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

CHAPTER XX

THE CLOSE OF CHARLES V’S REIGN

THE Turkish war in Hungary, to which we have referred in the preceding chapter, had been brought on by Ferdinand’s own intrigues. The infant son of John Zapolya had been committed to the guardianship of Martinuzzi, or Brother George, Bishop of Grosswardein. Sultan Solyman, however, regarded himself as the protector of the son of his “slave”, Zapolya, and had sent him, together with his mother Isabella, into Transylvania, where Martinuzzi resided with them at Lippa. The hood which Brother George continued to wear, though it was long since he had troubled himself about the rules of the cloister, was no check either on his ambition or his military ardor; but was flung aside at the sudden outbreak of war, when his shining helm and waving plume might be seen afar, amid the thickest of the combatants. Martinuzzi was also overbearing and tyrannical. His dictatorial conduct towards Isabella was so unbearable, that she complained of him to the Sultan, who bade him respect the wishes of the Queen. For this affront to his authority Martinuzzi determined on revenge. He entered into negotiations with King Ferdinand, and agreed to throw Transylvania into his hands. Ferdinand could not forget the treaties by which the dominions of Zapolya were to have reverted to him on the death of that Prince, and in 1551, a formal treaty was entered into effect that purpose. Isabella, in exchange for some domains in Silesia, surrendered the sovereignty of Transylvania to Ferdinand, who received the Crown of Hungary, and the homage of the States at Klausenburg; while for this act of treachery, Ferdinand procured for Martinuzzi a Cardinal’s hat, and bestowed upon him the government of Transylvania. But the anger of Solyman was roused; and although the five years' truce was not yet expired, he ordered Mohammed Sokolly, Beylerbey of Roumelia, to enter Transylvania with his forces; several towns, including Lippa, fell before the Turkish arms, which, however, failed in an attempt upon Temesvar. On the other hand, Martinuzzi and Ferdinand's commander, Castaldo, were active in the field; they recovered Lippa before the close of the campaign, but dissensions soon broke out between them. Castaldo could not endure the overbearing arrogance of the Cardinal; it is surmised also that he had cast a longing eye upon his treasures; however this may be, he accused Martinuzzi to Ferdinand of a treasonable correspondence with the Turks, denounced his restless ambition, and advised his assassination. To this base proposal Ferdinand consented.

On the 18th of December, 1551, the Castle of Alvinz, where Martinuzzi resided, was entered by Spanish soldiers; the Cardinal received his first wound from the hand of Castaldo’s secretary, and was soon dispatched with more than sixty bullets. Ferdinand was universally accused of this cold-blooded murder; and two ambassadors sent by Isabella to demand an explanation died soon after from some unknown cause.

War in Hungary, 1552

The Turks renewed the campaign in Hungary, early in the spring of 1552, under the conduct of the eunuch Ali, Sandjak of Buda, who took Wesprim and several other mountain towns, captured the Austrian captain Erasmus Teufel, and led him back in triumph to Buda. In May, Ali was supported by the Vizier Ahmed, with the army of Asia, and the cavalry assembled by the Beylerbey of Roumelia. Temesvar and the other fortresses of the Banat, were now captured, and Turkish rule established there, which lasted till 1716. In the north, however, the little town of Erlau resisted three furious assaults of the Turks, and kept them at bay, till Maurice after the peace of Passau, arrived at Raab, with an army of more than 10,000 men. The rumor of his approach, as well as the lateness of the season, caused the Turks to raise the siege of Erlau, and prevented them from making any further progress; but Maurice could not recover what they had already seized. He had for his colleague, Castaldo, the murderer of Martinuzzi, whose suspicious temper led him to regard Maurice with the same aversion as he had formerly displayed towards the Cardinal : and at the end of the campaign they separated with feelings of the bitterest enmity.

The Emperor, meanwhile, issuing from his inglorious retreat at Villach, proceeded into Germany, where a considerable army had been collected for him. At Augsburg he dismissed the ex-Elector John Frederick, on his promise not to enter into any religious league, nor to molest those who adhered to the old faith; and he was likewise required to confirm, and to cause his sons to ratify, the agreement with Maurice respecting the partition of the Electorate. He and the Emperor parted with some regret, as adversaries who had learned to respect each other. The Landgrave Philip, agreeably to the treaty of Passau, was also restored to his dominions in September. He troubled himself no more with religious questions and foreign alliances, and the chief regret he is said to have expressed was that in his absence the rascally peasants had ruined his hunting-grounds.

Whatever temptation Charles might have felt to try his fortune once more against the Lutherans, he resolved to observe the peace of Passau; and having recruited his forces at Augsburg with several battalions dismissed by the confederate Princes, he directed his march towards the French frontier. On the 19th of September he entered Strasburg, whose inhabitants he thanked for their brave and loyal defence. He was now advised by some of his captains to penetrate into the interior of France, and to dictate such another peace as that of Crespy. But Charles’s pride was offended by the occupation of Metz by the French, and in spite of the advanced season, he determined to lay siege to that city, on the assurance of Alva that such an undertaking was still practicable. First of all, however, it was necessary to conciliate Albert of Brandenburg, who having refused to recognize the peace of Passau, and having recruited his forces with part of the troops discharged by the allied princes, was carrying on a war of brigandage for his own benefit on pretense of being the ally of the King of France, who had indeed supplied him with money. Albert had extorted large sums, as well as territorial concessions, from the city of Nuremberg, and from the Bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg; thence he entered the Electorate of Mainz, put Worms and Spires under contribution, and advanced upon the Moselle, carrying pillage, devastation, and terror in his train. At last he took up a position between Metz and Diedenhofen, and it seemed for some time doubtful to which side he would incline. The French, however, having failed to keep their promises to him, the Bishop of Arras succeeded in gaining him for the Emperor; and Albert falling unexpectedly on a body of troops commanded by the Duke of Aumale, completely routed them, and carried off the Duke himself among the prisoners. For this service the Emperor granted him a full pardon, and the territories which he had seized during the war

Metz was invested by the Imperial army, October 19th. Francis, Duke of Guise, who was in the town with several French princes and a garrison of 10,000 men, had made the most vigorous preparations for its defence. The beautiful suburbs had been leveled with the ground, and all the inhabitants expelled, with the exception of some priests and about 2,000 skilled mechanics. Charles, who had been laid up several weeks with gout at Landau and Diedenhofen, appeared in the camp November 20th, and took up his quarters in a half-ruined castle in the neighbourhood. The siege was pushed on with vigor: Charles shared all its dangers and hardships, and declared his resolution either to take the place or die before it. But the defence was equally vigorous; the weather setting in cold and rainy, the Imperial troops, particularly the Spaniards and Italians, perished by hundreds, and early in January, 1553, the Emperor was forced to raise the siege without having risked a single assault. Metz now became completely French; the reformed doctrines were suppressed and all Lutheran books burnt. Thus the city was severed at once from Protestantism and, virtually at least, from the Empire.

French and Turkish piracies

The year seemed destined to be an unfortunate one for the Emperor, whose affairs were proceeding as badly in Italy as in Germany and France. Indigence compelled him to cede Piombino to Cosmo de' Medici for a loan of 200,000 crowns, and he thus lost all footing in Tuscany. Siena, a Ghibeline city, which had placed itself under his protection, alienated through the cruelty of the commandant, Don Diego de Mendoza, one of those stern officers whom Charles was accustomed to select, revolted, and with the help of some of the French garrison from Parma, drove out the Spaniards.

At the same time Naples was exposed to the greatest danger. The Prince of Salerno, who had fled to the Court of France to escape the oppressions of the Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, suggested to Henry II an invasion of Naples, and gave out that he could aid it through his influence. There was, indeed, much discontent in that city. Besides the malcontent nobles, many Protestants had sprung up there, formed in the school of Bernardino Occhini and Peter Martyr, and Don Pedro had put many of them to death. Solyman, moreover, at the instance of the French King, dispatched the corsair Draghut with a fleet of 150 ships, who, after ravaging the coast of Calabria, cast anchor in the Bay of Naples. The aged Doria, having ventured to oppose the Turks with a fleet of only forty galleys, was defeated in an action off the isle of Ponza, and after losing seven galleys and 700 men was forced to fly; but the French squadron not appearing, the Turks returned homewards, August 10th. They had scarcely been gone a week when the Baron de la Garde arrived with the French fleet : but as he was neither strong enough to attack Naples by himself, nor could induce the Turks to return, he followed them to the isle of Scio, where they wintered together. In the following year the combined fleet returned to Italy, Drag- hut, however, bringing only sixty galleys, whilst the French squadron had been augmented. On this occasion the same inhumanities were perpetrated on the coasts of the Two Sicilies as in the preceding year, and with the connivance of the French. The fleet then attacked Corsica, although Henry II was not at war with Genoa, to which Republic that island belonged. The French took several places, as Porto Vecchio, Bastia, San Fiorenzo, and Ajaccio; but Draghut, having quarrelled with La Garde for refusing him the plunder of Bonifazio, the corsair seized for galley-slaves all the inhabitants fit to handle the oar, and carried off several Frenchmen of distinction as pledges for the money which he pretended was due to him (September, 1553). Doria subsequently retook several of the places occupied by the French, but could not prevent them from retaining a footing in the island.

Death of the Elector Maurice

Meanwhile Germany was the scene of intestine discord. The Emperor, who had seen all his plans in that country frustrated, and whose thoughts were now principally directed towards the encroachments of France, encouraged Albert of Brandenburg as a counterpoise to Maurice; and after raising the siege of Metz, paid to Albert all the money due to him, and thus enabled him to make large additions to his army. The Imperial Chamber, on the appeal of the Bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg, annulled the conditions which Albert had extorted from these prelates; and as he disputed this decision, a league of the German Princes was formed against him, of which Maurice was declared generalissimo (April, 1553). Maurice raised an army about equal to that of his opponent; the two Princes met at Sievershausen in the Duchy of Lüneburg, and a battle ensued which was contested with the greatest obstinacy. The superiority of Maurice in cavalry at length turned the fortune of the day in his favor; but towards the close of the battle, as he was leading a body of horse to the charge, he received a wound, which in two days put an end to his life, in the thirty-second year of his age, and the sixth of his Electoral dignity. He will always be remembered as having worsted the most sagacious as well as the most powerful Prince in Europe, in the very height of his success.

The death of Maurice allowed Albert to rally his forces and to resume his marauding expeditions. Henry Duke of Brunswick now took the command of the allied army, and defeated Albert in another pitched battle near Brunswick, September 12th; and after some unsuccessful attempts to retrieve his affairs, Albert was compelled to take refuge in France, where he lived some years in a state of dependence and discontent. His territories were seized by the Princes who had taken arms against him, but on his death (January 12th, 1557) were restored to the collateral heirs of the House of Brandenburg.

Maurice was succeeded in the Saxon electorate by his brother Augustus, in whom it had been conjointly vested. John Frederick sent his eldest son to Brussels to request from the Emperor his restoration to the Electoral dignity and territories; but Charles refused to violate the stipulation which had been made in favor of Augustus. The latter, however, was inclined to interpret the capitulation of Wittenberg more liberally than his brother, and ceded to John Frederick and his heirs, in addition to what they still held, Altenburg, Eisenberg, Herbsleben, and some other places, which enabled the Ernestine line of Saxony to appear at least as considerable Princes of the Empire. But though they have inherited the Thuringian principalities of Weimar, Gotha, Coburg, &c.,the Electorate, and subsequently the Kingdom, of Saxony, has continued in the younger, or Albertine, branch of the family. John Frederick died a little after the execution of this treaty (March 3rd). After these commotions Germany enjoyed a period of repose, and took but little part in the politics of Europe.

The war in 1553

In the spring of 1553 the Emperor had renewed the war on the side of the Netherlands. The French King, elated by his previous success, and thinking the power of Charles completely broken, was amusing himself and his Court with balls of Saxony and tournaments in honor of the marriage of his illegitimate daughter Diane with Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro, when he was surprised by the intelligence that Térouenne was invested by an Imperial army; which town, considered one of the strongholds of France, fell after a two months’ siege, and was razed to the ground. Hesdin was next invested and taken. At this siege Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Piedmont, first displayed those military talents which enabled him to recover his hereditary dominions. During these operations the Emperor was confined several months at Brussels with so violent an attack of gout that he was at one time reported to be dead; but at a late period of the season, finding that Montmorenci had entered the Netherlands with a large army, Charles also, though scarcely able to bear the motion of a litter, put himself at the head of his troops. Both sides, however, carefully avoided a general engagement; till towards the end of September, Montmorenci was compelled by sickness to resign the command, and the autumnal rains setting in, the campaign was brought to a close without anything of moment having been accomplished. The campaign in Italy had been equally unimportant. In September Charles III, the unfortunate Duke of Savoy, who during the last eighteen years had been deprived of three-fourths of his dominions, died at Vercelli, at the age of sixty-six. A few days after his death Brissac surprised that place, and then retired with the effects of the deceased Duke, valued at 100,000 crowns. Charles was succeeded by his son, Emmanuel Philibert.

The death of Edward VI, the youthful King of England (July 6th, 1553), not only retarded the progress of the Reformation in that country, but also gave a new direction to European politics. The fatal ambition of the Duke of Northumberland, his attempt to procure the English Crown for his daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey, which ended only in her destruction as well as his own, and the triumphant accession of Queen Mary, are well known. A success so complete and unexpected, and which promised such splendid results for the See of Rome, quite overpowered Julius III, and he burst into tears of joy at the news. He immediately dispatched his chamberlain, Commendone, to England, who obtained a secret interview with Mary, in which she acknowledged her desire to restore her people to the Roman Church. When Julius communicated these glad tidings to the Consistory, the assembled Cardinals approved his design of sending Cardinal Pole as legate to the Emperor and to the French King, as well as to Mary, and 2,000 crowns were furnished to him to defray the expenses of his journey. He was to devise the best means of accomplishing the great revolution, respecting which he was also to consult the Emperor. Above all, he was enjoined to avoid doing anything that might alienate from Rome the mind of Mary, on whom alone rested the realization of the project, especially as the greater part of the nation hated the Holy See.

Schemes of Charles V.

Charles had also his own plans at this juncture. The English Queen, his cousin, had always listened to his counsels; she relied on his support for extirpating heresy in her Kingdom; and to draw the connection closer, and add, if possible, another land to his already vast dominions, the Emperor resolved to procure Mary's hand for his son Philip. That Prince was now a widower, his wife Mary, daughter of John III of Portugal, whom he had married in November, 1543, having died a few days after giving birth to a son, the unfortunate Don Carlos, July 8th, 1545. It was believed that Mary's eyes had been turned towards her kinsman, Cardinal Pole, now between fifty and sixty years old; and also on Edward Courtnay, son of the Marchioness of Exeter, whom, soon after her accession, she created Earl of Devon. Her union with an English nobleman would have gratified the nation, but Mary soon dismissed all thoughts of it. In September, 1553, the Emperor directed his ambassadors to make to her a formal proposal of his son. Charles stated that had he not been elderly and infirm, he should himself have sued for her hand; but, as she knew, he had long resolved to remain single, and he could not propose to her any one dearer to him than his own son. No objections arose on the part of the cold and calculating Philip, though Mary was eleven years older than himself. Mary, too, although the Spanish match was opposed by her council and by the nation, had fixed her heart upon it. On the night of October 30th she sent for Renard, one of the Imperial envoys, to her private apartment; when kneeling down before the Host, and after repeating the Veni Creator, she made a solemn oath that she would marry the Prince of Spain.

The Emperor, who was jealous of Pole’s pretensions, detained him till he was certain of his son’s success. Early in 1554 the marriage was arranged, and the treaty concerning it drawn up. The Queen's Ministers insisted on certain articles for the security and advantage of the realm; the principal of which were, that the administration of the revenues, and the disposal of benefices, &c., should be vested entirely in the Queen; that in case of the death without issue of Don Carlos, Philip’s son by his former wife, the children of the present marriage should inherit Spain, the Netherlands, and all the other hereditary dominions of the Emperor; that Philip should retain no foreigners in his service nor about his person; that he should attempt no alteration in the laws or constitution of England, nor carry the Queen, nor any of the children born of the marriage, out of the realm; that in case of the Queen's death without issue he should not lay claim to any power in England : and that the marriage should not involve England in the wars between France and Spain, nor have any influence on its foreign policy.

Risings in England

The unpopularity of this match gave rise to three abortive insurrections in different parts of the Kingdom, headed respectively by Sir Thomas Wyat, Sir Peter Carew, and the Duke of Suffolk; the last of which occasioned the execution, not only of Suffolk himself, but also of his innocent daughter, the Lady Jane Grey, and her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley. It is said that the execution of that unfortunate lady was counselled and solicited by Charles V, who likewise advised Mary, as a thing indispensable to her own safety and that of Philip, to put her sister Elizabeth to death, who was known to have been privy to Wyat’s rebellion. Mary, however, resisted every importunity for that purpose, though she caused her sister to be confined in the Tower, and afterwards at Woodstock.

Philip, to whom the Emperor had resigned, before his marriage, the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, in order that his rank might be equal to that of his consort, set sail from Coruña, July 11th, with a fleet of 100 ships, having a splendid suite and 4,000 troops on board. He landed at Southampton on the 19th, and on the 25th, being St. James's day, the Apostle of Spain, celebrated at Winchester his marriage with Mary. During his absence in England, and subsequently in the Netherlands, the regency of Spain was entrusted to his sister Joanna. That princess, who was eight years younger than Philip, had married the heir of Portugal; but his untimely death in January, 1554, had allowed Joanna to return to Spain at the summons of her father. Three weeks after her husband's decease she had given birth to a son, Don Sebastian, whose romantic adventures have procured for him a wide-spread celebrity.

Philip strove to make himself popular in England. So far from attempting to break through or evade the conditions of his marriage-contract, he did not even avail himself of all the privileges which they conferred upon him. He seemed to make it a point of honor to bestow rather than to receive. The expenses of his Court were defrayed with Spanish or Flemish gold; lines of sumpter horses and wagons laden with treasure passed through the streets of the capital to the Tower, and it is asserted that he bestowed on some of the English ministers and great nobles pensions of the yearly value of 50,000 or 60,000 gold crowns. It cannot be doubted that his presence materially assisted the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in England, which was effected under the immediate advice of the Emperor. After the marriage of his son, Charles dismissed Cardinal Pole to England, and he kept a body of 12,000 men on the coast of Flanders to support Philip in case of need. Such Englishmen as had shared the plunder of the Church, more than 40,000 in number, were quieted with the assurance that they would not be required to restore what they had received; and in November, scarcely four months after the Queen’s marriage, the Parliament and nation solemnly returned to their obedience to Rome. It is difficult to determine what part Philip took in the persecutions which took place during Mary's reign. According to some accounts, he was an advocate for clemency. It is certain, at all events, that he strove to avert from himself the odium attending them; and his confessor, Alfonso de Castro, a Spanish friar, preached a sermon bitterly denouncing them. But no conduct on his part could reconcile the English people to his sway; they would neither consent to help the Emperor his father against France, nor suffer Philip to be publicly crowned as King of England.

War in the Netherlands, 1554

The French King had done all in his power to frustrate the marriage between Philip and Mary, and through his ambassador, Noailles, had secretly assisted in fomenting the rebellions against the Queen’s authority; but finding all these attempts ineffectual, Henry II assumed the part of Mary's hearty well-wisher, and sent to congratulate her on the suppression of those disturbances. Mary, on her side, offered her mediation between the Emperor and the French King, and sent Cardinal Pole to Paris to arrange a peace between them; but all his efforts proved abortive. In June, 1554, Henry II, assisted by the Constable Montmorenci, assembled a large force in the Laonnois, and along the frontiers of the Netherlands; Marienburg, Bovines, Dinant were successively taken and treated with great cruelty. The whole French army then advanced as if to attack Brussels or Namur. The Emperor, who lay at Brussels, had not been able to assemble a force equal to that of Henry. Although nominally master of so great a part of the world, his resources were in fact much less available than those of France. Germany, now emancipated from his yoke, contributed nothing to the French war; the Austrian revenues were absorbed by the struggle with the Turk; Italy, ruined and discontented, instead of furnishing troops to the Imperial standard, required to be kept in order by the presence of an army; even the Netherlands and Spain, with the Indies, were almost exhausted by the Emperor's constant wars, and by the efforts which he had made in fitting out and supporting his son Philip. It was therefore fortunate for Charles that the French King made war in the spirit of a freebooter, rather than of a great captain. Instead of marching upon Brussels, Henry entered Hainault and ravaged and desolated the whole country, making a great booty. At Binche, which surrendered July 21st, the Queen of Hungary had a magnificent palace, adorned with tapestries, pictures, and ancient statues. Henry abandoned the town to be plundered by his troops, and after selecting from the palace what pleased him, caused it, as well as the town, to be burnt. He then continued his march towards the west by the Cambresis, Artois, and the County of St. Pol, wasting all before him, till his progress was arrested by the town of Renty, which he was obliged to besiege. Here the Imperial army under Emmanuel Philibert, which had been hanging upon his rear, and which was now joined by the Emperor in person, came up, when a general skirmish, rather than a battle, ensued (August 13th) in the marshes around that town. Although the French had rather the advantage, the Imperialists maintained their ground, and, two days after, Henry, whose army was suffering from disease and want of provisions, raised the siege, returned into France, and dismissed his soldiers. Charles, whose sufferings from gout grew daily worse, then returned to Brussels; while the Duke of Savoy, advancing on the side of Montreuil as far as the river Authie, treated the country as barbarously as the French had done the Netherlands. Thus ended the campaign of 1554, in which a great deal of damage had been mutually inflicted, without any substantial advantage to either side.

War in Italy

In Italy the French were still less successful. Cosmo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, viewed with alarm their occupation of Siena, where they would form a rallying point for all who desired the re-establishment of the ancient republican government in Florence. Seeing that the Emperor, hampered by the war in the Netherlands, would be able to effect little or nothing in Italy, Cosmo offered to conduct a war against the French at his own expense, on condition of being allowed to retain his conquests till his disbursements were refunded; and, from the exhausted state of the Imperial finances, he hoped thus to come into the quiet and undisturbed possession of a considerable territory. Cosmo entrusted the command of his army to John James Medicino, a soldier of fortune, who had risen from the lowest rank by his military talent, and was now become Marquis of Marignano. He was a native of Milan, and his brother, John Angelo, who had distinguished himself as a jurist, afterwards became Pope Pius IV. Medicino wished to be thought akin to the Medici family, to which honor the only pretension he could allege was some resemblance in the name. Cosmo, by flattering this weakness, acknowledging Medicino as a kinsman, and allowing him to assume the family arms, secured his devoted affection and services; and as he was loved and admired by the leaders of the mercenary bands which still abounded in Italy, they flocked to his standard in great numbers.

Cosmo de' Medici’s principal motive for this war was that Henry II had bestowed the chief command in the Sienese, together with the title of a Marshal of France, on Pietro Strozzi, a Florentine exile, whose well-known aim it was to excite a revolution at Florence. Strozzi’s father, captured in the attempt to expel the Medici in 1537, had died in a Florentine dungeon, and the desire of avenging him was the sole thought which filled Pietro’s heart. Marignano entered the Sienese with an army of 25,000 men, and invested the capital before Strozzi took the command (January, 1554); but the latter, having assembled his forces, acted at first with such vigor, that Marignano was compelled to raise the siege. Cosmo had ordered him to reduce the Sienese Republic by violence and terror, and Marignano carried out these instructions to the letter. The chateaux and villages were burnt; the resisting inhabitants who escaped the sword were in general hanged; and such was the desolation inflicted on the country, that it became a pestilential desert.

Marignano having inflicted a decisive defeat on Strozzi in the battle of Lucignano, August 2nd, again invested Siena, and Strozzi, entrusting its defence to the Gascon Blaise de Montluc, retired to Montalcino, to wait for reinforcements from France, and at the same time to annoy the besieging army. But for the French succors he waited in vain.

Meanwhile the situation of Siena became more and more deplorable. The inhabitants were decimated by famine and disease; several thousands who had been expelled, perished, for the most part, between the walls and the enemy’s camp : yet the garrison, animated by the exhortations of Montluc, as well as by the report of some French successes in Piedmont, held out till the 21st of April, 1555, when their provisions being exhausted, they were forced to capitulate. Cosmo de' Medici, who conducted the capitulation in the name of the Emperor, granted favorable terms; the garrison marched out with all the honors of war, while the citizens were assured that their ancient privileges should be respected, and a free pardon granted to all who had borne arms. Some of the more ardent assertors of liberty retired to Montalcino, where they maintained four years longer the image of a Republic.

The French, supported by a Turkish fleet of eighty galleys, still occupied the ports of the Sienese Maremma. Duke Cosmo was no sooner in possession of Siena than he violated the capitulation, deposed the magistrates, and disarmed the inhabitants. But he was for the present disappointed in the hope of adding Siena to his dominions. The Emperor granted the investiture of that place to his son Philip, and Francis de Toledo, being appointed Governor, disregarded the former privileges of the Sienese, and treated them like a conquered people.

Cruelties of Alva and death of Pope Julius III, 1555

Marignano’s troops had been withdrawn from the Sienese to augment the army of the Duke of Alva in Piedmont, who had been appointed generalissimo in that quarter, as well as Philip’s Vicar-general in Italy. The Marshal de Brissac, as we have already hinted, had obtained some successes in that quarter, and had taken Ivrea and Santia out of the hands of Suarez de Figueroa, the successor of Ferrante Gonzaga in the government of Milan. He afterwards surprised Casale, the capital of Montferrat, which, though belonging to the Duke of Mantua, had been occupied by the Imperialists. The Duke of Alva arrived in June, but in spite of the numerical superiority of his forces, he recovered but few places; nay, the French commander even succeeded in capturing Monte Calvi and Vulpiano under Alva's eyes ; and the latter was compelled to retire into winter-quarters with the disgrace of these losses. He had conducted the war with the most horrible barbarity. Having taken Frassineto, he caused the governor to be hanged, the Italian soldiers to be sabred, and the French to be sent to the galleys. By such acts of cruelty he thought that he should strike terror into his enemies. Marignano, who rivaled him in cruelty, died at Milan in November.

Pope Julius III had taken no part in this struggle, though it raged so near his dominion. Strozzi had succeeded in prolonging for two years the truce with the Pontiff, in spite of the attempt of Cosmo de' Medici to draw Julius to his side, by giving one of his daughters in marriage to the Pope’s nephew. Julius died before Siena fell, at the age of sixty-seven (March 24th, 1555). He had disgraced the Papal chair by his undignified demeanor, as well as by his scandalous life; and by way of amends the Conclave elected as his successor the severe and venerable Cardinal Marcello Cervini, in whose presence Julius had often felt constraint. Cervini assumed the title of Marcellus II, but enjoyed the Pontificate only three weeks, being carried off by a fit of apoplexy (April 30th). The choice of the Conclave next fell on John Peter Caraffa, whom we have already had occasion to mention as one of the founders of the Theatines, and the introducer of the Inquisition at Rome.

Election of Pope Paul IV, 1555

Caraffa, who had reached the age of seventy-nine, assumed the name of Paul IV; and with his new name and power he also put on a new character. He who had hitherto been known only for his piety, his learning, and his blameless life, now discovered a boundless ambition, and the most passionate and inflexible temper. When his major-duomo inquired, after his election, in what manner he would choose to live, he replied, “As a great Prince” : for which station indeed a certain loftiness and grandeur of manners seemed to qualify him. He celebrated his coronation with unusual magnificence. Though when a Cardinal he had zealously denounced nepotism, he now abandoned himself to that abuse, and gave a Cardinal’s hat to his nephew, Carlo Caraffa, a soldier of whom Paul himself had said, that he was steeped in blood to the elbows.

The youth of Paul had belonged to the preceding century. Born in 1476, he remembered the freedom of Italy, and he was wont to compare his country in that age to a well-tuned instrument, of which Naples, Milan, the Papal States, and Venice were the four strings. He cursed the memory of King Alfonso and of Lodovico il Moro, for disturbing this harmony; and, both in his capacity of Pope, and as a Neapolitan of the French party, his hatred was now fixed on Charles V. He ascribed all the successes of the Lutherans to the Emperor, who had encouraged them out of jealousy to the See of Rome. While sitting over his mangia guerra, or black, thick, volcanic wine of Naples, he poured forth torrents of abuse against the Spanish heretics and schismatics, the spawn of Jews and Moors, the scum of the earth, and whatever other maledictory epithets came uppermost. With such feelings it is no wonder that he speedily entered into an alliance with France, and picked quarrels with the Emperor.

The object of his enmity, however, was now about to disappear from the political scene. A disgust of public and even of social life, which had long been growing upon Charles, was confirmed as well by the miserable state of his health as by the failure of all his favorite projects. So far from his ambitious dream of universal monarchy being fulfilled, he saw the Turks in possession of the greater part of Hungary, whilst, instead of reducing the Lutherans to obedience, they had dictated their own terms, after inflicting on him an ignominious defeat and flight. The proceedings of the Diet assembled at Augsburg in February, 1555, still further confirmed him in his project of abandoning the world.

Peace of Augsburg

According to the terms of the treaty of Passau, a Diet should have assembled within six months to settle definitively a public peace, but its meeting had been delayed by various causes till the period just mentioned. It was presided over by Ferdinand, as the Emperor was too unwell to attend. Ferdinand, alarmed by the attempts of his brother to wrest the Imperial Crown from his family, showed more disposition than usual to conciliate the Lutheran Princes. The latter, however, distrustful of his altered tone, especially as he was treating the Lutherans with rigor in his hereditary dominions, held a meeting at Naumburg in March, where the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, the sons of the deceased Elector John Frederick, the Franconio-Brandenburgian princes, and the Landgrave Philip, under the pretext of confirming the treaty of mutual succession already subsisting between their houses, entered into a new confederation for the defence of their religion. But Ferdinand was really more inclined to make concessions than they had supposed; and after discussions, which lasted several months, the terms of a Peace were at length drawn up, and published with the recess of the Diet, September 26th.

The principal conditions were, in substance, that any State, if it were so minded, might tolerate both Catholics and those who belonged to the Confession of Augsburg; but no other sect was to be included in the present peace. Moreover, any State might set up either form of religion to the exclusion of the other; and those who should be so inclined were to be allowed to sell their estates and emigrate. The Lutherans were to retain all such ecclesiastical property as they were in possession of at the time of the peace of Passau. On the other hand, every spiritual Prince who should forsake the old religion was to lose his office and his revenues. The last-mentioned article, which was called the Ecclesiastical Reservation, gave great satisfaction to the Catholics, and proved, in fact, the chief means of upholding that Church in Germany. These proceedings were in the highest degree unwelcome to the Emperor, for whom power had but few charms unless he could reign according to his own notions, and he announced to his brother his intention of abdicating.

The death of his mother Joanna, who expired at Tordesillas April 3rd, 1555, whom the Castilians had continued to regard as the reigning Queen, at length enabled him to dispose of the Crown of Castile. His constitutional melancholy had increased with age, and the memory of his former life awakened in him the pangs of conscience. He confessed that he had done wrong in refraining, out of love towards his son, from a second marriage, and thereby falling into sins which he now wished to expiate, and to reconcile himself with God before his death. He had communicated his plan of retirement to his sisters, the Dowager-Queens of Hungary and France, by whom they were approved and forwarded. Philip was recalled from England to Brussels, and as a preliminary step to receiving the sovereignty of the Netherlands, was made Grand-Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Three days afterwards, Charles having convoked the States of the Netherlands at Brussels, passed, after dinner, into the great hall of the palace, attended by the deputies, the councils, and an extraordinary concourse of princes, ambassadors, and nobles; in whose presence he caused a Latin paper to be read, by which he made over to his son the sovereignty of all his hereditary Burgundian lands; after which he recapitulated all his conspicuous actions since the age of seventeen, and concluded by saying, that feeling his strength exhausted by his labors and infirmities, he had resolved, for the public good, to substitute a young Prince in the vigor of health for an old man on the brink of the grave, and to consecrate the little time he had still to live to the exercise of religion. Then, having requested the assembly to pardon all the faults and errors which he might have committed during his government, he turned to his son, and recommended him before all things to defend the holy Catholic religion, to maintain justice, and to love his people. At these words, Philip fell on his knees, and kissing his father's hand, promised faithfully to observe all his precepts. Charles then placed his hand upon Philip's head, and making the sign of the cross, blessed him in the name of the Holy Trinity, and proclaimed him Sovereign of the Netherlands. Here the Emperor could not refrain from tears, which he hastened to excuse, on the ground that they were not caused by regret at surrendering his power, but by the thought of leaving his native land and so many dear and loving subjects. In the same assembly Queen Mary of Hungary abdicated the regency of the Netherlands, which she had held five-and-twenty years; and Philip named Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, as her successor. Charles, however, still lingered nearly a twelvemonth at Brussels. On the 16th of January, 1556, having assembled in the same hall the principal Spanish grandees then in the Netherlands, in their presence and that of his two sisters, he also resigned his Spanish crowns to his son. The enumeration of the Spanish possessions in the act of abdication, will convey an idea of the extent of Charles's dominions. Besides the Spanish territories in Europe, are mentioned the Cape de Verd Islands, the Canary Islands, Oran and Tunis in Africa; the Philippine and Sunda Islands, and part of the Moluccas in Asia; Hispaniola, Cuba, Mexico, New Spain, Chili and Peru, in America.

Character of Philip II

Philip II, who thus succeeded to these vast dominions before the usual period, was now in his twenty-ninth year, having been born at Valladolid May 21st, 1527. In person he bore a striking resemblance to his father. He was somewhat below the middle size, of a slight but well-proportioned figure. His complexion was fair and even delicate, with blue eyes, and hair and beard of a light yellow color. His eye-brows were rather too closely knit, his nose thin and aquiline; he had the Austrian lip, and a slight protrusion of the lower jaw. He was in all respects a Spaniard; Spain engrossed his thoughts and conversation; even the Netherlands he regarded as a foreign country. He had never displayed much buoyancy of spirit, and when still a youth he was self-possessed and serious, if not melancholy; stately and ceremonious, yet at the same time averse to parade and fond of retirement. He had acquired a tolerable knowledge of the Latin language, as well as some Italian and French; but he showed more taste for physical science than literature, was a fair mathematician, and fond of architecture.

Charles’s abdication of the Imperial Crown in favor of his brother Ferdinand being a step in which the German Electors were concerned, and against which Pope Paul IV protested, could not be so speedily effected. It was not till September 7th, 1556, when Charles was at Rammekens in Zealand, on the point of embarking for Spain, that he addressed a paper to the Electors, Princes, and States of the Empire, directing them to transfer their allegiance to his brother; which paper, together with the Imperial regalia, he delivered to the Prince of Orange and to Vice-Chancellor Seld. The Prince whom Charles thus selected to be one of the confidential instruments of the most solemn act of his life, was the celebrated William surnamed the Silent, destined one day to become the most redoubtable enemy of his house.

It was not till February, 1558, that the Electors and Princes of the Empire met at Frankfurt to receive from the hands of the Prince of Orange the act of Charles's abdication. The accession of Ferdinand was not disagreeable to them; and they seized the occasion to require from him a capitulation, in which he engaged to observe the religious peace, as established in 1555, as well as the public peace, or Landfriede. Frederick swore to observe this capitulation in St. Bartholomew’s Church, March 14; whereupon the Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, as arch-chamberlain of the Empire, delivered to him the golden crown. The other ceremonies of installation were completed on a stage erected before the choir; Seld read aloud the act of abdication, after which King Ferdinand was proclaimed Roman Emperor Elect. The religious service which concluded the solemnity was so contrived that both Catholics and Protestants might join in it.

Pope Paul IV, when he first learnt the intention of Charles V to abdicate the Imperial Crown, had declared in full Consistory that he had no right to take such a step without the consent of the Holy See; that he was impos mentis, and that some of the Electors were heretics; and he further announced that he would neither recognize the abdication nor the successor nominated by Charles. Accordingly, when Ferdinand sent his grand-chamberlain Don Martin Guzman to Rome to notify to the Pontiff his accession to the Empire, and his desire to receive the Imperial Crown from the hands of his Holiness, Paul refused to give audience to the ambassador, who was compelled to remain at Tivoli; and he reproached the new Emperor with his presumption in assuming that title without the permission of the Holy See; which, as it alone enjoyed the right of deposing Emperors, so by a necessary consequence was the only power that could receive and sanction their abdication. He added that Ferdinand by the peace he had granted to the Protestants had disqualified himself for the Imperial scepter; and he concluded by ordering him to resign it, and to submit himself implicitly to the will and pleasure of the Holy See. The Cardinals supported this attempt of the Pope to assert, under very altered circumstances, these almost obsolete pretensions. The Consistory declared all that had been done at the Frankfurt Election null and void, because heretics had taken part therein, who, by their defection from the true Church, had lost all power as well as grace; and they required that Ferdinand should not only submit himself to the Pope’s award, but also that he should do penance, and instead of sending an ambassador to Rome, should dispatch an advocate to plead his cause. Philip II in vain interfered to procure an audience for Guzman, who was obliged to return with this vexatious answer. The Pope, however, by insisting on these pretensions only damaged himself. As Ferdinand, for fear of the Protestant Princes, could not submit to them, he assumed, like his grandfather Maximilian, the title of Roman Emperor Elect, which was recognized by all the European Sovereigns except Pope Paul; and from this period a coronation by the Pope was no longer contemplated. Germany on the whole must be said to have suffered by the reign of Charles V. The Imperial fiefs of Italy, for which so much German blood had been shed, were handed over to the Spanish Crown, while the border towns of Lorraine were irrecoverably lost by the fortune of war. The Netherlands, it is true, had nominally become a Circle of the Empire, but in their internal administration they were entirely independent of the Imperial government.

Truce of Vaucelles

The delay of Charles in the Netherlands incidentally contributed to bring about a truce between his son and the King of France. The campaign in the Netherlands in the year 1555 had not been marked by any events worth relating, except perhaps the attempt of a convent of Franciscan friars at Metz to betray that town to the Imperialists. The conspiracy was, however, discovered by Vieilleville on the very eve of its execution, and the whole of the friars, with the exception of six of the youngest, were condemned to death. In May an ineffectual attempt had been made to restore peace. The French and Imperial plenipotentiaries assembled at Marcq, in the English territory of Calais, whither Queen Mary dispatched as mediators, Cardinal Pole, Bishop Gardiner, now Chancellor of England, and the Lords Arundel and Paget; but as neither of the Sovereigns was disposed to relax in the smallest tittle of his pretensions, nothing could be effected.

Early in 1556 the efforts of Charles to bring the war to a close were attended with more success. Negotiations were opened at Vaucelles, near Cambray, and were conducted on the part of the Emperor and Philip by Count Lalaing, and on that of Henry II by the Admiral Gaspard de Coligni, nephew of Montmorenci. The Constable had several reasons for desiring peace. He distrusted his ovm military talents, and was envious of the Guises, who, he feared, would reap all the glory from the continuance of the war. He also ardently wished for the liberation of his eldest son, who had been now nearly three years a prisoner.

Henry II at first hesitated to assent to the terms of the proposed truce, as being at variance with the treaty which he had entered into with Pope Paul IV, and which had been effected under the influence of the Guises. But the Cardinal of Lorraine, who had negotiated that treaty, was absent at Rome; and Henry, who commonly listened to the last advice, was persuaded by Montmorenci, an opponent from the first of an alliance with Paul, to agree to the terms proposed. A truce was accordingly signed, February 5th, 1556, for a term of five years, on the basis of uti possidetis. Such a truce was undoubtedly in favor of Henry, since it gave him possession not only of the territories of the Duke of Savoy, but also of the three Lotharingian bishoprics, namely, Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Yet, such was the exhausted state of the Imperial dominions, Charles eagerly closed with the terms; and Philip, though dissatisfied, did not presume to oppose his father’s will.

Ambitious schemes of the Guises

Although Paul IV had been included in this truce he was highly surprised and alarmed when he heard of it. It was also a severe check to the policy of the Guises, who had hitherto directed the French King, and who, building their hopes on the disposition of the Pontiff, had formed some audacious schemes for their own benefit in Italy. Only a few weeks before the Cardinal of Lorraine had concluded at Rome a treaty with Paul (December 16th, 1555), by which the French King, in whose name it was made, engaged to take the Caraffa family under his protection; and Paul and Henry agreed to attack the Spaniards either in Naples, Tuscany, or Lombardy, as well as to expel Duke Cosmo and re-establish the Republic at Florence. The Pope engaged to grant the investiture of Naples to one of the French King's sons, provided, however, that it should in no case be united with France. Under this treaty, which appeared to forward only the national interests of France, the Guises had concealed and promoted the objects of their own personal ambition. In the general confusion of Italy Duke Francis hoped to find a chance of seizing the Neapolitan scepter, which he claimed as representative of the House of Anjou; and though the treaty vaguely promised that realm to one of the French King's sons, yet the feeble health of Henry's children seemed to flatter Guise with no remote prospect of the succession.

The Cardinal of Lorraine, on the other hand, was aspiring to the tiara; and as the advanced age of Paul promised a speedy vacancy of the Pontifical throne, the presence of the French armies would in that event prove of wonderful efficacy in influencing the decision of the Conclave. Paul IV is a striking instance how much pride, violence, and ambition may lurk a whole life-time unsuspected, till opportunity calls these passions into action. He had already raised some troops when he heard of the truce of Vaucelles, and his anger equaled his disappointment. His character, however, of common Father of the faithful, did not allow him openly to oppose the peace, especially as the parties to it appeared to have consulted his interests. Nay, he even pretended anxiety to convert the truce into a perpetual peace; but under this pretext he only sought the opportunity to undo it. With this view, he dispatched Cardinal Rebiba as his Nuncio to mediate at Brussels, but instructed him to protract his journey thither, while, on the other hand, he sent his nephew, Cardinal Caraffa, in all haste to Paris, with secret instructions which were quite at variance with the ostensible object of his mission.

At his first interview with Henry II at Fontainebleau, Caraffa presented to him a sword consecrated by the Pope. The King received it on his knees from the seated Legate, who entreated him to use the holy weapon in defence of the Pope; and in order that Henry might not plead any scruples as to the oath which he had taken to the truce, Caraffa had come ready provided with an absolution from it. The Cardinal of Lorraine had prepared the way for the Legate; and Henry being pressed by the Guises, the Duchess of Valentinois, and even by the Queen herself, the enemy of that branch of her family which reigned at Florence, concluded, in spite of the remonstrances of Montmorenci and his nephews, as well as of his wisest counselors, a new treaty with the Pope. War was decided upon, and Charles de Marillac, Archbishop of Vienne, one of the ablest diplomatists of the time, was employed to justify this perfidious breach of faith by a paper in which he imputed all sorts of plots, and even the use of poison, to Emmanuel Philibert and the other ministers of Philip II.

The impetuous Paul, who regarded all opposition to his commands as impiety as well as rebellion, had thrown off the mask even before he learnt the decision of the French King. He recalled his Nuncio Rebiba, who had not yet reached Brussels; he cited before him Charles V as Roman Emperor, and Philip as King of Naples, for having failed in their duty as feudatories of the Holy See, by the protection which they accorded to the Colonna family (July 27th), whom he had excommunicated; he imprisoned the Spanish envoy in the Castle of St. Angelo; nay, he even went so far as to order the suspension of divine service in Spain. This was a great blow to the bigoted and superstitious Philip, as the Spanish ecclesiastics, by whom he had been educated, had impressed him with a great veneration for the Holy See, whose attacks he now found himself compelled to resist.

The Duke of Alva published at Naples, where he was Viceroy, a sort of counter-manifesto against the Pope (August 21st), in which, though couched in very respectful language, he recapitulated all the injuries which his master had received from the See of Rome. Philip and his father had conciliated the house of Farnese, and seduced them from the alliance of France and the Pope, as soon as they learnt the secret league between those powers, by reinstating them in some of their possessions, and France exclaimed loudly, but in vain, against Italian ingratitude. Philip had also sought to make the Duke of Florence his ally, who, however, resolved to remain neutral.

Alva invades the Papal States, 1557

It was not before he had consulted the theologians of Alcala, Salamanca, Valladolid, and even of some of the Flemish and Italian schools, that Philip ventured to make open war upon the Pope, although the Successor of St. Peter, on his side, so far from feeling any religious compunctions, endeavored to form an alliance with the Infidel Turks. When all other means had failed, Alva at length invaded the Papal territories, overran the Campagna, and appeared at the very gates of Rome. In this war Alva displayed the natural cruelty of his temper, though he conducted it in the spirit of a devout Catholic. Whenever he entered a Papal town, he caused the arms of the Sacred College to be hung up in one of the principal churches, with a placard announcing that he held the place only till the election of a new Pontiff; and he might have entered Rome itself without much difficulty, but for the reverence which he felt for the Vicar of Christ. Paul, who expected the assistance of the French, now began to amuse him with negotiations, and in November a truce of forty days was concluded. Towards the end of December, in a rigorous season, the Duke of Guise passed the Alps with a considerable army. His military talents had induced many of the French nobility to accompany him, to be the spectators of the great things which he would achieve. Guise might now have accomplished the conquest of Lombardy and Tuscany, which lay at his mercy; both Milan and Siena stretched out their arms to him; Duke Cosmo implored that his neutrality might be respected. But Guise had other schemes, to which he postponed the advice of his captains and the interests of France. As Paul, who pretended that he had many partisans in the Abruzzi, was pressing for his presence in that quarter, Guise directed his march by Bologna into the March of Ancona. Instead of the promised succors, he found, however, nothing but vain excuses; and he posted to Rome to expostulate with the Pope. Here he succeeded no better with regard to the means of the campaign; but he persuaded Paul to create ten new Cardinals, three of whom were French, and he thus strengthened his brother’s prospect of the tiara. After wasting a month at Rome, Guise penetrated with his army into the Abruzzi. His plan of the campaign, however, was anything but on a grand scale. His efforts were frittered away in little miserable expeditions, conducted in the most barbarous manner. Having taken Campli by assault. Guise allowed all the inhabitants to be massacred. The consequence was that the little town of Civitella, to escape the same fate, made the most obstinate resistance, and detained the French army several weeks, till the approach of the Duke of Alva, with superior forces, compelled Guise to raise the siege (May 15th, 1557). The two armies now maneuvered some months on the borders of the Abruzzi and the March of Ancona. There were marches and counter-marches, advances and retreats, towns invested and sieges raised, but no serious engagement. Guise was involved in continual disputes with the Papal leaders. An invasion of the Campagna by the Colonnas at length obliged the Pope to call Guise to his assistance. The Duke of Alva followed the French to the environs of Rome; but before any serious action could take place, Guise was recalled by Henry II, who directed him to recross the Alps as quickly as possible with his army (August), as his presence was urgently required in France.

When Guise showed the order for his recall to the Pope, Paul flew into a transport of impotent rage. He at first endeavoured to detain Guise; but when the latter insisted upon going, Paul replied : “Begone, then; you have done but little for your King, and still less for the Church; for your own honour, nothing”. Paul was now compelled to treat with the Duke of Alva. As it was with the greatest reluctance that Philip II had entered into the war, the Pope did not find the negotiations very difficult; for the whole system of that bigoted ruler may be comprised in a few words : the extinction of social liberty under a religious and political despotism, in which the latter, in appearance at least, was to be subordinate to the former. Conferences were opened at Cavi between the Duke of Alva and the Cardinals Fiora and Vitelli, which led to a peace (September 14th); the principal articles of which were, that the Spanish troops should be withdrawn from the States of the Church, and that all the places which had been taken should be restored. Paul declined to reinstate the Colonnas in their possessions, but agreed that their claims should be referred to the arbitration of Venice. In a preliminary article he insisted that Alva should come to Rome to ask pardon in his own name and that of his Sovereign for having invaded the patrimony of St. Peter, and to receive absolution for that crime. The haughty Spaniard was forced to comply. At the threshold of the Vatican, Alva fell upon his knees and kissed, with real or simulated veneration, the foot of the bitterest and most inveterate foe of his King and country. Cosmo de’ Medici succeeded in obtaining Siena in satisfaction of the sums which he had advanced to the Emperor. By the union of the territories of Florence and Siena was afterwards formed the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Some maritime places in Tuscany were, however, reserved, which the Spaniards held till the French Revolution. From this period Italy ceased to be the chief theatre of war. The French had grown tired of their unsuccessful efforts in that country; and the equilibrium of Europe had been in great degree restored by the abdication of Charles V, and consequent division of the power of the House of Austria.

Mary declares war against France, 1557

In France the return of Guise was awaited with anxiety. Henry II had, at first, pretended that he had not violated the truce by sending an army into Italy to the assistance of his ally the Pope, when attacked by the Viceroy of Naples, but this excuse was soon belied by further acts. Admiral Coligni, now Governor of Picardy, was directed to commence hostilities in the north; and after an abortive attempt to surprise Douai (January 6th, 1557), he captured and burnt Lens. War was declared January 31st; but for the next six months nothing of importance was attempted on either side. During this period, however, Philip had not been idle. In March he went to England, and exercised a secret but considerable influence in the government. The minutes of the proceedings of the Privy Council were regularly forwarded to him, which he returned with manuscript notes; and he even required that nothing whatever should be submitted to the Parliament without having been first seen and approved of by him. By his influence over the mind of Mary, he prevailed on her to disregard the wishes of her council and of the nation, and to declare war against France (June 20th); and levying a loan by her own authority, she dispatched an army of 7,000 men into the Netherlands, under command of the Earl of Pembroke. These forces joined Philip's army under the Duke of Savoy, which now numbered upwards of 40,000 men. Meanwhile, little had been done to recruit the French army. With the exception of a few Gascons, the best part of Henry's troops consisted almost entirely of Germans; the ban and arrière ban had been called out, but assembled slowly and reluctantly; the flower of the veteran bands was in Italy with Guise and Brissac.

Battle of St. Quentin, 1557

In July Emmanuel Philibert was in motion. After threatening Champagne he turned suddenly to the right and invested St. Quentin. At great risk, Coligni succeeded in throwing himself into the town with a small body of troops on the night of the 2nd of August, and thus revived the spirits of the garrison. Montmorenci, who had advanced with the French army as far as La Fère, ordered d'Andelot, Coligni’s brother and his successor in the command of the French infantry, to force his way into the town with 2,000 men; but he was repulsed with great loss. In a second attempt, covered by Montmorenci with a rash and unexpected audacity, who, holding cheap the youth and inexperience of the Duke of Savoy, made a demonstration with his whole array, d'Andelot succeeded in penetrating into the town with 500 men. But this small success was purchased with a signal and disastrous defeat. Montmorenci had neglected to secure the road by which the enemy might penetrate to his rear; and as he was withdrawing his forces after the success of his maneuver, the Duke of Savoy ordered large masses of cavalry, gallantly led by Count Egmont, to cross the Somme higher up and throw themselves on the retreating columns of the French. In a moment they were overthrown and dispersed. The Duke of Enghien, brother of the King of Navarre, and several other chiefs, were slain; Montmorenci himself, and his youthful son, De Montberon, the Duke of Montpensier, the Duke of Longueville, the Marshal St. André, together with many other persons of distinction, were made prisoners. After overthrowing the gendarmerie, the victors attacked the French infantry, who were broken and dispersed, and either cut to pieces or driven away prisoners like flocks of sheep. It was with difficulty that the Duke of Nevers and the Prince of Condé succeeded in regaining La Fère with a handful of soldiers, whilst François de Montmorenci, the Constable's eldest son, escaped in another direction.

All seemed lost for France. The only army on which she relied for defence was almost annihilated, its commander in the hands of the enemy. Paris trembled for its safety; and some of the courtiers already talked of removing to Orleans. But France was saved by Philip himself, who, at the news of the victory, hastened from Cambrai to the camp just in time to prevent the Duke of Savoy from reaping its fruits. The battle of St. Quentin was fought on St. Laurence’s Day (August 10th), and Philip determined to commemorate it in a manner worthy of his bigotry and superstition. He vowed to erect a church, a monastery, and a palace in honor of that Saint; their form was to be the appropriate one of a gridiron, in memory of Laurence's martyrdom; and after twenty-two years’ labour (1563-84) and the expenditure of vast sums of money, the Escorial rose near Madrid. But his own conduct rendered the victory unworthy of this sumptuous monument. Philip II had all the obstinacy of his father, without his talent or enterprise; and, contrary to the advice of the Duke of Savoy and his ablest captains, he forbade the army to push on for Paris till St. Quentin and the neighboring places had been taken. Coligni, however, obstinately defended St. Quentin nearly three weeks. At last, eleven breaches having been effected, the town was carried by storm, August 27th, while Philip looked on from a neighboring eminence. Coligni was made prisoner, and St. Quentin, which as an entrepôt of the trade between France and the Netherlands, possessed considerable wealth, was abandoned to pillage. The Spaniards then took Ham, Noyon, and Chauny. But the time thus lost proved fatal to the main enterprise. The English, with whom the war was unpopular, insisted on going home, while the Germans, who were badly paid, mutinied, and deserted in great numbers. On the other hand the French had time to repair their losses, and Henry II, summoned Guise to return from Italy. Charles, who in his retirement had received the news of the Duke of Savoy’s victory early in September, was calculating that his son must be already at Paris; instead of which, Philip, before the middle of October, had returned to Brussels, where he dismissed part of his army and put the remainder into winter-quarters.

Guise, Lieutenant-General of France

The disasters of the French army and the captivity of Montmorenci were destined to compensate Guise for the ill success of his Italian expedition. He was received with acclamation in France. The King bestowed upon him new honors and dignities, and named him Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, —a post which conferred upon him a power almost regal. Henry II thus made a plain and public declaration of his own incapacity to reign. Guise's next brother, the Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, had obtained the administration of the interior and of the finances; the third brother commanded the galleys; another was destined to replace Brissac in Piedmont. The Cardinal Louis of Guise alone was without ambition, and distinguished only by his love of good cheer, whence he obtained the name of the “Cardinal des Bouteilles”. In short, in the absence of the Constable, the Guise family reigned in the name of Henry II. The Duke of Guise hastened to Compiegne to take the command of the army of the north, and, although the winter had set in, he resolved on commencing operations. But he was too prudent to attempt the recovery of St. Quentin, or to enter on a winter campaign in an exhausted country. He dispatched the Duke of Nevers with a strong division towards the Meuse, to engage the attention of the enemy on the side of Luxembourg, but with orders to turn suddenly to the west and join himself and the rest of the army on the coast of Picardy. The junction was effected, and the French army, 25,000 strong, unexpectedly appeared before Calais (January 1st, 1558).

Calais taken, 1588

The surprise of that place had been long meditated. In the preceding November Marshal Pietro Strozzi, accompanied by an engineer, had entered the town in disguise, and observed the insufficient precautions which had been taken for its defence. Indeed, the English deemed it impregnable; and in the winter time, when the surrounding marshes were overflowed, they were accustomed, out of a false economy, to reduce the number of the garrison, who were now only 500 men. Of this practice Lord Wentworth, the commandant, had complained in vain; the Privy Council replied to his remonstrances that at that season they could defend the place with their white rods. Calais was protected by two forts; that of Newnham Bridge, or Nioullay, which commanded the only causeway through the marshes on the land side; and that of the Risbank towards the sea, which protected the port. The French having carried by a coup de main the little battery of St. Agatha, which formed a sort of outpost to the fort of Newnham Bridge, part of their army sat down there, while the rest, filing to the left, took up a position before the Risbank. Both these forts were taken the first day the French batteries opened upon them. The town was then bombarded, and on the evening of the 6th January, Guise himself led at low tide a chosen body across the haven, the water reaching to their waists, and carried the castle by assault. Wentworth now found it necessary to capitulate; the inhabitants and nearly all the garrison obtained leave to retire, but all the cannon, warlike stores, and merchandise were surrendered. Guînes was next invested and taken January 21st. Thus were the English finally deprived of every foot of land in France, after holding Calais, the fruit of Edward III's victory at Crecy, more than two centuries. Its loss occasioned great discontent in England : for this irreparable disgrace was the only fruit of the needless and unpopular war in which Philip and Mary had involved the country. The Queen herself was overwhelmed with grief at so unexpected a blow; and was often heard to say, that if her breast were opened after her death the name of Calais would be found graven upon her heart. On the other hand this achievement saved the reputation of Guise, and more than counterpoised in the minds of the French the memory of their defeat at St. Quentin.

The power and influence of the Guises was soon after increased by the marriage of the Dauphin Francis with their niece the young Queen of Scots (April 24th, 1558). Francis was then only fourteen years of age, whilst Mary, who had been educated in France, was in her sixteenth year. A few days before, the Guises had made their niece sign two secret acts, by one of which, in the event of her death without children, she bequeathed her Kingdom to be inviolably united with that of France; by the other she abandoned the revenues of Scotland to Henry II till he should have been repaid a million crowns expended in succoring that country. Yet in her marriage contract Mary and her youthful husband were to take an oath to maintain the laws, the liberty, and the independence of Scotland! From this time the Court of France gave the Dauphin the title of King of Scotland, which was confirmed by the Scottish Parliament, in spite of the opposition of a numerous party, who feared that their country would become a mere province of France.

In May some conferences were held with a view to peace at Marcoing near Cambray, between the Cardinal of Lorraine and Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, now chief minister of Philip II, as he had before been of Charles V. The pretensions of the Spanish King were too haughty to admit of an immediate accommodation; but the two churchmen here laid the foundations of a league against heresy destined in time to bear its fruits. In proof of his sincerity Granvelle denounced to the Cardinal as followers of the new doctrines the nephews of the Constable; a fact which he had discovered from an intercepted letter, as well as some Genevese books, which d'Andelot had endeavored to convey to his captive brother, the Admiral Coligni. The Duke of Guise having represented to the French King that he could not hope to prosper in his campaign if a heretic remained in command of the French infantry, Henry sent for d'Andelot and interrogated him as to his opinions concerning the Mass. The blunt and honest soldier was not a man to disguise his opinions. “There is”, he cried, “but one sacrifice made once for all, that of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to make of the Mass a sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead is detestable and abominable”. At these words Henry, unable to control his anger, snatched up a plate, and hurled it at d'Andelot’s head, which it missed, and struck the Dauphin. The King then clapped his hand on his sword, but restraining himself, sent d'Andelot prisoner to the Castle of Melun. Thus Guise got rid of one of the Constable’s family, and gave the post of colonel of the infantry to Montluc.

The French defeated in Flanders

The conduct of the campaign of 1558 did not add much to the military reputation of Guise. He lost his time in besieging Diedenhofen, which held out till June 22nd; at which siege Marshal Pietro Strozzi, the Florentine exile, a celebrated engineer, was killed by a musket ball. Guise next took Arlon and threatened Luxembourg; but his dilatoriness occasioned a disastrous reverse to the French arms at the other extremity of the Netherlands. Marshal Paul de Termes, Governor of Calais, had been ordered to operate against West Flanders; and counting upon being joined by Guise and the main army after the taking of Diedenhofen, he passed the Aa which separated Flanders from the reconquered district of Calais, with 10,000 or 12,000 men. He took Mardyck, and having carried Dunkirk by assault, was marching upon Nieuport, when intelligence of the approach of the Count of Egmont with an army of some 15,000 men, induced him to retreat. He contrived to repass the Aa at low water, when he found himself in presence of the enemy, who had crossed the river higher up. An engagement ensued (July 13th) on the downs or sandy hillocks which border that coast, and in the midst of it ten English vessels which were cruising in the neighbourhood, attracted by the noise of the cannonade, entered the mouth of the Aa and directed their fire on the French flank. The French were thrown into a disorderly rout; De Termes himself, with a great many officers, was taken prisoner; while the greater part of the French soldiers were massacred by the Flemish peasantry, who were enraged at the devastation they had committed. The Duke of Guise was now obliged to hasten into Picardy, and with the main French army, consisting of about 40,000 men, took up a position so as to cover Corbie and Amiens, threatened by the Duke of Savoy, who with an army equal to that of the French had established himself on the river Authie. As both the French and Spanish Kings had joined their respective camps, some great and decisive action was every day expected; yet both armies remained watching each other without coming to an engagement. Meanwhile some unofficial overtures for a peace had been made between the Constable and the Marshal St. André, who were prisoners of war, and the ministers of Philip II. Montmorenci was naturally desirous of peace at any price; for while he was a captive the Guises were supplanting him at Court. The Cardinal of Lorraine, however, had imprudently offended the Duchess of Valentinois, who still retained great influence over the King, and who now threw her weight into Montmorenci’s scale; whilst Henry himself not unjustly imputed the loss of the campaign to the misconduct of the Duke of Guise. The Constable having obtained a short congé on parole, confirmed the French King's impressions in a visit which he paid to him at the camp; when Henry showed him the greatest marks of favor. Under these circumstances conferences were opened at the abbey of Cercamp, but were interrupted by the death of the English Queen, November 17th, 1558, an event which placed the interests of Philip II in quite a new position. When the congress was reopened at Treaties of Câteau-Cambrésis early in February, 1559, the Spanish King had discovered that there was no chance of his obtaining the hand of Elizabeth, who had now ascended the throne of England; and therefore though his general political interests still drew him towards that country, he ceased to insist, as he had previously done, on the restitution of Calais. The sagacity of Elizabeth perceived how difficult would be the recovery of that ancient possession, and she therefore contented herself with conditions which might tend in some degree to soothe the wounded feelings of national pride at its loss. In the treaty between France, England, and Scotland, signed at Câteau-Cambrésis, April 2nd, 1559, it was agreed that the King of France should hold Calais for eight years, at the expiration of which term it was to be restored to the Queen of England; failing which, France was to pay 500,000 crowns; a forfeit, however, which was not to abrogate the English claim. It was sufficiently plain that restitution would never be demanded; nor can this abandonment of a place which offered a continual temptation for plunging into a war with France be considered as any real loss to the English nation.

Treaties of Cáteau-Cambresis, 1559

The treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis, between France and Spain, was signed on the following day (April 3rd). It was principally founded on a double marriage, namely, between Philip II and Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the French King, then thirteen years of age, who had previously been promised for Philip's son, Don Carlos; and another between Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and Margaret of France, sister of Henry II. The two contracting Sovereigns engaged that they would endeavor to procure a General Council to heal the dissensions of the Church; nearly all the conquests of both parties on the Picard and Netherland frontiers were mutually restored; the French surrendered their acquisitions in Corsica to the Genoese, and abandoned the Republic of Siena to its enemy, Duke Cosmo, stipulating, however, an amnesty for the Corsicans and Sienese. The Duke of Savoy, upon his marriage, was to be reinstated in his father's dominions, with the exception of the towns of Turin, Pinerolo, Chieri, Chivasso and Villanuova d' Asti, which were to be held by Henry till his claims as heir of his grandmother, Louise of Savoy, should have been decided by arbitration. These were the principal articles. With regard to the Empire, Ferdinand had demanded in the Diet of Augsburg the restitution of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. But Ferdinand was weak. His hereditary dominions were menaced by the Turks; he was ill supported by his nephew Philip; and he ended by letting the French ambassadors know, that in spite of his public protest he should not go to war for the three bishoprics.

Charles V’s life at Yuste and death

While these negotiations were pending, the great Sovereign who had been for so many years the leading character on the political scene, had expired. Charles V sailed from Zealand for Spain, September 17th, 1556. He had lingered a few days at Ghent, the place of his birth, and of some of the happiest days of his childhood; but he declined a pressing invitation of his daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, to visit England on his way. He landed at Laredo in Biscay, after a prosperous voyage of eleven days; whence he proceeded towards the convent of Yuste near Placencia in Estremadura, which he had fixed upon as the place of his retirement. At Valladolid he took leave of his two sisters, the Dowager-Queens of France and Hungary, whom he would not permit to accompany him into his solitude. He arrived in November at Jarandilla, about two leagues from Yuste, where he took up his abode in the castle of Count Oropesa, till the house building for him at Yuste should have been completed. This consisted of eight rooms on two floors, and was seated in a little valley watered by a brook and enclosed by well-wooded hills. It adjoined an ancient convent of Hieronymite monks, and was surrounded with a pleasant garden, which, when health permitted, the abdicated Emperor would sometimes cultivate with his own hands. There was a communication with the monastery, and a window in one of his bedchambers looked into the chapel, so that when confined by sickness he could still hear Mass. He did not, however, live, as some writers have asserted, in a state of monastic mortification. His apartments were magnificently furnished; he had a rich wardrobe, a valuable service of plate, a choice collection of paintings; and he delighted in the music of the choir, in which he often joined. He amused his leisure hours with mechanical pursuits, in which he displayed considerable ingenuity, and he took a particular interest in the mechanism of clocks and watches. He did not, however, long survive his abdication. Soon after midnight on the 21st September, 1158, Charles V, the Sovereign in whose dominions the sun never set, yielded to the common fate of human nature.

It is a mistake to suppose, as Robertson and other writers have related, that Charles did not concern himself with business in his retreat. He was in constant correspondence with his son, and his dispatches from Yuste to Valladolid directed the policy of his daughter Joanna, who, in the absence of Philip in England and the Netherlands, conducted the regency of Spain. In his secluded abode, he even sometimes gave audience to foreign envoys. He took the most lively interest in the French campaign of 1557, as well as in that in Italy. In the alarm of those wars Philip despatched Ruy Gomez to Yuste for his father’s advice, and even entreated him to resume for awhile the direction of affairs. Charles did not share his son's scruples respecting hostilities with the Pope; and he manifested the deepest disappointment when he found that Philip had not availed himself of the victory of St. Quentin to march upon Paris.

The character of the Emperor Charles V will have been gathered by the attentive reader from the narrative of his actions. Ambition was his ruling passion, to which all his other motives, and even his religious feelings, must be ranked as subordinate. He earned out his plans with a skill, a perseverance, and a consistency which mark him as a great statesman, though his method of action was far from being always compatible with morality or with the good of his people. His policy must be regarded as his own; for though he had always a confidential minister, he was not implicitly guided by his advice; and he never submitted his designs to a body of councilors. His first minister and chancellor was Gattinara, a Piedmontese by birth, and President of the Parliament of Franche-Comté; a man of proud and independent spirit, as appears from his letters to Margaret, Regent of the Netherlands, whose counselor he had once been. His successor, Granvelle, who was perhaps an abler politician, lived in confidential intimacy with Charles, yet cannot be said to have governed him. It was his practice every evening to send the Emperor a note containing his opinion on the business to be transacted on the morrow: but though their judgments usually coincided, that of Granvelle was not allowed to predominate. The Emperor’s confessor had access to these consultations, but no voice in the decision. The Bishop of Arras, Granvelle’s son and successor in the ministry, seems to have possessed less influence than his father. To facilitate the government of his wide-spread dominions, Charles had instituted a very peculiar court, composed of a governor or minister from each of his various possessions; namely, a Sicilian, a Neapolitan, a Milanese, a Burgundian, a Netherlander, an Aragonese, and a Castilian, besides two or three doctors. These consulted together on all matters relating to the Empire, or to the interests of the lands collectively; each being kept informed of the circumstances of his own province, and making a report upon them. The members enjoyed an annual pension of 1,000 to 1,500 crowns. The President was the Bishop of Arras.

One of the worst traits in Charles's character was an intolerant bigotry; and in the latter years of his life, when his understanding was enfeebled, he became fanatically cruel. He endeavoured to awaken the spirit of persecution in the bosom of the Regent Joanna; and in a codicil to his will he solemnly adjured Philip to cherish the Inquisition, and never to spare a heretic. Yet in his earlier days he could make religion bend to policy, as appears from his treatment of the Lutherans, and of the captive Pope, Clement VII. His Court was modeled after the old Burgundian fashion, and consisted of between 700 and 800 persons. Those in immediate attendance on the Emperor’s person were of princely birth, while the palace was filled with the lesser nobility. His chapel of forty musicians was the completest in the world, and sustained the reputation of the Netherlands as the birthplace of modern music. He had a high notion of the authority of a Sovereign; he required strict order and obedience; and he enforced them, when he considered it necessary, with a severe and unsparing hand; but, except in religious matters, he was not needlessly cruel, and his humanity, as well as his courage, was conspicuous in his expeditions to Africa. On the whole, measuring him by the morals and maxims of his times, and comparing him with contemporary Princes, he must be pronounced a great and wise Monarch.

CHAPTER XXI.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE

THE DIVINE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING GENESIS

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

CHAPTER XX

THE CLOSE OF CHARLES V’S REIGN

CHAPTER XXI.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE