in the military history of Germany during the sixteenth century. The van of the Osmanli cavalry appeared before Vienna September 21st, and in a few days the city was surrounded. A small number of Hungarians accompanied the Turkish army, but King John, who is said to have possessed neither military talents nor even personal courage, remained at Buda with a garrison of 3,000 Osmanlis. From the top of St. Stephen’s tower the Turkish tents might be discerned scattered over hill and dale for miles, while the white sails of their fleet gleamed on the distant Danube. Solyman pitched his tent near the village of Simmering, a spot afterwards occupied by a powder magazine. Ibrahim Pasha, recently appointed Seraskier, conducted the operations of the siege. The walls of Vienna were weak and out of repair, and had no bastions on which guns could be planted. The garrison, commanded by Philip of Bavaria, consisted of 20,000 foot and 2,000 cavalry, picked troops from various parts of Germany, including a few Spaniards. They had only seventy-two guns, but these were skillfully disposed. The citizens vied with the troops in valor. The heads of most of the noble Austrian families, the Schwarzenbergs, Stahrembergs, Auersbergs, Lichtensteins, and others, took part in the sallies : among them the veteran Nicholas of Salm particularly distinguished himself. Solyman sent in a message that if the garrison would surrender, he would not even enter the town, but press on in search of Ferdinand; if they resisted, he should dine in Vienna on the third day: and then he would not spare even the children. No answer was made; but the preparations for defence were urged on with a dogged resolution, though without much hope of success. The Osmanlis, however, had no well-concerted plan of operations. Their army, according to traditional usage, was divided into sixteen different bodies, to each of which a separate place and a definite object were assigned; and although they had made several breaches and mined a portion of the walls, all their assaults were repulsed. The last was delivered October 14th, and in the night they began to retreat. They had several reasons for this course. So large an army could not be provided for during any long-continued siege or blockade, although their flour was conveyed to them by 22,000 camels; already at Michaelmas the Janissaries had begun to complain of the cold; and the forces of the Empire and of Bohemia were beginning to arrive. The Turks in this invasion committed their usual barbarities, and wasted the country up to the very gates of Linz. They suffered much in turn in their retreat, as well from the weapons of their foes as from hunger and bad weather, and did not reach Belgrade till November 10th. Solyman got back to Constantinople, December 16th.

The peace of Barcelona and that of Cambray having liberated the Emperor’s forces in Italy for action in Germany, Solyman deemed it prudent to treat John Zapolya with liberality; as he passed through Buda in his retreat, he restored to that Prince the crown of St. Stephen and other regalia, and exhorted the Hungarian nobles to be faithful and obedient to their new King, whom he charged with the defence of Hungary, promising him assistance in case of need. After the departure of the Turks, Ferdinand, who still retained Presburg, gained some successes over Zapolya, but was prevented from following them up with effect by want of money, and by Charles V’s zeal against the Reformation, which engrossed all his attention, and the struggle thus degenerated into a petty civil war. Towards the end of 1530, Zapolya was besieged in Buda by Ferdinand’s captain, Rogendorf, but without success. Ferdinand, who had been elected King of the Romans, and wished to devote his attention to the affairs of the Empire, was now inclined for peace, and on the 31st January, 1531, a truce of three months, afterwards prolonged for a year, was concluded. Solyman, after his retreat from Vienna, did not again appear in Hungary till 1532.

XIV

CHARLES V’S DIFFICULTIES