> I DpotesTANT EVOLUTION EPOCHS OF HISTORY M n R n T s . V Dill "0 A: fe a I f a I I I; i i ■» a 9 s a 51. •« ^ ^ i. i s ^ t I 7^ ■ t-^*^ ^l^ycw^4"oL«rr^- THE COMMERCE OF CHRISTENDOM THE MAIN LI N ES OF TRADE: THE DISTRICT OF THE HANSE & FREE GERMAN TOWNS -Aniwerj) A Bruges tkf (iiitixv o/'tite Wix^lleaMaiiufiwturuH/ Distrust StiftJu- Th(;.i!J(r*!fr.i«t,ii«ttst'tt-tSSPj*?ij-.(, MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS ^N^Oollen Blue ^^plied with Wool from E7>{/hi7ul, Spain and IlenM. and Corn from France and the ports on the Baltic — Eu'ijortiurj Woollen goorln all over Phrisie.iidom. Linen Green in clone cStfn0B*ion vAth the Woollen. Silk Yellow ^''^ Italy., fyicily, Catalonia, Lyons. <£:o. These DiMricts supplied with Woollen goods from the north. lAf sea and by the Overland. Comtnerce through Germany to Venice. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Epochs of History EDITED BY EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION F. SEEBOHM EPOCHS SELECTED. THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. By F. Seebohm, Author of ' The Oxford Reformers,' with an appendix by Prof Geo. P. FiSHEK, of Yale College. — Now ready. THE CRUSADES. By Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A., Author of the ' History of Greece.' — Now ready. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 161S-1648. By Samuel Rawson Gar- diner.— Now ready. THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK; with the CONQUEST and LOSS of FRANCE. By James Gairdnek of the Public Record Office. — N0IV ready. THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES; CHARLES theGREAT and ALFRED; the HISTORY of ENGLAND in its connexion with that of EUROPE in the NINTH CENTURY. By the Very Rev. R. ^V. Church, M. A., Dean of St. Paul's. THE NORMAN KINGS AND THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. By the Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A. THE EARLY PLANTAGENETS and their relation to the HISTORY of EUROPE ; the foundation and growth of CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. By the Rev. V/illiam Stubbs, M.A., &c. Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, EDWARD III. By the Rev. W. Warburton, M.A. THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By the Rev. M. Creighton, M.A. THE STUARTS AND THE PURITAN REVOLUTION. By J. Langton Sanford, Author of ' Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion.' THE FALL OF THE STUARTS; and WESTERN EUROPE from 1678101697. By the Rev. Edward Hale, M.A., Assistant-Master at Eton. THE AGE OF ANNIE. By Edward E. Morris, M.A., Editorof the Series. FREDERICK THE GREAT and the SEVEN YEARS' WAR. By F. \V. Longman, of Ealliol College, Oxford. EACH I VOL. i6mO., CLOTH, UNIFORM. PRICE, $I.OO. New York : SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. THE ERA PROTESTANT REVOLUTION FREDERIC SEEBOHM AUTHOR OF 'THE OXFORD REFORMERS — COLET, ERASMUS, AND MORE' SECOND EDITION With Notes on Books in English relating to the Reformation, by Geo. P. Fisher, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Yale College, author of "History of the Reformation," &c. NEW YORK SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, AND CO. 1871. Jas. B. Rodgers Co., Electrotype'rs and Printers, 52 & 54 N. Sixth St., PHlLiDKLPHIA. SUMMARY. PART I. STATE OF CHRISTENDOM. CHAPTER I. Introductory. rh^ E. (a) The Small Extent of Christendom. — Smaller than it once haa been. The Mohammedan power checked in the West, biif oncr>.>ach- ing from the East. Kinship between Christians, Mohammedsns, and Jews, but they hate one another I (J)) The Signs of New Life in Christendom. — Influence of the cru- saders. Inventions. Fall of Constantinople. Revival of learning. Printing. 3 (c) The Widening of Christetidoni. — Moors driven out of Spain. Dis- covery of America. New way to East Indies. Men's minds prepared for great events. 4 () Colet, JMore and Erasmus join in fellow-ivork. — Lectures on St. Paul's Epistles at Oxford. Attacks the schoolmen. He urges also the need of ecclesiastical reform. Colet attracts disciples and fellow workers. Thomas'More. Erasmus. Early life of Erasmus. He comes to Oxford. Makes friends with Colet and Thomas More. Comes under Colet's influence. ....... 78 (r) The Oxford students are scattered till the Accession of Henry VIII. — Exactions of Empson and Dudley. More offends Henry VII. The circle of Oxford students formed again in London. . 82 (d) On the accession of Henry VIII. they covunence their fellolu- %vork. Hopes on the accession of Henry VIII. The Oxford stu- dents in Court favour. Erasmus Greek professor at Cambridge. 84 [e) Erasmus ^urites his ' Praise of Folly.' — Satire on the scholastic theologians, monks, and popes . 85 Summary. ix PAGE (/) Colet founds St. PauPs School. — It is a school of the new learning, and excites the malice of men of the old school. His sermon on Ecclesiastical Reform. Escapes from a charge of heresy. . . 86 {g) The Continental liars of Henry V^III., 1511-1512. — The Holy Alliance against France. Henry \ IH.'s first campaign. Wolsey. Julius II. succeeded by Leo X. Henry persists in invading France. Gains the Battle of the Spurs. Scotch invasion of England. Battle of Flodden. Henry VIII. now joins France against Spain. Louis XII. succeeded by Francis I. Francis I invades Italy and re- covers Milan. Again Spain and England combine against France. These wars of kings against the interests of Europe, and tended to make kings absolute. The e.xample of France. Narrow escape of England. Colet preaches against the wars. Erasmus is against them too, and also More. . • 88 (Ji) The kind of Refor7n aimed at by the Oxford Reformers. — Eras- mus made a Councillor of Prince Charles. More drawn into Henry VIIl.'s service. The 'Christian Prince ' of Erasmus. More's ' Utopia.' They entered thoroughly into the spirit of modern civilization. The character of their religious reform. The New Testament of Erasmus. The kind of ecclesiastical reform urged by the Oxford Reformers. They aimed at a broad and tolerant Church, and were likely to oppose schism 93 CHAPTER III. THE WITTENBERG REFORMERS. (a) Martin Luther becomes, a Reformer. — Luther born 1483. Sent to school and to the University of Erfurt. Becomes a monk. Adopts the theology of St. Augustine, and in this differed from the O.xford Reformers. He removes to Wittenberg. Visits Rome. Reads the New Testament of Erasmus and finds out the difference in their theology. . 97 (b) The Sale of Indulgences. — Leo X.'s scheme to get money by in- dulgences. Offers princes a share in the spoil. Erasmus writes bitterly against it, but pope and kings will not listen. . . 100 (c) Luther's Attack on Indulgences. — Tetzel comes near Wittenberg selling Indulgences. Luther's theses against indulgences. He is backed by the Elector of Saxony. Philip Melanchthon comes to Wittenberg. loi (d) The Election of Charles V. to the Empire {\^\r)). — Death of Maxi- milian, Candidates for the Empire. Charles V. elected through the influence of the Elector of Saxony. Extent of Charles V.'s rule. ............ 103 (f) Luther' s Breach with Rome. — Luther finds himself a Hussite. Rumoured Papal Bull against Luther. Luther's pamphlet to the nobility of the German nation, and another on the ' Babylonish Captivity of the Church.' The Bull arrives. .... 106 (J) The Elector of Saxony consults Erasvius, Dec 6, 1520. — Aleander, the Pope's nuncio, tries to win over the Elector of Saxony. The Elector asks advice of Erasmus. The advice of Erasmus. The Elector follows it, and urges moderation on Luther. . . . 108 'ig) Luther burns the Pope' s Bull, Dec. 10, 1520, notwithstanding the cautions of the Elector. Erasmus fears revolution. . . . iji X Summary. CHAPTER IV. THE CRISIS. — REFORM OR REVOLUTION. — REFORM REFUSED BY THE RULING POWERS. PAGE (a) Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen. — The Robin Hoods of Germany side with Luther. Ulrich von Hutten. His satire upon Rome. His German popular rhymes against Rome. De- mands freedom. Small chances of Reform. .... 113 {b) The Diet 0/ Worms meets zSth yanuary, 1521. — ' Agenda' at the Diet of Worms : to stop private war, to settle disputes, to provide central power in the Emperor's absence, and to take notice of the books of Martin Luther. No hope for the peasantry. Brief from Rome about Luther. The Electors hesitate to sanction the edict against Luther. Hutten adjures the Emperor not to yield to Rome. Luther summoned to Worms. . . ..... 115 (c) Luther s yourney to H'ortns (i $21). Luther's Antithesis of Christ and Antichrist. Luther sets off for Worms. His journey. Popular excitement. Luther's heroic firmness. He enters Worms. . 115 (e translator of the New festament. Sir Thomas More's zeal against heresy. 185 (/) .Execution of Sir Thomas More. — More himself has to suffer for conscience' sake. More and Fisher sent to the Tower. Execution of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher. 186 {k) Death of Erasmus in 1536. — Review of the results produced by the work of the Oxford Reformers. ...... 190 (/) Dissolution o/the Monasteries and Reform of the Universities. — Ihe work set a-going by the Oxford Reformers goes on. Cromwell now ecclesiastical minister of Henry VIII., inquires into the state of the monasteries. Dissolution of the monasteries and destruction of shrines. Reform of the Universities. Parliament of 1529-36 dissolved. Tindal's translation of the Bible sanctioned. Martyrdom of Tindal 191 (w) Later Years of Henry VIII. — Execution of Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII. marries Jane Seymour. A Catholic rebellion breaks out in the North, fomented by the Pope and Keginald Pole, but is quelled. Summary. xiii PAGE Birth of Edward VI. and death of the queen. Henrj- VIII. marries Anne of Clcves, but does not like her. Cromwell sacrificed to get rid of her. Reconciliation with Charles V. Henry VIII. 's last two marriages. Alliance with Spain, and wars with France. Want of money. Death of Henry VlII. in 1547. Reform goes on during the reign of Edward VI. Catholic reaction under Queen Mary. England becomes finally Protestant under Queen Elizabeth. . 193 (») Injluetire 0/ Henry I'lII.'s Reign on the English Constitution. — How far the constitution was maintained. The revolt from Rome accomplished by constitutional means. The power of Parliament maintained. It preserved its control over taxation, and over the making of new laws. On the whole, the Parliaments of Henrj' VIII. deserve well of Englishmen. Unj\ist state trials the chief blot on the reign of Henry VIII. England fared much better than France and Spain. 196 CHAPTER III. REVOLT OF DENMARK AND SWEDEN AND (lATER) OF THE NETHERLANDS. (a) Dentnark and Siveden. — Both Denmark and Sweden throw off the yoke of Chris tian II. and then separate. The Swedes elect Gus- tavus Vasa king. Sweden, under him, becomes a Protestant nation. Denmark also, under her new king, becomes Protestant. . . 199 ((5) The Revolt oj the A'ethe?-lands.—Po\\cy of Philip II. to subject the Netherlanders to Spain and to Rome. They revolt, and the ' United Provinces ' become a Protestant nation. ..... 200 CHAPTER IV. THE GENEVAN REFORMERS. (a) Rise of a Nenv School of Reform. — A Protestant movement which was not national, but which influenced the Protestants of France, England, Scotland, and America more than Luther did. . . zoi {b) John Calvin. — His 'Institutes ' gave logical form to the ' Calvinistic doctrines. Calvin settles at Geneva. Becomes a kind of dictator of the Genevan state. His severe discipline and intolerance. He founds schools . 202 (c) fnfuence of the Gene^/an School on Western Protestantism. — The French Huguenots, the Scotch Covenanters, the English Puritans, the Pilgritn Fathers of New England, all of the Genevan school. Their historical importance, and influence on national character. 204 CHAPTER V. REFORM WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. (a) The Italian Reformers. — Efforts at Reform within the Church. Improvement in the character of Popes. The Mediating Reformers of Italy. Valdez, Pole, Contarini. Paul III. makes some of them Cardinals. Chances of a reconciliation with Protestants under Paul III. Contarini and Melanchthon try to makepeace at the Diet of Ratisbon.but the Pope draws back, and Luther also. Everything left over till the Council of Trent 203 xiv Su77imary. PAGE (b) The 71011) Order of the Society of Jeszis. — Ignatius Loyola, a Span- ish knight. He is wounded in 1521. Resolves to become a general of an army of saints instead of soldieis. His austerities. Resolves to found the ' Order of Jesus.' To prepare himself, studies at the University of Paris. At Paris meets Francis Xavier. Xavier becomes a disciple, and the great Jesuit missionary to the Indies, China and Japan. Character of the Jesuits. Their success and influence. Causes of their ultimate tmpopularity. . . . 208 (c) 1 he Council of Trent, — Council of Trent meets in 1545. The Jesuits prevail over the mediating Reformers. The Inquisition introduced into Rome by Caraffa, afterwards Pope Paul IV. The Council adjourned till 1525, under Paul IV. The Roman Catholic Church reformed in morals, but made more rigid than ever in creed. 212 CHAPTER VI. THE FUTURE OF SPAIN AND PRANCE. (a) The Future of Spain. — Growth of absolute monarchy in Spain. Philip II. in close league with the Papacy. Seeks to establish Spanish and Papal supremacy together. Fatal results of his policy. 214 (b) The Future of France. — Everything sacrificed to gratily the am- bition of the absolute monarchy under Francis I. The curse which the absolute monarchy was to France. Struggle with the Hugue- nots in France, Massacre ot St. Bartholomew in 1572. Toleration for a time under the Edict of Nantes. Its revocation in 1685, and the banishment of the Huguenots, who came to England. . 216 CHAPTER VII. GENERAL RESULTS OF THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION (a) On the Groiuth of National Life. — Influence of the Protestant Revolution on national life — where it succeeded — where it failed — where it partly failed and partly succeeded. .... 218 {b) On the Relations of Nations to each other. — Small improvement in the dealings between Nations. The O.xford Reforniers not listened to in this. Henry VIII. the last English king to dream of recover- ing France. Hugo Grotius afterwards urges International reform. 219 (f) Infiience on the Growth of National Laneuages and Literature. — Luther's Bible and Hymns fix the character of the German lan- guage. Influence of Calvin's writings on the French language. Influence of Tin^al's New Testament on the English version of the Bible, and so upon the English language. ..... 220 (dj Effects in Stitnulating National Education.- — Schools founded by Savonarola, Colet, Luther, Calvin, Kno.x, the Pilgrim Fathers, and the Jesuits. ........... 222 ( e) Influence on Domestic Life — Political importance of domestic life. Danger to it from the existence in a country of large celibate classes. Dissolution of monasteries and permission to the clergy to marry, a ^^~~Step gained for modern civilization. ...... 223 \\f) Influence on Popular Religion. — The Protestant movement popu- larized religion, and strengthened individual conviction. . . 223 Su?nmary. xv {g) Watii of Process in Toleration. — Change from Catholic to Pro- testant creeds was change from one rigid scholastic creed to others, equally rigid. Small connection between claiming freedom of thought and conceding it to others. Persecution did not make the persecuted tolerant. Yet toleration was after all one of the ulti- mate results of the Protestant revolution. ..... 225 (A) The Causes luhy the Success 0/ the Era ivas so partial. — Progress must be gradual. Limited by the range of knowledge. Limited view of the universe. The earth still thought to be in the centre. The crystalline spheres. Heaven beyond. The motion of the spheres regarded with awe, and in popular superstition referred to angels. Astrology laughed at by some but believed in by others. Belief in visions and inspirations, and in prodigies. Universal be- lief in witchcraft. Witches as well as heretics burned. Barbar- ism of ciiminallaw everywhere. The age not prepared for tolera- tion. ....."..,... 227 (i) Beginning of Progress in Scientific Inquiry. — The range of geo- graphical and astronomical knowledge widened. Nicolas Coperni- cus argues that the sun is in the centre of the universe. His great work not published till he was on his death-bed. He was followed by Tycho Brahe, Kepler and Galileo before the century was closed. 231 CHAPTER VHL ECONOMIC RESULTS OF THE ERA. Results of the Era on what remained of the feudal system. In Ger- many, personal services continued. In France, feudal rents and payments chiefly in kind continued till 1798. In England, feudal rents were chiefly in fixed money payments. Effect of the dis- covery of the silver mines in the New World. The fall In the value of money caused a great rise in prices. German peasants' services not lessened by it ; nor the French peasants' rents in produce, but it reduced the burden of the English peasants' rents in money to one-sixth or one-eighth of the value of the land. This would have made them peasant proprietors had they held on to their land, but their tendency was to leave their land and become labourers for wages. Change from peasant proprietorship of land and of looms to labour for wages chiefly the result of the growth of commerce and capital and the use of machinery. These changes had begun in the sixteenth century, and they completed the silent downfall of the feudal system in England 233 CONC LUSION. The Protestant Revolution was the beginning of a great revolutionary wave which broke in the French revolution of 1798. The move- ment was inevitable, and might have been peacefully met and aided by timely reforms ; but the refusal of reform at the time of the cnsis involved ten generations in the tnrmoils of revolution. . 237 MAPS. Ai the beginning. 1. Christendom, &c. 2. The Commerce of Christendom. At the end. 3. Serfdom, and Rebellions against it, before 1 51 5. 4. The Peasants' War, 1525. ERA PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. PART I. STATE OF CHRISTENDOM. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. [a] The Small Extent of Christendom. In the map at the beginning of this volume the light portion marks the Old World as it was known at the commencement of the era of which we have to speak. A glance will show how small a portion of the known world belonged to Christendom — that marked red and striked red. And only the red part belonged ^^ ■' "^ . . 1 hesmallness to Western or Roman ChristendorA, with ofchristen- which we have mostly to do. The part striped °^' red had long ago severed itself from the Western and belonged to the Eastern Church, which by the Roman was regarded as heretical and alien. Thus the Christen- dom of which Rome was the capital embraced only the western half of the little peninsula of Europe. And not even all that. For there was a little bit of Spain (marked blue) which did not belong to Christendom. B 2 State of Christendom. pt. i. We may note next how much smaller Christendom was than it had once been. It had once covered not only ^ „ , the parts coloured red and striped red, but Smaller than '■ '■ it once had also those coloured dark blue, i. e. all Europe, Asia Minor, and the African shores of the Mediterranean Sea. But the dark blue portions had been conquered from Christendom by her great rival Moham- „, ,, , medan power, whose relijjion, thou!?!! only The Moham- ^ . ■ i , medan power, half as old as Christianity, was thought to number many times as many adherents as there were Christians, and covered a much larger area than Christendom — all the countries marked blue. More than 700 years — twenty generations — ago the Mohammedan Moors, after conquering the African shores ^, , , . of the Mediterranean, had pushed on into Checked in . . ^ the West. Spain and threatened Christendom from the West. Defeated and checked at the great battle of Tours in 732, after a struggle of 700 years they still held a foot- hold in Spain — the rich southern province of Granada. But whilst checked in the West, Mohammedan arms had recently been encroaching more and more upon Christendom from the East. Turkey and But en- ^ croaching from Hungary had fallen into their hands, and m 1453, /. e. in the lifetime of the fathers of the men of the new era, Constantinople had been taken by the Turks. The old capital of the Eastern Roman Empire now became the capital of the great Ottom.an Empire. We see then how near to Rome Turkish con- quests had come. Only the Adriatic separated the Otto- man Empire from Italy. Once the Turks had even got a footing in the heel of Italy. It really seemed not unlikely that the capital of Christendom might itself some day fall into their hands. CH. I. Introductory. 3 No wonder the Turks were the terror of the Chris- tians. And yet they had one thing in common, and it is well that we should remember it. They were worshippers of the same God. Both Christians and Mo- ^,. .. Kinship hammedans professed to trace back their between Chris- ... , , , ,^, , _, . , tians, Moham- faith to Abraham. Though Christendom was medans, and small and dwindling, the area of the religion J^^^" inherited from Abraham was large and in- „ ° But they hate creasing. But this was no consolation to men one another. to whom their fellow Christians of the East- ern Church were heretics, the 'unbelieving Jews' the ob- jects of scorn, and the 'infidel' Turks of terror. (1^) The Signs of New Life in Christendom. Christendom had never felt herself so small or so be- set with enemies. And yet there were signs of a new life springing up. The new era was to be one of hope and progress. The Crusades of the Christian nations, intended to dislodge the ' Infidel ' out of Jerusalem, though they had failedinthatobjcct, had awakened Europe to ^„ Influence of new life. East and West were brought nearer the Cmsades. together. Knights and soldiers and pilgrims brought home from new lands new thoughts and wider notions. Commerce with the East was extended. Mari- time enterprise was stimulated. There was , . , . „, . , Inventions. improvement in ships. Ihe manner s com- pass was discovered, and under its guidance longer voya- ges could safely be made. The invention of ^ „ ^^ Fall of Con- gunpowder had changed the character of stantinopic. war and enlarged the scale on which it was waged. The recent conquests of the Turks were indirectly the cause of new life to Christendom. The fall of Con- , , , Rtvivul of stantinople resulted in a great revival of learning. 4 State of Christendom. pt. I. learning in Europe. Driven from the East, learned Greeks and Jews came to settle in Italy. Greek and Hebrew were again studied in Europe. The literature, the history, the poetry, the philosophy and arts of old Greece and Rome were revived. And the result was that a succession of poets, painters, sculptors, and histo- rians sprang up in Christendom such as had not been known for centuries. Above all the inven- Printing. . . . ^ ... tion 01 pnntmg had come just m time to spread whatever new ideas were afloat with a rapidity never known before. (f) The Wide7ii}ig of Christendom. So it is easy to see there were abundant signs of new life in Christendom, however small, and hemmed in, and threatened she might be. A new era was coming on, and now observe how Christendom was widened, and fresh room found for the civilization of the new era to work in. (i) In 1491 the Moors were at last and for ever driven out of Spain by the conquest of Granada by out of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella, and men felt that a turn had com^e in the tide of victory in favour of Christians. (2) In 1492 came the discovery of the New World by Columbus, followed up by the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru, the Portuguese settle- Discovery of . _, ., . . - ^ America. mcnts m Brazil, and the gaining of a foot- hold in the New World by Sebastian Cabot for England — the embryo of those great colonies, the New England, or extension of England across the Atlantic, in which half the English people now dwell. (3) In 1497 Vasco de Gama sailed for the first time round the Cape of Good Hope, and a new way was CH. I. Introductojy. 5 opened to Asia and the East Indies, and '■ ^ New way to out of this in the far future came England's East Indies. 'Indian Empire and Australian colonies. Looking again at the map, and adding to the Old World the countries coloured in shadow which were brought to light mostly during the childhood of the men of the new era, we cannot wonder that they spoke of them as belonging to a ' fiew world.' And bearing in mind that having reached the West Indies, knowing of no Pacific Ocean between, they thought they had reached the East Indies from the west, and so had been, as it were, round the world, we may realize how grand the new discoveries must have seemed to them. Men of that day did not of course realize what we know now, how wide a field these new discoveries would open for Christian civilization to extend itself into. But still they gave an immediate feeling of relief to pent-up Christen- dom, a spur to commerce and maritime en- ,, , ' _ _ Men s minds terprise, new light to science, new sources prepared for of wealth, and new direction to the energies ^"^^^ '^^'^" ^" of nations, and more or less to all men a sense that they were living in an age of progress and change which pre- pared them to look into the future with hope, and to ex- pect great events to happen in their time. {(f) The New Era one of Progress in Civilization. In what Modern Civilization Consists. The work of the new era was to gain for Christendom a fresh step in the onward course of civilization. And when we speak of advance in civilization, what do we mean ? Not simply advance in popu- lation, wealth, luxury, but far more, that tion is. which is hid in the derivation of the word, viz., advance in the art of living- together in civil society. State of Christendom. PT. I. And in order clearly to understand the work that was to be done in this era of prpgress, we must understand the difference between (i) the old form of civilization which was to be left behind and (2) the new form of civilization towards which fresh steps were to be gained. (i) The old Roman civilization had come about by the conquest of the uncivilized tribes of Western Europe „, , , bv the Romans, by their makine the known The old Ro- - ' -^ . ^ man civiliza- world iuto oue great empire, bnngmg all its ends together by making roads, encoura- ging commerce, making the Latin language understood by the educated all over it, and Rome the centre of it all. The Roman Empire was in fact a network of Ro- man towns, with all the threads of it drawn to- wards Rome. These towns were camps, from which the con- querors ruled the dis- tricts round. Little account was taken of the country people. They were looked upon as hopelessly rustic and barba- rian. Under this system all the conquered countries were made provinces of the Roman Empire, not for their own but for the conquerors' good. The masses of the people were governed by Ro- man governors for the benefit, not of themselves, but of a small number of Roman citizens. This vice — this blot — in the Roman polity was no doubt the cause of its de- cay. Its main vice. cii. 1. Iiii)vditctory. 7 (2) The aim of modern civilization is obviously far higher than this. It has not yet reached its goal, but we see clearly that it has been civilization, aiming, not at one vast universal empire, but at the formation of several compact and separate nations, living peaceably side by side, respecting one another's rights and freedom ; and, looking within each nation, at making all classes of the people, town and country, rich and poor, alike citizens for whose common weal the nation is to be governed, and who , ° Its strength. ultimately shall govern themselves. In this aim of modern civilization to secure the covnnon weal of the people lies its power and strength. Now the passage from the old decaying form of civili- zation to the new, better, and stronger one, involved a change ; and this change must needs take „ 1 11 111 rr^i 1 1 1 The crisis of place slowly and by degrees. The old order the struggle of things had gradually for long been going ofd^nTthe^ out ; the new order of things had gradually "^^^ order of for long been coming in. But in this era was to be the crisis of the change — the final decisive struggle between the two forces ; and in this lies its importance and its interest. Before we begin the story of this struggle, we must briefly consider what it was in the state of „, . , 1 • 1 1 1 • 11- P'^" of this Christendom which brought it on ; and this book. will be done best by our examining — (i) The powers which belonged to the old order of things, and now dying out. (2) The state of the modern nations which were growing up in their place. In doing so, we shall try to lay most stress on the condition of the masses of the people ; and we shall not fail to see clearly some of the main points in which, if 8 State of ChristcnJoni. px. i. modern civilization was to go on, there was a necessity for reform, and the danger there was that, if the needful re- forms were much longer withheld, there would be revo- lution. Then in Part II. will come the story of the struggle; and in Part III. its results on the different nations. We shall end with trying to take stock of the amount of pro- gress gained during the era, and to look forward at the prospects of the future that arise out of it. CHAPTER II. THE POWERS BELONGING TO THE OLD ORDER OF THINGS, AND GOING OUT. [a) The Ecclesiastical System. Western Christendom was united under one Eccle- siastical system — the Roman, or, as it called itself, the ' Holy Catholic' Church. It was, in fact, a great Ecclesiastical Empire, of which Rome was the capital, and the Pope of Rome the head. ^, ^ , In the last generation there had been a The Eccle- ° , ., , siasticai Em- scliism — I. VI. and Cffisar and if he could, all Italy, into the hands of orgia. j^.^ ^^.^^ wickeder son Caesar Borgia. The latter caused his own brother to be stabbed and thrown into the Tiber. He had his brother-in-law assassinated on his palace-steps. He stabbed one of his father's favourites who had taken shelter under the pontifical robes, so that the blood spirted into the Pope's face. „^ . . Rich men were poisoned to get their wealth. 1 heir crimes. The reign of these Borgias was a reign of terror in Rome. At last, in 1503, the Pope fell, it is said, into his own trap, and died of the poison he had prepared for another. Another great Italian historian of the time, Cui'c- ciardini, records that the body of the Pope, black and loathsome, was exposed to public view in St. Peter's. And he goes on to say : — "All Rome flocked to that sight, and could not suf- ficiently satiate their eyes with gazing on the remains of the extinct serpent, who by his immoderate ambition, pestiferous perfidy, monstrous lust, and every sort of horrible cruelty and unexampled avarice — selling with- out distinction property sacred and profane — had com- passed the destruction of so many by poison, and was now become its victim ! ' CH. III. Italy. 25 wickedness. Machiavelli was right then, that the example of Rome in Italy was an evil one. That it made the Italians hate the Church, and drove thinking men, while ^ . . . ° Effects of the they remamed superstitious, to doubt Chris- Pope's tianity, and to welcome even Pagan reli- gions, because they seemed so much purer than that which Rome offered them, we shall see by-and-by. This is what he meant when he spoke of the Italians becom- ing 'heathenish' — it was exactly the fact. And now as to this other statement, that Rome was the cause of the divisions, and therefore of the ruin of Italy; this also, the facts of the recent history of Italy will make clear. The map shows how Italy was in the main divided — Venice, Milan, and Flor- ^_ ^. . Main divi- ence to the sions of north; Na- "^'^- pies to the south; the States of the Church between. (i) The States of the Church. Over these the Popes had a shadowy kind of rule, but they v/ere made up of petty lordships and cities, claiming independence, and even Rome was ruled by its Barons rather ^ Papal States. than by the Popes; or to speak more cor- rectly the Barons and the Pope were always quarrelling which of the two should rule. The Pope lived in his strong castle of St. Angelo, close by the city. (2) Venice was a commercial city, 1,000 years old, ruled by its nobles and possessing territory like ancient 26 State of Christendom. pt. i. „ . Rome, ruled for the benefit of its citizens Venice. rather than its subjects. (3) /%;r«<:i? was also a commercial republic, but not governed by its nobles. It was a democratic republic, but one family of citizens — the Medici — had Florence. grown by trade richer than the rest, and usurped almost despotic power. It also possessed con- siderable territory. (4) Milan was a State to which there were many rival claims. The King of France, as Duke of Orleans, claimed it by inheritance from the last Duke of Mi- Milan. ' Ian. The King of Naples (and Spain through him) also had a claim, and the Emperor of Germany claimed it as having reverted to the Empire. Meanwhile the Sforza family had possession, and kept it off and on till 1 5 12. (5) Naples was also a State to which there were rival claims. Its nobles had usurped almost uncontrolled power. The right to feudal sovereignty over it was dis- puted between the Counts of Anion (France) Naples. J \ I and the King of Arragon (Spain). The lat- ter had long had possession, and it had descended to a bastard branch of that house. That the Popes were continually fomenting quarrels between these Italian States and bringing 'barbarian' princes to fight their battles on Italian soil, a few facts will show, Alexander VI. and Ceesar Borgia first stirred up Venice and Milan against Naples. Then they invited Charles VIII. of Franee, who in 1494 crossed the Alps, overturned the Medici at Florence, and entered Naples in 1495. Then in 1495 the Pope, JVniee, and Milan joined with Ferdinand of Spain in turning the French out of Naples again. CH. III. Germany. 27 In 1500 Louis XII. of France took Milan, and then he and Ferdinand of Spain jointly invaded Naples. But they quarrelled, and Spam, under Gonsalvo „ , ,. . •^ '■ Fapal politics de Cordova, defeated the French, and so the ruin of Ferdinand became King of Naples, and ^' (having Sardinia and Sicily before) of the two Sicilies in 1505. In 1503 Julius II. became Pope, and devoted his ten years' reign to constant war. In 1509 he, France, Spain, and Germany formed the League of Cambray against Venice. But the robbers quarrelled on the eve of victory, and so Venice was not ruined. In 151 1 Louis XII. of Fra?tce tried to get Henry VIII. oi England to join him in deposing Julius II. But Julius succeeded in getting Ejigland and Spain and Germany to join his 'Holy League' against France. After driving Louis XII. of France out of Italy, Julius II. died in 1513, and was succeeded by Leo X. [b] Germany. Next to Italy, Germany was furthest of all modern nations from having attained national unity. The Ger- man, or, as it called itself, ' the Holy Roman ' ^^ , Had not yet Empire, was a power which belonged to the attained old order of things. Like the Pope of Rome, unity""^ the Emperor considered himself as the head of Christendom. He called himself ' Caesar,' and ' King of Rome ; ' and, as successor to ci^'";'^^ to , , be Ca;sar the Roman Empire, which the Germans had and King of conquered, claimed not only a feudal chief- tainship over nations of German origin, but also a sort of vague sovereignty over all lands. As the Pope of Rome was the spiritual head, so the Emperor considered himself the 'temporal head of all Christian people.' The Em- peror 23 State of Christendom. Switzerland had indeed severed herself from the Ger- man Empire. England, Spain, and France had never properly belonged to it. But the French king had neverthe less sometimes sworn fealty to the Empire ; and even Henry VIII. of England, when it suited his purpose (z. e. when he wanted to be Emperor !) took care to point out to the Electors that while his rival, -T. , . Francis I. of France, was a foreigner, in His claim to . . o > universal em- electing an English Emperor, they would shadowy. not be departing from the German tongue. On other occasions he took care to insist that England, however Saxon in her speech, had never been subject to the Empire. So the claim to universal sovereignty was very shadowy indeed. When a vacancy occurred, the new Emperor was elected under the ' Golden Bull' of 1356, by seven Prince Electors, viz. : [On the Rhine]. The three Arch- bishops of Maye7ice, Treves, and Cologne, and the Count Palatine of the Rhine, [On the Elbe]. The king of Bohemia, the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave of Bra7idenbiirg. The ceremony of coronation showed the feudal nature ot the Empire. When elected, the Emperor attended high mass. Then the Archbishop of Mayence, as- Th f d 1 sisted by Cologne and Treves, demanded ceremony. of him, ' Will you maintain the Catholic faith ? ' ' I will.' Then he demanded of his brother electors, ' Will you recognize the elected as How elected. THE SEVEN PRINCE ELECTORS CH. III. Germain 29 Emperor ? ' ' So be it." Then he was robed in the robes, girt with the sword, and crowned with the crown of Charlemagne. Then came the banquet. The King of Bohemia, in true feudal fashion, was the imperial cup- bearer ; the Count Palatine carved the first slice from the roasted ox ; the Duke of Saxony rode up to his stir- rups into a heap of oats, and filled a measure with grain for his lord ; and lastly, the Margrave of Brandenburg rode to a fountain and filled the imperial ewer with water. When elected, the Emperor had little real power in Germany ; and, indeed, as time went on he seemed to have less and less. Once large domains had belonged to the Emperor : some in Italy, some on the Rhine. But former emperors had lost or ceded the Italian estates to ^ T ,• 1 , , . . , . , No imperial do- Itaiian nobles and cities dunng struggles mains, with the Popes ; while those on the Rhine had been handed over to the Archbishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, who were Electors, to secure votes and pohtical support. For some generations there had been no imperial domains at all ; not an inch of territory in Germany or Italy came to the Emperor with his impe- rial crown. The Emperor was therefore reduced to a mere feudal headship. Nor had the Emperor, as feudal head, much power in Germany. He found it very hard to get troops or money from the German people. Maximi- . . Small imperial hail, the reigning Emperor, was notoriously power, poor, and declared that the Pope drew a hundred times larger revenue out of Germany than he did. He was a powerful sovereign in Europe because he was head of the Austrian house of Hapsburg, which u'as rising into great power in Europe by its alliances. Already possessed of Austria and Bohemia, Maxi- 30 State of Christendom. PT. I. milian had married Mary of Burgundy, and the Nether- ^, ^ lands. His son Philip thus was heir-appa- 1 he Emperor . '■ '■ Maximilian, rent to tliosc provinccs as well as Austria. House oi "^'^ Philip married Joanna, daughter of Isabella Hapsburg. q|- Spain ; and so their son Charles became heir to Spain also. Thus was the House of Hapsburg pushing itself into power and influence. The German Empire was the crowning symbol of their power rather than the reason of it. In the case of Maximilian, it was the power of Austria that made the German Emperor great. By-and-by, as we shall see, when Charles V. of „, , ,, Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands rises to Charles V. . the Empire and becomes the most powerful prince in Europe, it is by Spain, not Germany, that he wields his still greater influence. The power of the Emperor was far less in Germany than in his own domains, for in Germany his power was checked by the Diet or feudal parliament of the Empire. ^^ ^. The Diet was a feudal, not a representative The Diets. * parliament; /. e. only the Emperor's feudal vassals had a claim to attend and vote in it. The Diet met and voted in three separate houses: 1. The Electors (except the King of Bohemia, who had no voice except in the election of an Em- peror). 2. The Princes, lay and ecclesiastical. 3. The Free Imperial Cities (/. e. those cities which held direct of the Emperor). The Electors and Princes had most power. Only what was agreed upon by them was last of all submitted to the House of Cities. To secure the carrying out No power to jo enforce their of the decrees of the Diets, there had also decrees. , . recently been some attempts at an organiza- tion of the Empire. It was divided in circles for the CH. III. Germany. 31 maintenance of order; but this, though plausible on pa- per, had little effect in reality, because the Diets had no real power to enforce their decrees. Germany was, in fact, still under the feudal system — still divided up into petty lordships — more ^- r ^ , so then perhaps any other country ; certainly tem still pre- more so than England, Spain, or France. One reason for this was, as we have seen, that the German law of inheritance divided the lordships between the sons of a feudal lord on his death; so „ .... . , bubdivision oi there was constant subdivision, and in con- lordships by , ^ law of inherit- sequence an ever-mcreasing host of petty ance. sovereignties. The mass of the feudal lords were petty and poor, and yet proud and independent, resisting any attempts of the powers above them, whether Emperor, or Diets, .or Princes, to control them. They ^"ds'.""' ^^'"^ claimed the right of waging war; and, by their petty feuds, the public peace was always being broken. They lived a wild barbarian life in times of peace (/, e. when not at feud with some neighbouring lord), de- voted to the chase, trampling over their tenants' crops, scouring the woods with their retainers and their dogs. In times of war and feuds, with helmets, breastplates, and cross-bows they lay in ambush in the forests watching an enemy, or fell upon a train of merchants on the roads from some town or city with which they had a quarrel. They became as wild and lawless as the wolves. Glitz von Berlichingen (popularlv known as 'Giitz with the Iron Hand'), and Franz von Sickingcn were types of this wild knighthood. They were champions of fist-law (faust-recht). They called it pri- of the vate war, but it was often plunder and pillage ■'"'S"'^- 3- State of Christendom. pt. i. by which they lived. Gotz was indeed more hke the head of a band of robbers than anything else. He one day saw a pack of wolves fall upon a flock of sheep. ' Good luck, dear comrades,' said Gotz, 'good luck to us all and everywhere!' These lawless knights were indeed like wolves, and, just as much as the wild animals they hunted, belonged to the old order of things, which must go out to make way for advancing civilization. The free towns of Germany were her real strength. The citizens were thrifty, earned much by their com- The towns of rnerce, spent little, and so saved much. Germany. Each city was a little free state (for they had mostly thrown off their feudal lords), self-governed, like a little republic, fortified, well stored with money in its treasury, a year's provisions and firing often stored up against a siege. The little towns were of course de- pendent in part on the peasantry round, buying their corn, and in return supplying them with manufactured goods. But the bigger towns lived by a wider commerce, and held their heads above the peasantry. Above all, they hated the feudal lords, whose feuds and petty wars and lawless deeds put their commerce in Their leacjiies , , for mutual peril. Two hundred years ago, sixty towns ^^""" on the Rhine had leagued themselves to- gether to protect their commerce. After that had coftie the league^ of the Hanse Towns, chiefly in the North of Germany, but including Cologne and twenty-nine adja- cent towns, and aiming at defending commerce from robberies by land as well as piracy by sea. They had to form these leagues because Germany was divided and without a real head — not yet a nation — 1 See the Map of Commerce. CH. III. Germany. 7^2> though all that was ?ood and great in it was ,„ ^ . -r r Want of a sighing for more national life, for a central central power ^ ^. . 1 ^ • to maintain representative power strong enough to main- the public tain the public peace, but hitherto sighing P^*"- in vain, finding in her Emperor little more help than Italy found in her Pope. No class in Germany had suffered more from want of a central power than the peasantry. They still were in feudal serfdom. While in other countries, _, The con- where there was a well-established central ditionofthe 1 -1 <- 1 -L J peasantry government, the lot of the peasantry had growing improved and serfdom almost been got rid {Jarjer for'^ of, here in Germany their lot had grown want of a central power. harder and harder for want of it. The German peasant, or ' Bauer ^ was still a feudal tenant. In many ways he was no doubt better off than a labourer for wages. His house was no mere labourer's cottage — it was a little farm. He had about him his land and his live stock, his barn and his stack. Under the same roof with his family his cows and pigs lay upon their straw and he upon his bed. On the raised cooking hearth the wood crackled under the great iron pot hung on its rack from the chimney-hood above, while sauce- pans and gridirons, pewter dishes and pitchers with their pewter lids were hung upon the walls ; the oak table and coffee were heirlooms with his house and his land. In mere outward comforts many a free peasant, working for wages and having no land to till for himself, would gladly have changed places with him ; but behind all was his thraldom to his feudal lord. He had traditions of old and better days, when he was far more free, when his services were not so hard and the exactions of his lord not so great. But in History of the fourteenth century the Black Death had 'Bauer.' D 34 State of Christendom. pt. I. thinned the population of Germany and made labour scarce. In other countries, where the law of the land had fixed the amount of the services, and where the influence of commerce had substituted money- payments for services, this scarcity of labour strengthened the peasant in his struggle for freedom. But in Germany, where there was no law to step in, and where services continued, the scarcity of labour was only likely to make the lords insist all the more upon their performance ; and so they had encroached more and more on the peasants' rights, enacted more and more labour from them, in- creased their burdens, robbed them more and more of their common rights over the pastures, the wild game, and the fish in the rivers, grown more and more inso- lent, till the peasants in some places had sunk almost into slavery. It was galling to them to have to work for their lords in fine weather, and to have to steal in their own little crops on rainy days. Small a thing as it might be, perhaps it was still more galling to receive orders on holidays to turn out and gather wild straw- berries for the folks at the Castle. Hard, too, it seemed to them when, on the death of a peasant, the lord's agent came and carried off from the widow's home the hcriot or 'best chattel,' according to the feudal custom — perhaps the horse or the cow on which the family was dependent. But however bad a pass things might come to, there was no remedy — no law of the land to appeal to against „ , „. the encroachments of their lords. The Ro- Rebellion , • i i , i • his only man civil law had mdeed been brought m reme y. ^^ ^^ ecclcsiastics, and the lords favoured it because it tended to regard serfs as slaves. The serfs naturally hated it because it hardened their lot. There was no good in appealing to it. It was one of their CH. III. Spain. 35 grievances. So the peasants of each place must fight it out with their own lords. They must rebel or submit, waiting for better days, if ever these should come ! (r) Spain. Spain was destined to become the first power in Europe. She rapidly grew into a united nation, and during the era attained the highest point of Becoming power and prosperity she ever reached ; but '^e first ' L 1. J ^ • ^ power m she fell soon after from the pinnacle on which Europe. she then stood, and has never since risen again so high. Ever since the conquest of Spain by the Goths and Vandals, in the eighth century, it had been a feudal nation; and, as in most other feudal coun- powerofthe tries, the power had got into the hands of "°b'<^^- the feudal lords or nobles. But Spain was singular in this, that it had passed under a long period of Moham- medan rule. By the invasions of the Moors the feudal chiefs of Spain had been driven up into the mountains of the north, while probably the peasantry mostly j^^-^^^^ .^^^ remained in the conquered country, subject the north by 1 1 r 1 1 'he Moors. to the Moors. By slow degrees the feudal chiefs reconquered the northern provinces, till the Moors 3^ State of Christendom. pt. I. retained only the rich southern provinces ; and as bit af- ter bit was reconquered by the nobles, it became a little independent state under the feudal chief who recon- quered it. Already, however, there had grown up in Spain the three kingdoms of Castile, Arragon, and Navarre, fa- „ . voured by the influence of the towns. Reconquest of _ ^ Spain from the Owing to the constant struggles going on floors, except ,, i t i ,-1 r Granada. there had been for long no safety except in the towns. These had further grown in power and importance by trade and manufactures, and had become little states — like little Venices — each with its independent government. Both in Castile and Arragon the monarch was scarce- ly more powerful than the Emperor in Germany. His power was controlled by the Cortes or par- Kingdoms of J. 1,1. Castile and liamcnt, at which met the nobles, deputies rragon from the towns, and clergy. And to the Cortes belonged the power of levying taxes and enacting laws. Such was the state of things when, by the marriage of Ferdinand of Castile to Isabella of Arragon (in 1481), all Spain, except Navarre and Granada, was united under Ferdinand and united under One monarchy, and from this time the tendency was for the throne to be- Spain becomes (-Qj^g more and more absolute. It was one more and more absolute. of the first objects of Ferdinand and Isabella to extend the power of the monarchy. Spain had found, as the Germans had found, that without some central power it was hard to keep the peace, to protect trade and commerce, and to put down robbery and crime. The cities had united in a ' Holy Brotherhood ' for this purpose, and Ferdinand sided with them in this object. But what more than anything else CH. III. Spain. 37 counteracted the feudal tendency to separate into little petty states, and to strengthen the national feeling and make it rally round the common centre of the throne, was the war long waged by Fer- Granada. dinand, and at length successful, against the last stronghold of the Moors in Granada. In 1492 Gra- nada was taken, the 700 years' struggle ended, and the Moors driven forever out of Spain, Thus was all Spain (except the little state of Navarre, under shelter of the Pyrenees) united in one nation. The modern kingdom of Spain, thus formed, rose up at once to be one of the first powers of Europe. We have already seen how Charles VIII. of France had been invited by Pope Alexander VI. to conquer Naples. As a bribe to keep Ferdinand (who ,,.,,. , Ferdinand's had a rival claim on Naples) quiet while he policy to com- went on this raid on Naples, he had ceded ^' ^ ^'""' to Ferdinand the little state of Perpignan, on the Span- ish side of the Pyrenees. Ferdinand was intent on the completion of the kingdom of Spain, and took the bribe. We shall soon find him (in 1512) obtaining possession of Navarre. In the meantime the result of the Italian wars was that he got hold of Naples ; and having the islands of Sardinia and Sicily already, he became King of the ' Two Sicilies,' as well as of Spain. Another fact added to the power of Spain. It was under Spanish auspices that Columbus discovered Ame- rica. This not only threw the gold of the mines of Peru into the treasuries of Spain ; it added ^ , , ' I 1 1 1 r T Columbus. another great laurel to her fame. It was Spain that had driven the Moors out of Western Europe; it was Spain that enlarged Christendom by the discovery of the New World. 38 State of Ch?-istendom. pt. i. „ The foreiq:n policy of princes in those Foreign po- . licy. Mar- days was very much influenced by the mar- ri-iges. riages they planned and effected for their children. Ferdinand's first aim was to get all the Spanish Pe- ninsula under the power of the Spanish Crown. So he married his eldest daughter to the King of Portugal, in hopes of some day uniting the two Crowns. This came to pass in the person of Philip II., the husband of the English Queen Mary. His next policy was to ally himself with such foreign powers as would best help him to secure his ends. There were two reasons why he did not ally himself with France. France was his rival in Italy. He had fought with France ^or Naples, and meant to keep it. He also wanted Navarre to complete the Spanish kingdom. France claimed it also. The aim of Spanish foreign policy was, therefore, to work against France. By the marriage of his daughter Cathcrme to the King of England, and yoanna to the heir of the rising Aus- trian House of Hapsburg, who held the Netherlands, and whose head, Maximilian I., was Emperor of Ger- many, he connected himself with the two powers who, like himself, were jealous of France — Engtajid, because part of France had so long been claimed as belonging to the English Crown — the House of Hapsburg, because France had got hold of part of Burgundy (which former- ly belonged to the same Burgundian kingdom as the Netherlands). And on the whole, though his schemes Success of ... . ' these alliances, did not prosper in his lifetime, they did suc- ceed in making Spain the first power in Eu- rope during the next reign. When Queen Isabella died, Joanna became Queen of CH. III. Spain. 39 Castile. She, however, was insane, and her husband Phihp dying soon after, Ferdinand held the reins of Castile in her name as Regent. On his death, in 15 16, Castile and Arragon were again united, under Charles v., and Spain became greater than ever. The domestic policy of Ferdinand and Isabella had also for its object the consolidation of Spain ^ ■' Domestic po- under their throne. Their great minister licy. was Cardinal Ximenes, whose policy was to strengthen the central power of the Crown by engaging all Spain in a natio7ial war against the Moors, and by strengthening the towns (or loyal element) at the ex- pense of the feudal nobles (the disloyal clement, in Spain as elsewhere). The subjugation of the no- „ _ ^ / -' ° Subjugation oi bles to the Crown was in a great measure the nobles. effected, and the Crown became more and more abso- lute. Not content with driving out of Spain the last rem- nant of the Mohammedan Moors, the Catho- -phe inquisi- lic zeal of the king and queen and Ximenes "°"- turned itself against the Jews and heretics. They founded the 'Inquisition' in Spain, which in a genera- Banishment tion burned thousands of heretics. They °^ ^^'^ J'^^^^- expelled, it is said, more than 100,000 Jews from thetr Spanish homes. These first took refuge in Portugal, and soon after, driven from thence, were scattered over Europe. But notwithstanding this zeal for the Catholic faith, by which Ferdinand and Isabella earned the title of 'the Catholic,' there was no notion in the minds of Ximenes or his royal master and mistress to sacrifice Spain to Rome. They were as zealous in reforming the morals of the clergy and monks as in rooting out heresy. They de- manded from the Pope bulls enabling them to visit and 40 State of Christendom. PT. I. ■S.S § ug a I Vi W R -( M « O 7. < *"' 2j S '^- c1 < o a z tjj„ 2^ S W ^ « 5 .5 ^' s: - ^ § S 8^.<^, ^ '•^-^ ii"« 2^ » V, s 't- ;j >v v^ 'S si j! a^-S 5-=i vj !^ S '^ '' 5 S -» !> * 5> i<. b S « .-ft .i-S ►J .,-2-2 s ^^•S.S a ■5.= ''.-iiiS O Jv ^ ^ K R ^ ^ « »- -^ Pi "^ ^ " - y 5 »-5 •o G us CH. III. Spain. 41 reform the monasteries. They claimed the , , \ . Independent right in many cases of appointing their own policy to- bishops. And when the scandals of Alexan- der VI. 's wicked reign came to their knowledge, they threatened to combine with other sovereigns in his ' correctiott.' One other thing we must notice. The discoveries of Columbus, followed up by the conquest of Mexico and Peru, gave to Spain suddenly a colonial em- colonial po- pire to govern. Her colonies in the New '"^v- World were in one sense the gem in her Crown. Her dreams of wealth in gold and silver were more than realized. To have extended C/ir!stendo?n into a new world seemed in itself a worthy exploit to the Catholic zeal of Queen Isabella. Her royal anxiety to convert the heathen inhabitants of the new-found lands to the Catholic faith was no doubt as genuine as her anxiety to root heresy out of Spain. She sent out Catholic missionaries, but the selfishness of her Spanish colonists introduced slavery instead of Christianity. In these first Spanish colonies was begun that cruel policy by which the native races were exterminated — worked to death — and then African negroes introduced to supply their place. The introduction of slavery, and its necessary feeder — the slave trade — was a blot upon the colonial policy, not only of Spain but of Christendom. It was essentially contrary to the genius of modern civilization, and we know how great a struggle has been needful in our own times to prevent its ruining the greatest of the colonies of the New World, (d) France. Machiavelli says, 'The kings of France are at this 42 State of Christendom. PT. I. How all France had grown into one nation. THE GROWTH OF FRANCE time more rich and powerful than ever.' So they were. The dynasty of the Capets, which began before the time of the Norman conquest of Eng- land and lasted down to the 'Louis Capet' (Louis XVI.) who was put to death during the French Revolution, had now ruled France for about five hun- dred years. But the France ruled by the first Capet was only the portion marked dark on the map. It was as though the King of England had ruled- only York- shire. The rest of France was divided among the great Barons. These Baronies, or ' DucJiies,' had gradually been ab- sorbed into the kingdom. The dates when they thus fell in are marked on the map. Now if we look at France at the begin- ning of the new era, we shall see, from comparing the two maps, how she had grown, and hov,' she claimed now not only all France, but Milan and Naples also. She had, in fact, become the second great power in Europe, and by aiming to become the first, made herself the great rival of Spain. France claimed Milan and Naples also. FRANCE IN THE ERA CH. III. France. 43 What were the secrets of her growing power? As we have seen, Machiavelh said that Italy was weaker than either Spain or France, because the latter were each of them united under one Croivn. We have now to mark the reasons given ^, . 1 his union of by him why the Duchies of France had be- ail France the come united under the Crown. (i) The Crown was not elective, as in Ger- „ , ,. ^ ' _ _ . Crown heredi- many, but hereditary in the royal family. tary ; (2). The rule of mkeritance in France was not division among all the sons, but descent g"n7ture- to the eldest son only. (3) Intermarriages with the royal family inter- 1 11 n 111 marriage with not only made the great iiarons loyal to the tlie royal throne, but sometimes united their Duchies f^°"'y- to the Crown under one heir; e.g. the kings of France, as heirs of the Duchies of Anjou and Orleans, claimed both those Duchies and also their rights to Na- ples and Milan. (4) The towns, as in Spain and elsewhere, had fa- voured the growth of the central power as the best means of freeing themselves from their old feudal lords. Most of them had long ago obtained charters of freedom, and now held only of the Crown. The final struggle of the Crown with the great feudal Barons had been concluded just before the era com- menced. It had been a hard struggle be- ^. , "° Final struggle tween Louis XI. and the Duke of Burgundy, of the Crown The king had prevailed, and from that time gundy. the unity of France was settled. She had become powerful enough to hold her own against both internal and foreign foes. England had once claimed a great part of France, but 44 State of Christendom. pt. i. ^ ,. , there was henceforth no real chance of English con- quests at her getting it back again. She could no longer find allies on French soil against France. It is true that we shall find Henry VIll. still dream- ing soinetimes of reversing the decision of the 'hundred years' war' which had ended in the withdrawal of Eng- land from all France except the town of Calais ; and we shall find Spain and England combining during the era more than once to crush France. But in reality the object lof these wars we shall find to be not so much the dismemberment of France as opposition to the aggressive policy of Louis XII. and Francis I,, and their invasions of Italy. The hundred years' war with England had also tended to consolidate the French nation. It was a national and even popular struggle to turn out a foreign foe. It necessitated the levying of national The English . ^ t r ■ i wars had armies and the payment of national taxes. Ka^lio^nyrnd It did for Fraucc, to some extent, what the increase the ^,^^^ ^\^ ^^ Moors did for Spain: it power ot the * Crown: strengthened the central power of the Crown, and gave it a recognized place as natural head and leader of the nation, in peace as well as in war. But the misfortune of France was that in outwardly becoming a great nation by uniting all the Duchies under the Crown, and so enlarging the size but there were , „ , i • ^ i seeds of dis- of France on the map, sad mistakes were union within. ^^^^^ v^\az\i prevented her growth in mter- nal toiiiy, which sowed the seeds of bitter feeling between classes, and ended in producing her Great Revolution. We cannot note too carefully these fatal mistakes. (i) The king got the power of levying taxes — the CH. III. Fraiicc. 45 ' taille' — without the consent of the people. „ Royal taxes The ' Estates General, or French Parlia- without con- ment, which had hitherto had a voice in people, matters of taxation, hereafter had none ; the Crown became absolute. (2) The king, successful in his war „ \ ' ^ Royal stand- against England, henceforth out of these ing army. taxes kept a large standing army. These things, said Philip de Commines, the con- temporary French historian of Louis XL, 'gave a wound to his kingdom which will not soon be closed.' He was right, for these two things kept classes apart and broke up the internal unity of France. To see how they did this, let us look at each class separately. The nobility or noblesse of France were made into a permanently separate caste. In old times they paid no taille, because they gave their military services to the king in his wars. Now there was a standing army they were less and less needed as soldiers, yet their freedom from taxation remained. They were a privi- ^, . , . , The noblesse leged class, and mtermarned with one an- a privileged other. Their estates went down to their "" ^^^ '^^ ^' eldest sons, but the younger sons, too, belonged to the noblesse. So they became a very numerous class, poor, but proud of their blood and freedom from taxes. The. peasantry , on the other hand, were the burdened class. In some respects they were much q^j^^ peasantry better off than the German peasantry, notserfc. Very early in their history feudal serfdom had been abolished in the north of France, especially in Normandy ; while in most parts their services in labour had been long ago changed into fixed rents, paid most often in corn, wine, or fruits. But their young crops still suf- 46 Slale of Christendotn. pt. I. but paying fcrcd from the lord's game. They still had "■^"'^ tolls and fees and heriots to pay, and forced labour to give on the roads. They still looked up to the feudal lord as to a master, and the lord down upon them as born for service. There was an impassable barrier of blood between the two classes. The Church added ^ , her claims — her tithes, as in other countries, and tithes and the endless fees and money payments, which made her so obnoxious. Bishops and abbots, in France as in Germany, had large estates as well as tithes, and so were landlords and princes as well as priests, drawing, Machiavelli says, two-fifths of the annual revenues of the kingdom into their ecclesiastical coffers. Lastly came the extra burden of the taille, growing with the military needs of kings who, having an , .„ army, and not content with turning out the and taiUe. ■'. . ° English and conquering refractory barons, must needs lay claim to Milan and Naples, and invade Italy. Here is a picture drawn by the peasants themselves of their hard lot, as they complained to the States General on the accession of Charles VUL, and laid their grie- vances before the new monarch, hoping for a remedy which never came. ' During the past thirty-four years troops have been ' ever passing through France and living on the poor Their grie- ' People. When the poor man has managed vances. ' ^y ^j^g g^ig Qf ^-j^g zozX on his back, after 'hard toil, to pay his taille, and hopes he may live out ' the year on the little he has left, then come fresh troops 'to his cottage, eating him up. In Normandy multi- ' tudes have died of hunger. From want of beasts men ' and women have to yoke themselves to the carts, and ' others, fearing that if seen in the daytime they will be CH. III. France. 47 • seized for not having paid their taille, are compelled to 'work at night. The king should have pity on his poor 'people, and relieve them from the said tailles and 'charges.* Alas ! Charles VIII., instead of listening to their com- plaints, took to invading Italy ! increasing their taille and spilling more of their blood. When to all this we add the consciousness that while they, the much-enduring peasantry, were bearing their increasing burdens, the noblesse were free from them, can we wonder if the peasantry should learn to hate as well as envy the nobles ? The middle class in order to escape the incidents of the rural taxation more and more left the rural districts to live in the towns. Not sharing the blood or „, ° The middle the freedom from taille of the nobles, there class leave . . -..u *-u t'^'^ country was no mixmg or mtermarrjang with them, for the They were of different castes. Neither did '°'^'"- the men of the towns sympathize with the peasantry. They had their taille to pay like the peasantry, but under their charters they enjoyed privileges which the peasant did not. They were merchants rather than manufactu- rers. Some linen manufactures were carried on in Brittany and Normandy, but mostly France was supplied with goods from the looms of Flanders in exchange for corn and wine. The towns were the markets in which the products of the peasant were exchanged, and the townsmen thus had the chance of throwing a part of their burdens on their rural customers in the shape of tolls and dues. While thus the noblesse grew prouder and poorer, and the peasantry were more and more bur- dened, the middle classes in the towns grew richer and more and more powerful. Hence the gulf between different classes in France was 48 State of Christendom. pt. i. ever widening. The Crown was absolute and uncon- trolled by any parliament, the noblesse a privileged caste, the middle class settling in the towns, while the poor peasantry were left to bear their burdens alone in the country. France had grown a big united Separation ^ o o of classes the country on the map, but looking within the French nation, a state of things had begun which, if P^ ^'^" unreformed, was sure in the end to produce revolution, though it might not come yet. In the meantime the first false steps of the absolute kings of France were those attempts at aggrandizement Love of which led them to invade I^aly and prove foreign wars their Strength in a long rivalship with Spain. the chief vice ° ° r- r in her policy. To gratify a royal lust for empire and mili- tary glory they were ready to sacrifice the welfare of the French people. ( • . work, 'The Prince.' Its object was to win ihe Frince. ■' a way back for its author to political life by convincing the Medici that though he had served under their enemies, he could do them service if they em- ployed him. It answered its purpose. Written in a wicked, lying age, ' The Prince ' reflected its vices. Its author made no pretence of a higher virtue than Borgias and Medici would appreciate. He did not scruple to advocate lying whenever it would pay ; force and fraud whenever it would succeed; tyranny, if needful to keep a tyrant on his throne ; murder and bloodshed as a means of obtaining an end. This was what professedly Christian popes had been doing of late. Machiavelli by putting these maxims into a scientific form in ' The Prince ' did but give them a sort of personality. He be- came, as it were, the demon of politics, and the unchris- tian policy of the times became known to after ages as ' Machiavellian.' CHAPTER II. THE OXFORD REFORMERS. (a) The Spirit of Revival of Lcarnitig and Reform is carried fro7n Italy to Oxford. There were, as we have seen, two distinct movements at Florence in favour (i"^ of the Revival of Learning; and (2) of Religiotis Reform. The distinction and also the connexion between these movements must be marked with care. CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 77 The revival of the old classical Latin and Distinction and con- Greek authors, by making men prefer Plato nexion be- to the schoolmen dealt a blow at the scho- vTv^al"of ^' lastic system, and even tended towards a Rg^i^us^""^ rejection of Christianity. reform. The spirit of religious reform was, on the other hand, a revival of earnest Christian feeling against the scandals of the Church and the irreligion of the age. It was in some sense caused by the revival of learning, for am'ongst the ancient literature whicli was revived were the Scriptures and the works of the early Church fathers ; and the study of these in their original Ian- „ , •' ^ Both against guages opened men's minds to the need of the Schoias- reform. It also set them against the scho- "^^>^*^ lastic theology, and so it came to pass that the spirit of religious reform in its turn dealt a blow against the scholastic system. When the spirit which sought the revival of learning joined itself with that of religious reform, it produced reformers who aimed at freeing men's minds from the bonds of the scholastic system, at setting up Christ and his apostles instead of the schoolmen as the exponents of what Christianity really is, and lastly at making real Christianity and its golden rule the guide for men and nations, and so the basis of the civilization of the future. So to some extent it had been in Italy. The revival of learning had produced, not only the Platonic Academy, but also the great Florentine Reformer; and Savonarola, with his fiery religious zeal, had been more than a match for the pagan tendencies of the Platonic Academy. Pico especially, and in part Ficino, had united religious feel- ings with a love of the Platonic philosophy. Savonarola hi.nsclf had united a love of letters and zeal for cduration 78 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. The move- 'v^'\'(^ his Spirit of religious reform. But the ment crushed rnovemcnt at Florence was now thoroughly at Florence. r • crushed. We must look elsewhere for its further development till it becomes a power all over Europe. As in the fourteenth century the movement begun by Wiclif in England was carried into Bohemia by the inter- Revivers at change of students between the Universities Oxford. Q^ Oxford and Prague, so this movement, begun in Italy, was soon carried by students from Flo- rence to Oxford, and from thence it took a fresh start. During the lifetime of Lorenzo de' Medici several Oxford students, amongst whom were Grocyn and Linacre, went to complete their studies in Grocyn and . ^ Linacre go Italy. Linacre was made tutor or fellow- return'to^" Student of Lorenzo's own children (one of Oxford. whom was afterwards Pope Leo X.). They returned to Oxford to revive there the study of the Greek language and literature. Linacre afterwards became tu- tor to Arthur Prince of Wales, and physician to Henry VII. Another Oxford student — Jolin Colet — went to Italy after Lorenzo's death and the French invasion of Italy, ^ , ^, , and while Savonarola was virtually head of John Colet _ -^ does the the Republic at Florence, also while the Colet unites scandals of Rome's worst Pope, Alexander the new" ° VI., and Caesar Borgia, were in everyone's learning and mouth. He caught the spirit, not only of religious re- . form. the revival of learning, but also of religious reform, and, combining the two, became on his return to Oxford the beginner of a movement at Ox- ford which was to influence Europe. [b) yohfi Colet, Erasmus, and TJtonias More. John Colet was son of a lord mayor of London, and CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 79 likely to succeed to his father's fortune. His earnest religious spirit made him wish to enter the Church. In Italy he studied the writings of Pico and Ficino and Plato, and above all the Bible, and returned to Oxford full of zeal for the new learning and for reform. He at once began to lecture at Oxford on St. Paul's Epistles, trying to find out Avhat they meant in the same common sense way that men would use to understand letters written by a living man to his friends ; Lectures on not asking what the learned schoolmen had ^'-.Pf"''^ ° tpistles at decided that they meant, but giving the Oxford. schoolmen the go by (quoting Plato and Pico and Ficino more often than them), and so giving the Epistles a life- like power, interest, and freshness quite new to his hearers. By so doing he hoped to set men's minds free from the scholastic system, to make them inquire into facts for themselves, and drink in at first hand the teach- ings of the Apostle. For generations men had become monks and clergy- men without even reading the New Testament. Colct found theological students poring over the books of the schoolmen. His lectures were the beginning of a work which went on till it quite revolutionized the Attacks the theological teaching of the University. For- schoolmen. ty years after, people found the books of the schoolmen set aside as useless, and their torn leaves strung up by the corner as waste paper. Colet had seen in Italy how much the ecclesiastical as well as the scholastic system needed reform ; and so in his lectures at Oxford he zealously urged the He urges necessity of a reform in the morals of the ^^f° ''!'= ?'=^'^ ^ of ccclcsi- clergy. He urged that it was ecclesiastical a-stical re- scandals and the wicked worldly living of the clergy, the way they mixed themselves up with poli- 8o Tlic Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. tics, and strove after power and money and pleasure, which set men against the Church, 'Whereas,' he said, ' if the clergy lived in the love of God and their neigh- ' hours, how soon would then true piety, religion, charity, 'goodness towards men, simplicity, patience, tolerance ' of evil, conquer evil with good ! How would it stir up 'the minds of men everywhere to think well of the ' Church of Christ.' He had seen how wicked the Popes and cardinals of Rome were ; and so now, at Oxford, he burst out into hot words, written, as he said, 'with grief and tears,' against ecclesiastical wickedness in high places. He spoke of the Popes as 'wickedly distilling poison, to the ' destruction of the Church.' Unless there could be a reform of the clergy, from the Pope at the head down to the monks and the clergymen, he saw no chance of saving the Church. ' Oh, Jesu Christ, wash for us not 'our feet only, but also our hands and our head/ Other- 'wise our disordered Church cannot be far from death." A man so earnest was sure to make disciples. Stu- dents burdened by scholastic arguments came to him, He attracts ^"d gladly accepted his advice to 'keep to disciples ^Y\Q Bible and the Apostles' Creed, letting divines, if they like, dispute about the rest.' They fol- lowed him from his lectures to his chambers, and im- bibed his love for St. Paul ; and along with the new learning, he stirred up in them that real religion which consists in the love of God and one's neighbour, and gives men a new power and ruling motive in life. Two men especially so came within his influence as to join themselves with him in fellow-work ; and it was by and fellow- their means that it became, in a way in workers. which Colct alone never could have made it, a power all over Europe. CH. II. The Oxford Rcfonut'rs. 8i One of them was Thomas (afterwards Sir Thomas, and Lord Chancellor) More, a young man, ten years Colct's junior, but so earnest, so full of wit ^, Thomas More. and genius, and withal so good-natured and fascinating, that those who knew him fell in love with him. He had caught at Oxford the love of the new learning which Grocyn and Linacre had brought from Italy ; and, as we shall see by-and-by, became a hearty fellow-worker with Colet. Rising by his talents to posts of high influence in the state, he became one of the most prominent figures in English history during this era. The other fellow-worker was the afterwards famous Erasmus. He was an orphan, and poor. Thrust, when a youth, into a monastery by dishonest guar- dians, who had tried to force him to become a monk in order to get his little stock of money, he rebelled when he came of age, left the monastery, and, in spite of poverty, earning his living by Early life of giving lessons to private pupils, worked his Erasmus. way up to such learning as the University of Paris could give. Wanting to master Greek, and too poor to go to Italy, he came, at the invitation of an English nobleman, to learn it at Oxford. He was just turned thirty (the same age as Colet), but already hard study, bad lodging, and the harassing life of a poor student, driven about and ill- used as he had been, had ruined his health. His mental energy rose, however, above bodily weak- jjg comes to ness, and he came to Oxford, eager for work, Oxford, and perhaps for fame. He found the little Makes friends circle of Oxford students zealous for the new and Thomas learning and those Greek studies on which his ^'^'''"^' own mind was bent. He became known at once to Colet, Grocyn, and Linacre, and fell in love with More. His own words will best describe what he thought of them. G 82 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. 'When' (he wrote in a letter) 'I listen to my friend 'Colet, it seems to me like listening to Plato himself. In ' Grocyn, who does not admire the wide range of his know- ' ledge ? What could be more searching, deep, and re- ' fined than the judgment of Zzwa^rr^".? Whenever did 'nature mould a character more gentle, endearing, and 'happy than Tlionias Marcs? During the time he spent at Oxford, he had many talks and discussions with Colet. He had come to Ox- ford full of the spirit of the revival of learning, but not yet hating the scholastic system as Colet did, Comes under jo j Coiet's influ- nor ready at once to take to Colet's views on the need of reform. He had not yet got the religious earnestness which made Colet what he was. But Colet's fervour was infectious; and before Erasmus left Oxford, he saw clearly what a great work Colet had begun. Colet urged him to stay at Oxford, and at once to join him in his work; but Erasmus said he was not ready — he must first go to Italy to study Greek, as others had done. But, he said, ' When I feel that I have the need- ful firmness and strength, I will join you.' How effec- tually he did aid him afterwards we shall presently see. (r) 7"//!? Oxford students are scattered till the accession of Henry VIII. (i 500-1 509). During the remainder of the reign of Henry VII. ^, , (nine years or thereabouts), the little band The three \. ^ ^ , , , friends scat- of Oxford students was scattered. Erasmus left England in 1500 for France, on his way for Italy ; but being robbed of his money by the custom-house officers at Dover, he was obliged by poverty to stay in France instead of going to Italy. Colet went on with his work at Oxford as earnestlv as CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 83 ever, till lie was made Dean of St. Paul's, and removed to London. More worked his way up to the bar in London, be- came popular in the City, and very early in life went into Parliament. The last years of Henry VIL were marked by the discontent occasioned by the king's avarice. ^ Exactions of His two mmisters, Empson and Dudley Empson and tried all kinds of schemes to exact money " ^^' from the people withoi|t breaking the laws. ' These two ravening wolves ' (wrote Hall the chroni- cler, who lived near enough to the time to feel some of the exasperation he described) 'had such a guard of false 'perjured persons appertaining to them, which were by ' their commandment empanelled on every quest, that the ' king was sure to win, whoever lost. Learned men in the ' law, when they were required of their advice, would say, ' " To agree is the best counsel I can give you." By this 'undue means these covetous persons filled the king's ' coffers and enriched themselves. At this unreasonable ' and extortionate doing noblemen grudged, mean men ' kicked, poor men lamented ; preachers openly, at Paul's 'Cross and other places, exclaimed, rebuked, and de- ' tested; but yet they would never amend.' The robbing of Erasmus at the Dover custom-house was an instance of one of these legal robberies. Thomas More also suffered from the royal avarice. ., 11 • More He was bold enough to speak and vote m offends Parliament against a subsidy which he ^'^"'^ thought was more than the king ought to claim. Where- upon his father was fined on some legal but unjust ex- cuse, and he himself had to flee into retirement. He thought of going into a cloister, and becoming a monk ; but, under the influence of Colet, who about that time S4 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. was made Dean of St. Paul's, and came to live in Lon- . , don, he married, and waited for better days. 1 he circle . ■' _ ofOxford When Erasmus came to England again in formed again 1505, he found Colet, More, Grocyn, Lin- in London. ^^^^^ ^^^ LjUy (another Oxford student who had been to Italy), all living in London. They found him the necessary means for his journey to Italy, and again he left them, promising to return, and hoping then to join them in fellow -work. In 1509, while Erasmus was in Italy, Henry VII. died. (irf ) On the accession of Henry VIII. tJiey commence their felloiv-'wo7-Jz (1509). The accession of Henry VIII. seemed to the Oxford students like the beginning of an Augustan age. The other sovereigns of Europe, Maximilian of Hopes on the . accession of Germany, Louis XII. of France, and Ferdi- ^""^^ ■ nand of Spain, were old men, and, owing to their constant wars, poor. Henry VIII. was young and, thanks to his father's peaceful foreign policy and unjust exactions, rich. He was, as most young princes are, popular; every one hoped good things from him. The imprisonment and execution of Empson and Dudley re- lieved the people from fear of further exactions. He was handsome, fond of athletic sports, and, in the early years of his reign, it must be admitted, generous and open-handed. A musician, a scholar, and (however fond of pleasure) neglecting neither study nor business, of great energy having his eye everywhere and keeping the reins of government well in his hands, he seemed likely to make a great and popular king. By the little band of Oxford students his accession was hailed with the highest hopes. He was personally known to some of them, and known to be a friend of the CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 85 'new learninjr.' Colet (already Dean of „^ „ ,, , "^ \ •' , The Oxford bt. Jr'aul s) was soon made court preacher, studentsin Thomas More, to the delight of the citizens *^°"" ^^''°"''- of London, was made under-sheriff, and a few years afterwards, such was the fondness of the king for him, that, much against his will, he was drawn into the court. Even the foreign scholar Erasmus was at once recalled from Rome and settled at Cambridge as Greek profes- sor.- There seemed now to be an open door for Revival and Reform, and all in the sunshine of the young king's favour. {e) Erasmus writes his ' Praise of Folly ' ( 1 5 n ). Erasmus, having been to Italy, was now ready to join Colet heartily in fellow-work. On his way from Italy on horseback, he planned in his mind, and on his arrival in London, before going to Cambridge, he wrote in More's house, his ' Praise of Folly,' a satire in Latin on the follies of the age, which made his name famous among the scholars of Europe. He dressed up Folly in her cap and bells, and made her deliver an oration to her fellow-fools. Prominent amongst the fellow-fools were the scholastic theologians whom Colet had taught him to dislike. ' Folly ' described them as men who were so ^ . ' Satire on the proud that they could define everything, who scholastic knew all about things of which St. Paul was ^^" '^s'ji!'- ignorant, could talk of science as though they had been consulted when the world was made, could give you the dimensions of heaven as though they had been there and measured it with plumb and line — men who professed universal knowledge, and yet had not time to read the Gospels or Epistles of St. Paul. Mo7tks were described as shut out of the kingdom of 86 The Protestant Reiwlution. pt. ii. heaven in spite of their cowls and their ha- bits, while wagoners and husbandmen were admitted. ' Folly ' claimed also among her votaries Popes who (as Julius II. was then doing), instead of 'leaving all,' like St. Peter, try to add to St. Peter's patri- mony, as they called it, fresh possessions by war, and turn law, religion, peace, and all human af- fairs upside down. This bold satire did much to open the eyes of men all over Europe to the need of reform, turned the ridicule of the world upon the scholastic theologians and monks, and as a natural consequence, raised against Erasmus the hatred of those whose follies he had so keenly sa- tirized. This little book written, he went to Cambridge to labour as Greek professor, and also at another great work of which we shall have to say more by-and-by — his edition of the New Testament. {/) Colet fomids St. PauVs School. Colet, meanwhile, went on preaching from his pulpit at St. Paul's. On his father's death he came into posses- Coiet found- ^^°" °'^ ^^'^ fortune, and nobly devoted it to school of the the foundation of a public school by the new learning. i , , • i • i i • i r -i ■ cathedral — in which boys, mstead of being crammed in the scholastic learning, were to be trained in the new learning, and instead of being taught the bad Latin of the monks, were to be taught the pure Latin and Greek which the Oxford students had imported from Italy; and lastly, instead of being flogged and driven, were to be attracted and gently led into the paths of learninsf. LU. 11. The Oxford Ref.rmcrs. 87 Lilly was appointed schoolmaster. Erasmus and Lin- acre were set to work to write school-books, and finding that no one else seemed able to write a Latin Grammar simple and easy enough for beginners, Colet wrote one himself. In his preface he said he had aimed, for the love and zeal he had for his new school, at making his little book on the eight parts of speech as easy as he could, 'judging that nothing may be too soft nor too fa- miliar for little children, specially learning a tongue unto them all strange,' and asking them to 'lift up their little white hands' for him, in return for his prayers for them. Compare with these gentle words the practice of the common run of schoolmasters described by Erasmus, who, too ignorant to teach their scholars properly, had to make up for it by flogging and scolding, defending their cruelty by the theory that it was the schoolmaster's business to subdue the spirits of his boys! When it was noised abroad that in this new school of the Dean's, classical Latin and Greek were to be taught instead of the bad Latin of the monks, and that under the shadow of St. Paul's cathedral there was thus to be a school of the new learning, men of the old school of thought began to take alarm. More had jokingly told Colet that it would be so, for niaiic"of meq he said the school was like the wooden "•"'heoid school. horse filled with armed Greeks for the de- struction of barbarian Troy; and so the men of the old school regarded it. In spite of the inscription on the building — Schola Catechizationis Pueronim in Christi Opt. Max. fide et bonis literis, — one bishop denounced it openly as a 'temple of ido- latry,' and the Bishop of London began to contrive how 88 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. to get Colet convicted of heresy, and so a stop put to his work. About this time there was a convocation, and the Archbishop of Canterbury gave Colet the duty of preach- ing to the assembled bishops and clergy the Colet's sermon ■ tt , i on ecciesiasti- openmg sermon. He took the opportunity cal reform. q£ Urging, in the strongest and most earnest manner, the necessity of a radical reform in the morals of the clergy. He told them to their face boldly that the wicked worldly life of some of the bishops and clergy was far worse heresy than that of poor Lollards, twenty- three of whom the Bishop of London had just been com- pelling to abjure, and two of whom he had burned in Smithfield a few months before. No wonder the Bishop's anger was kindled still more against Colet. He and two other bishops of the old school joined in laying a charge of heresy cha^e"o/°™* against him before the Archbishop, but the heresy. latter wisely would not listen to the charge. So the cause of the new learning prospered during the early years of Henry VIII. [g) The Continental Wars of Henry VIII. 1511-1312. If we look back to the section on Italy, and the sum- mary there given of Papal and Continental politics, we shall see that it was in 151 1 and 1512 that Pope Julius II. was bent upon uniting Spain, England, The Holy Al- } ^ ' ' % . liance against and Germany m a War agamst f rance. Louis France. -j^jj^ -j^^^ ^^^ posscssion of Milan, and was becoming dangerous. The Pope's object was to drive Louis out of Italy. Ferdinand of Spain wanted not only to get rid of the rivalship of France in Italy, but also to annex the province of Navarre to Spain. Henry VIII. CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 89 FRENCH PROVINCES CLAIMED BY HENRY VIII. was tempted to revive the claims of England on the Duchy of Gui- enne, which since the close of the Hundred Years' War had been annexed to the French Crown. The Emperor Maximilian was always anxious to enlarge his borders at the expense of France. So these princes formed what was called ' the Holy Alliance,' with the Pope at their head, against France, and in 1511 the holy war began. The campaign of that year ,, ,,,,, *=■ . . Henry VIII. 's ended in the crafty Ferdinand getting and first campaign, keeping Navarre, while Henry the Eighth's invasion of Guicnne miserably failed. His troops mu- tinied, and returned to England in utter disorder. In the spring of 1513 preparations were being made for another campaign on a greater scale. It was in these preparations that his great minister Wol- sey's great talents came into play. Henry VIII. had set his heart on a brilliant invasion of France in order to wipe out the dishonour of the last campaign. He watched the equipment of his fleet, and ordered Ad- miral Howard to tell him ' how every ship did sail.' Just as everything was ready Julius II. died, and the Cardinal de' Medici, Linacre's fcUow-studcnt, whose ac- quaintance Erasmus had made in Italy, was ^ ,. „ ^ . •' Julius II, siic- elected Pope under the title of Leo X. The cccdod by Leo new Pope cared for literature and art and Wolsey. 90 'The Protestant Revolution. pr. ii, building St. Peter's at Rome more than for war, and ex- pressed his anxiety to bring about a peace. But Henry „ ,, VIII. had set his heart upon a glorious war. But Henry . . l" fa > persists in in- and in spite of the death of the head of the ing ranee, j^^j^ Alliance, and in spite also of his father-in-law Ferdinand's hanging back at the last mo- ment, he was determined to go on. Admiral Howard in his first engagement with the French, lost his life in a brilliant exploit, and his crew, disheartened, returned to Plymouth. But still Henry VIII. set sail with the rest of the ships for Calais, with ' such a fleet as Neptune , „ never saw before,' and from Calais he Gains the Bat- tle of the marched his army a few leagues beyond the ^""^ French frontier, took some towns of small importance, and turned the French army to flight at the Battle of the Spurs. He did little harm to France or good to England, but got some sort of a victory, and so gratified his vanity. There were of course great rejoicings, tourna- Scotch inva- ° . , sionofEng- ments, and pageants, but just m the midst of them came the news that the Scotch, always troublesome neighbours in those days, before the union of the two kingdoms, had, incited by France, taken the opportunity of Henry VIII. 's absence in France to invade England, but that through the zeal and energy of Queen Catherine they had been defeated, and the Battle of King of Scots himself slain, with a host of the Scotch nobility, at the Battle of Flodden. Whereupon Henry VIII., finding nothing better to do, amid great show of rejoicing returned to England, bent upon preparing for another invasion by-and-by. But his father-in-law, Ferdinand, had served him so badly in these two campaigns — leaving him to bear the brunt of them, while he contented himself with taking CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 91 and keeping Navarre — that the end of it was a strange shuffling of the cards. Henry VIII. made Henry viii. peace with Louis XII., and England and FVaVc^e'against France combined to wrest back again from Spam. Spain that very province of Navarre which Henry VIII. had helped Ferdinand to wrest from France only a few years before. In January 151 5 this unholy alliance was broken by Louis XII.'s death. He was succeeded by Francis I.., who, eager, like his young rival, Henry VIII., to win his spurs in a European war, succeeded by at once declared his intention that the ' mon- ^"'^"'^'^ • archv of Christendom should rest under the Francis I. ^ _ invades Italy, banner of France, as it was wont to do ! ' A and recovers few months after, he started on the Italian campaign, in which, after defeating the Swiss soldiers at the battle of Marignano, he recovered the Duchy of Milan. Again both Ferdinand and Henry VIII. were made friends by their common jeal- andSpairfcom- ousy of France. It would never do to let p"*^ against France become the first power in Europe. So during these years, instead of an Augustan age of peace, reform, and progress in the new learning and civihzation, through the jealousy and lust of military glory of her kings, stirred up by the kings against late warlike Pope and his Holy Alliance, E^rLpe."'"'^ Europe was harried with these barbarous wars ! We have seen, in the chapter on France, how her national wars tended to increase the power of the Crown, and how the fact that the Crown was abso- lute and backed by its standing army, while tended to it tended to keep France a united kingdom !"ij'^'^f^^e"^ on the map, injured the nation. So it was 92 The Protcstaftt Revolution. pt. i. The ex- also in measure — happily only in measure — • ample of l i j ■/ France. in England. These wars tended to make the king absolute. To carry them on, not only were all the hoarded treasures of Henry VII. dispersed, but fresh taxes were needed ; and when all the taxes were spent that could be got legally out of votes of Parliament, Wolsey was driven to get more money by illegal means. Narrow Had the war-fever gone on a little longer — ^cape of jyg)- gQ long as to establish the precedent of the king's levying taxes without consent of Parliament — then England might well have lost her free constitution, just as France had already done. But, happily, this was not so to be. In the meantime, let us see how the Oxford Reformers acted in this crisis of European affairs, how they used all their influence to set the public opinion of the educated world against this evil policy of European princes. Coiet Colet preached against the wars to the preaches people from his pulpit at St. Paul's, and to against the ^ ^ r r wars. the king from the pulpit of the royal chapel ; and his enemies tried to get him into trouble with the king for doing so. But Henry VIII. , wild as he was for military glory, was generous enough to respect the sincerity and boldness of the dean ; and though not wise enough to follow his advice, refused to stop his preaching. Erasmus made known to his learned friends all over Europe this bold con- duct of Colet and his hatred of war. He also, in his letters to the Pope, princes, cardinals, bish- trasmus r > jt against ops, and influential men everywhere, protest- ed against the false international policy which sacrificed the good of the people to the ambition of kings, and also Morc also made no secret to the king that More. i^g ^yjig opposed to his conquering France, and that he hated the wars. CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 93 (Ji) The kind of Reform ninicd at by the Oxford Reformers. It so happened that just at this time Erasmus was invited to the court of Prince Charles of the Netherlands (afterwards the Emperor Charles V.), and Erasmus that More was also beingr drawn by Henry made a ° ^ ■' councillor VIII. into his royal service. They both at of Prince length yielded. Erasmus became a privy councillor of Prince Charles, on condition fnto^n^n^" that it should not interfere with his literary viil.'s service. work. More became a courtier of Henry VIII. when peace was made with France, on condition that in all things he should ' first look to God, and after Him to the king.' Both Erasmus and More, in thus entering royal ser- vice, published pamphlets or books containing a state- ment of their views on politics. Erasmus called his 'The Christian Prince;' More called his a 'Description of the Commonwealth of Utopia.' Erasmus, in his 'Christian Prince,' urged that the Golden Rule ought to guide the actions of -pjjg princes — that they should never enter upon Lp.'""'^','^" a war that could possibly be avoided, that Erasmus. the good of their people should be their sole object, that it was the people's choice which gave a king his title to his throne, that a constitutional monarchy is much better than an absolute one, that kings should aim at taxing their people as little as possible ; that the necessaries of life, things in common use among the lowest classes, ought not to be taxed, but luxuries of the rich, and so on: the key-note of the whole being that the object of nations and governments is the common weal of the whole people. 94 '^^^^ Protestant Revolution. pt. n. In the meanwhile, More, in his 'Utopia,' or descrip- tion of the manners and customs of an ideal common- More's wealth (' Utopia 'meaning 'nowhere'), urged 'Utopia.' just tiie same points. The Utopians elected their own king, as well as his council or parlia- ment. They would not let him rule over anothei. country as well : they said he had enough to do to govern their own island. The Utopians hated war as the worst of evils ; the Utopians aimed not at making the king and a few nobles rich, but the whole people. All property belonged to the nation, and so all the peo- ple were well off. Nor was education confined to one class ; in Utopia everyone was taught to read and write. All magistrates and priests were elected by the people. Every family had a vote, and the votes were taken by ballot. Thus the key-note of More's 'Utopia' was, like the ' Christian Prince' of Erasmus, that governments and nations exist for the common weal of the whole people. If we turn back to the description already given of the two points which mark the spirit of modern civiliza- tion, and judge these sentiments of Eras- They , ,. r •, ■ r ■ entered mus and More from that pomt of view, we imo'th? ^ cannot fail to see how thoroughly they en- spirit of tered into the spirit of the new era, and how modern ^ civilization. corrcct and far-reaching were the reforms which they urged upon the public opinion of Europe. We must not leave the Oxford Reformers without trying to get a clear idea of the kind of religious reform which they urged. We have seen that Colet's object was to set the minds of men free from the bonds of the scholastic of their system, by leading men back from the refom"^ schoolmcn to the teaching of Christ and His Apostles in the New Testament. CH. II. The Oxford Reformers. 95 Erasmus had been all this while labouring hard in fellow-work with him. He had for years been working at, and now, in 1 516, published at the printing-press at Basle, a book which did more to prepare the way for the religious reformation than any other book published during this era. This was his Testament edition of the New Testament, containing, in two columns side by side, the original Greek and a new Latin translation of his own. He thus realized a great object, "which Colet had long had in view, viz., not only to draw men away from scholastic theology, but to place before them, in all the freshness of the original language and a new translation, the 'living picture' of Christ and His Apostles contained in the New Testa- ment. By so doing he laid a firm foundation for another great religious reform, viz., the translation of the New Testament into what was called ' the vulgar tongue ' of each country, thus bringing it within reach of the people as well as of the clergy. 'I wish' (Erasmus said in his preface to his New Testament) ' that even the weakest woman should read 'the Gospels — should read the Epistles of Paul; and I 'wish that they were translated into all languages, so 'that they might be read and understood not only 'by Scots and Irishmen, but also by Turks and Sara- 'cens. I long that the husbandman should sing por- 'tions of them to himself as he follows the plough, 'that the weaver should hum them to the tunc of his 'shuttle, that the traveller should beguile with their 'stories the tedium of his journey.' Of course this great work of Erasmus excited the oppo- sition and hatred of the men of the old school, and espe- cially of the monks and scholastic divines, to whom the old Vulgate version was sacred, and Greek a heretical 96 The Protesta7it Revolution. pt. ii. tongue. But the New Testament went through several large editions, and when, a few years after, the learned men of the Sorbonne at Paris complained of what they called its heresies, Erasmus was able to reply trium- phantly, ' You are too late in your objections. You should have spoken sooner. It is now scattered over Europe by thousands of copies ! ' One other point we have to fix in our minds — the attitude of the Oxford Reformers to the ecclesiastical ^, , . , , system. We have seen that their notion of Ihe kind of . . ecciesiasti- religion was that it was a thing of the heart urged by the — the love of God and man. They believed former ^^'^'^ it was intended to bind men together in a common brotherhood, not to divide them into sects. They complained how rival orders of monks and schools of theology hated one another. Christians might differ about doctrines, but they ought to agree in They aimed the worship of God and in their love of one and toferant another. Hence More in his Utopia had Church. described the Utopians as giving full tolera- tion to all varieties of doctrines and differences of creeds; and pictured all worshipping together in one united and simple mode of worship, expressly so arranged as to hurt the feelings of no sect among them, so that they all might join in it as an expression of their common brotherhood in the sight of God. It is clear that, holding these views, they were likely to urge, as they did earnestly urge, the reform of the ecclesiastical system, but that if at any time a great dissension were to arise in the Church, they would urge that the Church should be reformed and widened so as to give offence to neither party, and include likely to op- both within it, and would oppose with all pose schism. ^j^^jj. j^^jgj^^ anything which should break up CH. III. TJie Wittenberg Reformers. 97 its unity and cause a schism. Wlicther right or wrong, this would be the course which their own deep convic- tions would be likely to lead them to take, and this, we shall see, was the line the survivors of them did take when the Protestant struggle came on. We say ' the survivors,' because Colet did not live to work much longer. Even now, driven into retirement by the perse- cution of the old Bishop of London, he could do little but work at his school. And he died in 1519. To the beginning of the Protestant movement we must now turn our attention. CHAPTER III. THE WITTENBERG REFORMERS. (a) Martin Luther becomes a Reformer. Martin Luther was born in 1483, and so was 15 years youneer than Erasmus and Colet, and three „ ■' *' Born 1483. years younger even than their young friend More. His great-grandfather and grandfather were Saxon peasants, but his father being a younger son had left home and become a miner or slate-cutter at Mansfield in Thuringia, Both his parents school" were rough and hot-tempered, but true and honest at heart. Though working hard for a living, they sent their sons to school, and wishing Mar- tin to become a lawyer, they found means to send him to the university of Erfurt. There he took his degree of M. A. In 1505, in fulfilment some say of a vow made in a dreadful thunderstorm, when he thought his end was ir versity. pS The Protestant Revolution. pr. ii. near, Luther, contrary to his father's wishes, Becomes a monk. left his law studies and entered the Augus- tine monastery at Erfurt. He inherited the superstitious nature of the German peasantry. He traced every harm that came to him through passion and temptation all alike to the Devil. His conscience was often troubled. His fasts and penances did not give him peace. He passed through great mental struggles, sometimes shut himself up in his cell for days, and once was found sense- less on the floor. At lerigth he found peace of mind in the doctrine of 'justification by faith,' /. e., that forgtveP ness of sins, instead of being got by fasts and penances and ceremonies, is given freely to those who have faith in Christ. This doctrine he learned partly from the pious vicar-general of the monastery, partly from the works of St. Augustine, and under their guidance from a study of , , , the Bible. From this time he accepted also Adopts the '^ theology of St. other parts of the theology of St. Augustine, and especially those which, because they were afterwards adopted by Calvin, are now called ' Cal- vinistic,' such as that all things are fated to happeji ac- cording to the divine will, that man has therefore no free will, and that only an elect humber, predestinated to receive the gift of faith, are saved. It is well to mark here that these Augustinian doctrines were, in fact, a part of that scholastic theology from which the Oxford Reformers were trying to And in this dif- . r t . ^- lx. i.u fered from the Set men free. In not acceptmg them they o X f o r d Re- differed from Luther. But they and Luther formers. ^ had one thing in common. They alike held that religion did not consist in ceremonies, but was a thing of the heart; that true worship must be in spirit and in truth. In 1 508 Luther was removed from Erfurt to the Augus- CH. III. The Wittenberg Reformers. 99 tinian monastery at Wittenberg, and soon after made preacher there at the University moves to Wit- recently founded by the Elector of Saxony. '"^" ^' In i5iohewas sent on an errand for his monastery to Rome. There he found wicked priests ,, V isits Rome. performing masses in the churches, ignorant worshippers buying forgiveness of sins from the priests, and doing at their bidding all kinds of penances ; and he came back zealous, like Colet, for reform, and with the words 'the just shall live by faith' more than ever ringing in his ears. He had been preaching and teaching the theology of St. Augustine at Wittenberg several years with great ear- nestness, when in 1516 he read the new edi- ^ , , ^T •' Reads the New tion of the New Testament by Erasmus. Testament of The works of Erasmus had an honourable place on the shelves of the Elector of Saxony's library, and his New Testament was the common talk of learned men at the universities, even at this youngest of them all — Wittenberg. Luther eagerly turned over its pages, re- joicing in the new light it shed on old familiar passages ; but what a disappointment it was to him as by degrees he discovered that there was a great difference between Erasmus and himself — that Erasmus did not accept those Augustinian doctrines on which his own faith was built ! He knew that Erasmus was doing a great work towards the needed reform, and this made it all the more painful to find that in these points they differed. He was 'moved' by it, but, he wrote to a friend, ' I keep it to ^. , ^ '■ I'lnds out the myself, lest I should play into the hands of difference in •u- • -Mt 1^ y ■ -u- A their theology. his enemies. May God give him under- standing in his own good time ! ' This is a fact that in justice to both should never be forgotten. Luther was conscious of it from the first, and loo The Protestant Revolution. pt. II. it had this future significance, that if Protestantism (as it afterwards did) sliould follow Luther and adopt the Augustinian theology, Erasmus and the Oxford Re- formers never could become Protestants. Luther might wisely try to keep it secret, but if matters of doctrine should ever come to the front, the breach between them was sure to come out. (U) The Sa'e of Indulgences ( 1 5 1 7 ) . While Luther was preaching Augustinian doctrines at Wittenberg, and Erasmus was hard at work at a second edition of his New Testament, pressing More's 'Utopia' and his own ' Christian Prince ' on the notice of princes and their courtiers, expressing to his friends at Rome his hopes that under Leo X. Rome might become the centre of peace and religion, Europe was all at once brought by the scandalous conduct of Princes and the Pope to the brink of revolution. Leo X. wanted money to help his nephew in a little war he had on hand. To get this money he offered to Leo X.'s grant indulgences or pardons at a certam get?^nly°by price, to thosc who would contribute money indulgence. ^-q ^\^q building of St. Pctcr's at Rome. The people were still ignorant enough to believe in the Pope's power to grant pardons for sins, and there was no doubt they would buy them, and so gold would flow into the coffers of Rome. There was one obstacle. Princes were growing jealous of their subjects' money being drawn towards Rome. But Leo X. Offers princes , . , , , . . , a share in the got ovcr this obstacle by givmg them a *^°''' share in the spoil. He offered Henry VIIL one-fourth of what came from England, but Henry VHL haggled and bargained to get a third ! Kings had made themselves poor by their wars, and a share in the papal CH. ni. The Wittenberg Reformeis. loi spoils on their own subjects was a greater temptation than they could resist. Erasmus in his ' Praise of Folly ' had described indul- eences as ' the crime of false pardons,' and ^ ° _ Erasmus now in every letter and book he wrote he writes bitterly bitterly complained of the Pope and Princes ^^^'"^ for resorting to them again. He wrote to Colet : — ■ ' I have made up my mind to spend the remainder of my life with you in retirement from a world which is everywhere rotten. Ecclesiastical hypocrites rule in the courts of princes. The Court ol' riome clearly has lost all sense of shame ; for what could be more shameless than these continued indulgences 1 ' And in a letter to another friend, he said : — ' All sense of shame has vanished from human affairs. I see that the very height of tyranny has been reached. The Pope and Kings count the people not as men, but as cattle in the market ! ' But though Erasmus numbered among his friends Leo X., Henry VIII., Francis I., and Prince Charles, he found them deaf to his satire, and unwilling to reform abuses which filled their treasuries, ^ingrwilf not They would not listen to Erasmus, It re- I'st^^"- mained to be proved whether they would listen to Lu- ther! [c) Luther's Attack on Indulgences {/j//.) Wittenberg was an old-fashioned town in Saxony, on the Elbe. Its main street was parallel with the broad river, and within its walls, at one end of it, „,. , ' Wittenberg. near the Elster gate, lay the University, founded by the good Elector — Frederic of Saxony — of which Luther was a professor ; while at the other end of it was the palace of the Elector and the palace church of All Saints. The great parish church lifted its two towers I02 " The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii, from the centre of the town, a little back from the main street. This was the town in which Luther had been preaching for years, and towards which Tct- Tetzel comes ,,,.., near, selling zel, the Seller of mdul^ences, now came, lust if, o > 'J u genets. ^g 1^^ ^j^ ^^ other towns, vending his ' false pardons ' — granting indulgences for sins to those who could pay for them, and offering to release from purga- tory the souls of the dead, if any of their friends would pay for their release. As soon as the money chinked in his money-box, the souls of their dead friends would be let out of purgatory. This was the gospel of Tetzel. It made Luther's blood boil. He knew that what the Pope wanted was people's money, and that the whole thing was a cheat. This his Augustinian theology had taught him ; and he was not a man to hold back when he saw what ought to be done. He did see it. On the day be- fore the festival of All Saints, on which the relics of the Church were displayed to the crowds of country people who flocked into the town, Luther passed down the long street with a copy of ninety-five theses or statements Luther's against indulgences in his hand, and nailed against in- them upon the door of the palace church duigences. ready for the festival on the morrow. Also on All Saints' day he read them to the people in the great parish church. It would not have mattered much to Tetzel or the Pope that the monk of Wittenberg had nailed up his papers on He is backed the palace church, had it not been that he Ekctor of '^^s backed by the Elector of Saxony. The Saxony. Elcctor was an honest man, and had the good of the German people at heart. Luther's theses laid hold of his mind, and a few days after it is said that he dreamed that he saw the monk writing on the door of his church in letters so large that he could read them * CH. III. The Wittenberg Reformers. 103 eighteen miles off at his palace where he was, and that the pen grew longer and longer, till at last it reached to Rome, touched the Pope's triple crown and made it tot- ter. He was stretching out his arm to catch it when he awoke ! The Elector of Saxony, whether he dreamed this dream awake or asleep, was at least wide awake enough to refuse permission for Tetzel to enter his do- minions. Then came a year or two of controversy and angry disputes ; and just at the right time came Philip Melanch- thon, from the University of Tubingen, to ^, .,. Philip strengthen the staff of the Elector's new Meianch- University at Wittenberg — a man deep in to wuten^^ Hebrew and Greek, a half-disciple of Eras- ^*^''^- mus — already pointed out as likely to turn out ' Erasmus II.,' of gentle, sensitive, and affectionate nature, the very opposite of Luther, but yet just what was wanted in another Wittenberg Reformer — to help in argument and width of learning ; to be in fact to Luther, partly what Erasmus had been to Colet. In the weary and hot dis- putes which now came upon Luther, Mclanchthon was always at his elbow, and helped him in his arguments ; while the fame of Luther's manly conduct and Melanch- thon's learning all helped to draw students to the Uni- versity from far and near, and so to spread the views of the Wittenberg Reformers more and more widely. [d) The Election of Charles V. to the Empire [ijig). Suddenly, in 15 19, the noise of religious disputes was drowned in the still greater noise of political excitement. Maximilian died, and anew Emperor had to ^ , . ' Death of be elected. Prince Charles, who was now Maximilian. King of Spain also, wanted to be Emperor; foV the so did Francis I., though a Frenchman ; so ^^"h^"''^- I04 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. did Henry VIII., claiming that, though England was not a subject of the Empire, the English language was a German tongue, while French was not. The princes of the Empire wanted the Elector of Saxony to be Em- peror, but he was the one man who cared most for the interests of Germany, and had least selfish ambition. It was a question which of the three princes could bribe a majority of the seven Electors. Henry VIII. did not risk enough to give himself a chance. It was not really likely that, however much they might elected be bribed, the Electors, who were all Ger- through the . i i i t- i influence of man prmccs, would choose a Frenchman. of^sfionT '^^'^ Elector of Saxony practically decided the election in favour of Prince Charles. The following letter of Erasmus, who was a councillor of Prince Charles, will show what manner of man the good Elector was. ' The Duke Frederic of Saxony has written twice to me in reply to my letter. Luther is supported solely by his protection. He says that he has acted thus for the sake rather of the cause than of the person (of Luther). He adds, that he will not lend himself to the oppression of innocence in his dominions by the malice of those who seek their own, and not the things of Christ.' . . . ' When the imperial crown was offered to Frederic of Saxony by all (the Elec- tors), with great magnanimity he refused it, the very day before Charles was elected. And Charles never would have worn the im- perial title had it not been declined by Frederic, whose glory in re- fusing the honour was greater than if he had accepted it. When he was asked who he thought should be elected, he said that no one seemed to him able to bear the weight of so great a name but Charles. In the same noble spirit he firmly refused the 30,000 flo- rins offered him by our people (i. e. the agents of Charles). When he was urged that at least he would allow 10,000 florins to be given to his servants, " They may take them" (he said) "if they like, but no one shall remain my servant another day who accepts a single CH. III. The Wittenberg Reformers. piece of gold." The next day he took horse and departed, lest they should continue to bother him. This was related to me as entirely credible by the Bishop of Liege, who was present at the Imperial Diet.' Would that Charles V. had followed throughout his reign the counsels of the good Elector to whom he owed his crown! Charles's grandfather, Ferdinand, had died only a few months before, and he was himself in Spain, settling the affairs of his new kingdom, when he was elected. We have now to mark what power had fallen into the hands of this prince of the House of Hapsburg. On the map are distinguished the Austrian, Extent of Burgundian, and Spanish provinces which Sharks V.'s c^mc under his rule. We must remember, too, how the ambition of Spain was to increase its Ital- io6 The Protestant Revolution. PT. li. ian possessions, and that, as head of the 'Holy Roman Empire,' he was also nominally King of Italy! {e) Liithcrs Breach with Rome (1520). While these political events had been absorbing atten- tion, the religious disputes between Luther and the papal party had been going on, ^ , , , They had this sincrular effect upon Luther : Luther finds •' ^ ^ . . himself a they drovc him to see that his Augustinian views were identical with those of Wiclif and Huss. He was astonished, as he described it, to find that 'he was a Hussite without knowing it ; that St. Paul and Augustine were Hussites I ' The fact was that Wiclif and Huss, like Luther, had in a great degree got their views from the works of St. Augustine: they had so adopted many of the doctrines which belonged to what we have said is now called the Calvinistic theology. This discovery hastened on his quarrel with the Pope. The Pope and Councils had denounced Wiclif and Huss as heretics ; therefore Popes and Councils were not in- fallible. This was the conclusion to which Rumoured Pa- i i i i ■^ ■, • pal Bull against Luther camc. Luther had declared himself a Hussite, therefore the papal party con- tended he must, like Huss, be a heretic ; and the long continuance of the Hussite wars being taken into account he must be a dangerous heretic. So the Pope made up his mind to issue a Papal Bull against Luther. When rumours of this reached Luther, so far from be- ing fearful, he became defiant. He at once wrote two pamphlets. The first was addressed ' To the Nobility of the German nation.' It was published, in both Latin and German, in CH. III. The Wittenberg Reformers. 107 1520, and 4,000 copies were at once sold. If we bear in mind what has already been phietTo^the'"" said in the section 'On the Ecclesiastical G°^jian .iL'on. System,' the chief points of the pamphlet will be easily understood. The gist of it was as follows : — ' To his Imperial Majesty and the Christian Nobility of the Ger- man nation, Martin Luther wishes grace, &c. The Romanists have raised round themselves walls to protect themselves from reform. One is their doctrine, that there are two separate estates; the one spiritual, \iz. pope, bishops, priests, and monks; the other secw^ar, viz. princes, nobles, artisans, and peasants. And they lay it down that the secular power has no power over the spiritual, but that the spiritual is above the secular; whereas, in truth, all Christians are spiritual, and there is no difference between them. The secular power is of God, to punish the wicked and protect the good, and so has rule over the whole body of Christians, without exception, pope, bishops, monks, nuns and all. For St. Paul says, ' Let every soul (and I reckon the Pope one) be subject to the higher powers.' [Luther was writing this to the secular princes, and they were likely to listen to this setting up of their authority above that of the clergy. He was writing also to the German nation, and he knew well how to catch their ear too.] ' Why should 300,000 florins be sent every year from Germany to Rome ? Why do the Germans let themselves be fleeced by cardinals who get hold of the best preferments and spend the revenues at Rome ? Let us not give another farthing to the Pope as subsidies against the Turks ; the whole thing is a snare to drain us of more money. Let the secular authorities send no more annates to Rome. Let the power of the Pope be reduced within clear limits. Let there be fewer cardinals, and let them not keep the best things to themselves. Let the national churches be more independent of Rome. Let there be fewer pilgrimages to Italy. Let there be fewer convents. Let priests marry. Let begging be stopped by making each parish take charge of its own poor. Let us inquire into the position of the Bohemians, and if Husswas in the right, let us join with him in resisting Rome.' io8 TJie Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. And then, at the end, he threw these few words of defi- ance at the Pope : — ' Enough for this time ! I know right well that I have sung in a high strain. Well, 1 know another little song about Rome and her people ! Do their ears itch ? I will sing it also, and in the highest notes ! Dost thou know well, my dear Rome, what I mean?' His other pamphlet — his ' other httle song about Rome ' — was an attack upon her doctrines. It was entitled ' On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church,' Another pam- ii-i phiet on the and in it he repeated his condemnation of Captivity'of indulgences, denied that the supremacy of the Church.' ^^^^ Pope was of divine right, declared the Pope a usurper, and the Papacy the kingdom of Baby- lon ; and then, turning to matters of doctrine, boldly re- duced the sacraments of the Church, by an appeal to Scripture, from seven to three — Baptism, Penance, and the Lord's Supper. He ended this pamphlet in as defiant a tone as the other. 'He heard' (he said) 'that Bulls ' and other terrible Papistical things were being prepared, 'by which he was to be urged to recant or be declared a 'heretic. Let this little book be taken as a part of his 'recantation, and as an earnest of what was to come ! ' While the printing-press was scattering thousands of copies of these pamphlets all over Germany, in Latin for The Bull the learned, and in German for the com- arrives. mou pcoplc, the BuU arrived, and the Elector of Saxony was ordered by the Pope to deliver up the heretic Luther. The question now was, What would Luther do with the Bull, and the Elector with Luther? (_/) The Elector of Saxony co7isults Erasmtts, December 6, 1520. Much at this moment depended on what the good Elector of Saxony would do. Well was it that the fate CH. III. The Wlttetiberg Reformers. 109 of Luther lay in the hands of so conscientious a prince. He and his secretary Spalatin were at Cologne, where Charles V., after his recent coronation, was holding his court. Melanchthon and Luther were in constant corres- pondence with Spalatin. Melanchthon wrote that all their hopes rested with the prince, and urged Spalatin to do his best to prevent Luther being crushed, — ' a man,' he said, ' who seemed to him almost inspired, and whom he dared to put not only above any other man of the age, but even above all the Augustines and Jeromes of any age ! ' So enthusiastic a disciple of the bold Luther had the gentle Melanchthon become! Spalatin did his best. Aleander, the Pope's nuncio, and supposed author of the ' Bull,' was at Cologne, wild against Luther and doing all he could to get the Emperor to make common cause with the Pope. He knew that the Elector of Saxony stood in the wav, and did his best ., ' . Aleander, to win him over, Erasmus, bemg one of the Pope's the Emperor's council, also was there, and "" win 'over Aleander knew that he, too, was against ofl^xony"^ the crushing of the poor monk, and if he could have bribed him over with a bishopric, or secretly poisoned him, there is evidence that it would most likely have been done. The Elector was bent upon doing what was right and best for Germany and for Christendom, and anxious to have the advice of the best and the wisest men upon the course he should take. Erasmus had written to the Wittenberg Reformers, praising their zeal, but advising more gentleness. Melanchthon had sent the letter from Erasmus to the good Elector, who now wanted to consult Erasmus confidentially him- self. Spalatin managed the interview. It was in the Elector's rooms at the inn of ' The Three Kings ' that no The Protestant Revolution. PT. ii. they met, the Elector, Erasmus and Spalatin. The Elector asked of Erasmus through Spalatin, in Latin, as they stood over the fire, 'What he really thought of Luther?' and fixed his eyes eagerly upon The Elector , , . , ^ ^ J' ^ asks advice him as he waited for an answer. Erasmus said, with a smile, ' Luther has committed two crimes! He has hit the Pope on the crown and the monks on the belly.' This was exactly the truth. The Elector's dream had come true. Luther's great pen had reached to Rome and touched the Pope's triple crown. Leo X. was a sort of patron of Erasmus, but that did not hinder Erasmus from condemning the Bull. The monks were his old enemies, bitter against the new learning, haters of him- self and Colet as well as Luther, because they saw their craft was in danger as men's eyes became more and more opened. Therefore Erasmus could afford to smile a bitter sarcastic smile at the expense of both Pope and monks. Before he left he wrote down on paper a short The advice Statement of his opinion that the monks' of Erasmus. hatred of the new learning was at the bot- tom of their zeal against Luther, whilst only two uni- versities had condemned him; that Luther's demand to be properly heard was a fair one ; and that being a man void of ambition, he was less likely to be a heretic. At all events the views of Luther's opponents were worse than his ; all honest men disapproved of the Bull ; and clemency was what ought to be expected of the new Emperor. While thus he spoke in favour of fair dealing with Luther, he at the same time found much fault with Lu- „, „, ther's violent way of going to work and his The Elector . J b a follows it. abusive language. The result of the inter- view was reported to Luther. Melanchthon and he were CH. III. The Wittenberg Reformers. in well satisfied with the advice given by Erasmus. They considered that it had great weight in strengthening the Elector in favour of Luther. At all events the Elector followed it in two points — he remained firm in defence of Luther, and at the same time he wrote and recom- mended to Luther more of that gentleness the want of which had displeased Erasmus. {g) Luther burns the Pope's Bull, December lo, 1520. Perhaps the advice of the Elector to Luther came just too late ! The meeting with Erasmus at the inn of the ' Three Kings ' at Cologne was on December 5. In the meantime Luther had been making up his mind what to do, and on the loth he did it, we may suppose before the posts from Cologne had reached him. Excited, and as Melanchthon said, seeming almost inspired, conscious of right and also of power, Luther wished all Europe to see that a German monk could dare to defy the Pope. Had there been a mountain at Wit- tenberg he would have lit his bonfire on the top, and let the world, far and near, see the Pope's Bull blaze in its flames. Butthere wasnoteven a hill in that , , . Luther flat country. So m solemn procession, at bums the the head of his fellow-doctors and the stu- dents of the university, he marched through the Elster gate, and there, outside the city walls, in presence of the great German river Elbe, he burned the Bull, and as many Roman law books as he could find. His burning the Bull against himself was a personal act of defiance. His burning the Roman law books was a public decla- ration that the German nation ought not to be subject to the jurisdiction of Rome. Amid the cheers of the crowd, Luther returned to his rooms. That a man of hot tem- per, fastening by his daring act the eyes of all Europe 112 The Protestant Revolution. PT. il. upon himself, assuming as it were the leadership of a na- tional crusade against the Pope of Rome, should be for the moment carried away by excitement into extrava- gance was only natural. Luther was in fact greatly excited, and on the next day, in his crowded lecture- room, let himself utter wild words, declaring that those who did not join in contending against the Pope could not be saved, and that those who took delight in the Pope's religion must be lost for ever. He then wrote an abusive reply to the Bull, hurling all sorts of bad names against the Pope, and pushing his Augustinian doctrines to so extreme a point as to amount to fatalism. Grand as is the figure of Luther on the page of history, as, in December 1520, he dared to make himself the mouth-piece of Germany, demanding reform, threatening revolution if reform could not be had, it must be admitted Erasmus that he was playing with fire. Was not the fears revolu- ^rain already laid for revolution ? Will not tion. ^ such wild words lead to still wilder acts of the ignorant peasantry ? Sober-minded lookers on, like Erasm.us, feared this. He had feared from the first that Luther's want of discretion might bring on a ' universal revolution,' and had therefore urged moderation. Instead of moderation had come still wilder defiance. ' Now,' he wrote, ' I see no end of it but the turning upside down ' of the whole world. . . . When I was at Cologne I ' made every effort that Luther might have the glory of 'obedience and the Pope of clemency, and some of the ' sovereigns approved this advice. But lo and behold, 'the burning of the Decretals, the " Babylonish captivi- 'ty; " those propositions of Luther, so much stronger 'than they need be, have made the evil apparently 'incurable.' CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 113 CHAPTER IV. THE CRISIS. — REFORM OR REVOLUTION. — REFORM REFUSED BY THE RULING POWERS. [a] Ulrich von Hiittcn and Fra7t3 von Sickingen. The fears of Erasmus were well founded. There were wilder spirits in Germany than Luther. Not far north of Worms, where the first Diet of the Emperor Charles V. was going to meet, was the castle of Ebernburg, where the bold knight Franz vofi Sickitigen had gathered round him the chiefs of these wild spirits. Franz himself was a wild lawless knight, liv- _ ^ ^. . , The Robin ing upon private war, hiring out himself and Hoods of his soldiers to fight out private quarrels, and, side with like his relative Goctz von Berlichingcn, Luther, popular because of his bravery and rough justice. Goetz and Franz might be said to be in many respects, the Robin Hoods of Germany. Such a man as Franz was sure to side with Luther though he had already engaged himself and his soldiers for hire to the Emperor Charles V. One of his guests at the castle was Ulrich von Huttcn, a knight uirich von like himself, but there was this difference ^utten. between them. Hutten's pen was his lance. Placed like Erasmus in his youth in a cloister, he too had torn himself from it and taken to a literary life. Not so learned, but with even keener wit than Erasmus, neglect, poverty, and suffering had embittered more his wild war- like spirit. His pen was ever ready to be dipped in gall, and following the example set by Erasmus in his ' Praise of Folly, 'he tried to mend the world by satire. h!s satire He had been to Rome, and in Latin rhyming "p°" R°me. verses he hold up her vices to scorn, He pointed out 1 114 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. in these rhymes how German gold flowed into the coffers of the ' Simon of Rome.' He sneered at the bUndness and weakness of the German nation in letting them- selves be the dupes of Rome. When Luther came upon the scene, Hutten's heart was stirred. He made his re- solve to rush into the fight against Rome The fears and tears of his family could not stop him. He was disin- herited for doing it, but do it he must. Hitherto his rhymes had been in Latin, and thus only read by the learned. Henceforth he would write in German for the Fatherland. In Latin hitherto I've written, popular ^ tongue all did not understand : — rhymes Js'ow call I on the Fatherland, against n,-, ^ ... , E^ome. The German nation, in her mother tongue. To avenge these things. ' Germany must abandon Rome. Liberty for ever ! The die is cast.' This was the cry of his popular Ger- man rhymes. To Luther he held out the hand of devoted friend- ship : — Servant of God, despair not ! Could I but give a helping hand, Or in these matters counsel thee. So would I spare nor goods Nor my own blood ! And on the eve of the Diet of Worms he issued his ' Complaint and exhortatiofi against the extravagant and 7tnchristian powet of the Pope^ in rhyme, in which he exposed the tyranny, wealth, worldliness, and cost to Germany of Rome, and tried to lash up the German peo- ple into rebellion against it. Now was the time to free Germany from the Roman yoke. He ap- freedom from pealed to the Emperor as the natural leader Rome. ^j- ^i^g German nation. It would redound CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 115 to his honour. He alone should be the captain. All free Germans would serve with gladness the sa- viour of their country. ' Help, worthy king, unfurl the ' standard of the eagle, and we will lift it high. If warn- ' ings will not do, there are steeds and armour, halberts ' and swords, and we will use them ! ' There was something pathetic in this cry of the Ger- mans to their Emperor. The very peasants of the ' BiiJidschiih ' we saw would have made him their leader, had he listened to their appeal against their feudal op- pressors, and now the German nation was beseeching him to head their rebellion against Rome ! These were but outbursts of a general yearning for unity among the German people. They felt the necessity of central power as the only cure for the evils under which they suffered, and now when the quarrel of Luther and the Pope had brought ecclesiastical grievances to the top, the question was whether Charles V., in his first Diet, would side with the German nation, or sell the German nation for his own selfish objects to the Pope ! Meanwhile appearances were ugly. Luther wrote to Spalatin : ' I expect you will return with the stale news that there is no hope in the court of Charles.' gn^^ji chances Erasmus wrote: 'There is no hope in of reform- Charles; he is surrounded by Sophists and Papists.' But Hutten hoped against hope. Such men are san- guine. If Charles would do his duty to Germany in the Diet of Worms, all might be well. If not, Hutten was ready for revolution. Sickingen had soldiers ; with the pen and the sword they would rise in rebellion. {i>) The Diet of IVorms meets 28th fanuary, 1^21. Let us, for a moment, leave these wilder spirits and try to understand what it was that the more sober- 1 1 6 The Protestant Revolution. PT. ll. minded of the German people expected from the Diet of Worms. Happily there is among English State papers a copy of 'Agenda,' or as it is headed, ' A memory Agenda at . •' the Diet of of divers matters to be provided in the pre- V/orms. -^. r TIT > sent Diet of Worms. The following are the chief heads, and in these we cannot fail to recognize what in former chapters we have found to be the real grievances of the German nation. (i) To make some ordinance that no man without consent of the Emperor and Electors shall for any per- Tostoppri- sonal cause presume to declare war as in vate war. times past. On this the cities and towns are determined to stick fast. (2) To settle certain disputes between various parties. To settl d' (There be above thirty bishops at variance P"tes. with their temporal lords for their jurisdic- To provide tion.) fnThe'Em^^"^ ^3^ "^^^ Emperor to provide a vicar and peror's ab- council in his absence. If the Duke of Saxony will not take the charge, there will be great difficulty in finding one who will please the generality, for enmities are so numerous. (4) To take notice of the books and descriptions made by Friar Martin Luther against the Court of Rome. The Martin which Friar Martin, of the Elector of Luther. Saxony and other princes is much favoured. We have here a list of the chief grievances befoie noticed, (i) The evil of the constant private wars rf the nobles, especially to the commerce of the towns. (2) The constant quarrels between the civil and eccle- siastical powers. (3) The want of a central govern- ment. {4) The Lutheran complaints against Rome. Only the grievances of the poor peasants find no voice I cii. IV. Tlie Crisis — Reform or Revoiution. 117 Perhaps it was not likely they should. They had no friends at court. They had tried to make their voice heard sword in hand, and had not their re- ^, , JNonope bellions been quelled and their standard of for the the Bundschuh trodden in the dust ? Had not even Joss Fritz been lost sight of for years ? It was not their silent grievances, but the more noisy ones which were to be heard at the Diet, The Diet was opened by Charles V. on the 28th January, 1521. The first business was the appointment of a Council of Regency to manage the affairs of the Empire during the Emperor's projected absence in Spain. Then came the establishment of an imperial chamber, and the granting of an impost or tax to defray the expenses of the government. These political matters were proceeding, when one day in February on which a tournament was to be held and the Emperor's banner was hoisted „ . ^^. ' Brief fr*om ready for the lists, the princes were called Rome about together to hear read a brief just arrived from Rome. This brief exhorted the Emperor to add the force of law to the Pope's Bull against Luther by an imperial edict. The Emperor had now an opportunity of showing that tlie unity of the Church was as dear to him as to the Emperors of old. He wore the sword in vain if he did not' use it against heretics, who were far worse than infidels. So urged the Pope. The Emperor had already had Luther's books burned in the Nether- lands, and he now produced to the princes an edict commanding the rigorous execution of the Bull in Germany. He was evidently ready to yield to the wishes of the Pope, but it was needful to consult the Electors. Some of the Electors were of course not pre- ii8 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. ,„ ^, pared to accept the proposal of the Empe- 1 he Electors ^ '^ ' hesitate to ror. In Order to persuade them, Aleander, ed?ct against the papal nuncio, delivered at another ses- Luther. gj^j^ ^f ^^ X^'itt a speech nine hours in length, in which he inveighed against the heresies of Luther, urged that he should be condemned unheard, and declared that 'unless the heresy were stopped, Germany would be reduced to that frightful state of barbarism and desolation which the superstition of Mahomet had brought upon Asia.' The Electors seemed to be swayed by his eloquence. They cared little for Luther's doctrinal heresies, nay, they were willing to sacrifice the heretic if the grievances of the Ger- man nation against Rome could but be remedied. But these grievances were too real to be passed over so easily. The Diet, after further delay, appointed a committee to draw up a list of these grievances. Meanwhile the speech of Aleander had been reported to Hutten, who was staying, as we said, at the castle of Franz von Sickingen, a few miles from Worms. It Hutten ad- o > jures the Stirred his wrath to think of Luther's being Emperor not , , , i «, .1 to yield to condemned unheard. At once, on the spur Rome. qJ- jj^g moment, he dipped his pen in gall, and wrote letters of violent invective against the papal nuncio and the bishops assembled at Worms. One of them was addressed to the Emperor, declaring that the hope of Germany had been that he would free her from the Romish yoke and put an end to the papal tyranny, and contrasting with these high hopes ' so great an Em- peror, the king of so many peoples, cringing willingly to slavery, without waiting even till he is forced.* ' What ! ' he exclaimed, ' has Germany so ill deserved of thee that with thee, not fighting for thee, it must go to the ground ; lead us into danger! Lead us into battle and fire I Let all nations unite CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 119 against us, all peoples rush upon us, so that at least we may prove cur courage in danger ! Don't let us, cringing and unmanly, with- out battle, lie down like women and become slaves ! ' Such was the shrill cr>' of scorn which the course things were taking at Worms called forth from Hutten. When the list of grievances was brought in at a future sitting of the Diet, the debate was resumed. The com- plaints against Rome were so strongly put that they made a deep impression on the Diet. The Electors re- covered from the effects of the nuncio's speech. The Prince Electors who sided with Luther urged that ' it ' would be iniquitous to condemn a man without hearing ' him, and that the Emperor's dignity and piety were ' engaged that, should Luther retract his errors, those ' other matters should be recognized on which he had ' written so learnedly and Christianly, and that Germany ' should, by the authority of the Emperor, be freed from ' the burdens and tyrannies of Rome.' They urged also the necessity of granting Luther a safe-conduct, and sum- moning him to appear before the Diet to defend himself. The Emperor gave way, and on March 6 the sum- mons and safe-conduct were issued, and an , , Luther imperial herald sent to bring Luther to summoned to , , r Worms . W orms. (c) Liithcr s journey to Worms {1^21). The herald arrived at Wittenberg, and on April 2 Luther set out for Worms. That he went with his mind fully made up not to give way or patch up his quarrel witli the Pope was shown by this. He left in the hands of Lucas Cranach, 1 • r tTT- 1 • ,- I-uthcr's the great pamtcr of W ittenberg, a series of Antithesis wood-cuts prepared by Cranach, with cxpla- and Ami- nations in German at the foot, added by '^^"-'^'- I20 The Protestant Revolution. vv. ii. himself, depicting the Antithesis, or Contrast between Christ and the Pope. It was, in his own words, ' a good book for the laity.' He and Hutten, to widen the circle of their readers, and make their appeals to the Fatherland heard by all classes, had scattered their pamphlets in German all over Germany. Luther now called in the aid of these wood-cuts to make his appeal still more popular and telling on the multitude. Luther had found himself, to his own surprise, following in the track of the Hussites of Bohemia. He had openly avowed it. Indeed, he seems to have been fond of copying some of their acts, perhaps to mark the identity of his object with theirs. They had commenced with burning the Papal Bull, and so had Luther. It was re- corded in the Hussite chronicles that one of the things which roused the people in Bohemia against the Pope was the painting by tow Englishmen on the walls of an inn at Prague of two pictures, one representing Christ entering Jerusalem meek and lowly, on an ass ; the other the Pope proudly mounted on horseback, glitter- ing in purple and gold. Luther and Cranach had im^ proved upon this example, and produced a series of wood-cuts with a precisely similar intention. Christ refusing a crown was contrasted with the Pope in his tiara. Christ in the crown of thorns, being beaten and mocked, was contrasted with the Pope on his throne, in all his magnificence. Christ washing the disciples' feet was contrasted with the Pope holding out his sacred toe to be reverently kissed by his courtiers. Christ heal- ing the sick was contrasted with the Pope watching a tournament. Christ bending under the burden of his Cross was contrasted with the Pope borne in state on men's shoulders. Christ driving the money-changers out CH. IV. The Crisis — Refo7-?n or Revolution. 121 of the temple was contrasted with the Pope selling his dispensations, and with piles of money before him. Christ's humble entry into Jerusalem was contrasted with the Pope and his retinue in all their glory, but the road they are travelling is shown in the background of the picture to lead to hell. Finally, the Ascension of Christ is contrasted with the descent of the Pope, in his triple crown and papal robes, headlong under an escort of de- mons and hobgoblins, into the flames of the bottomless pit. That he left behind him this ' good book for the laity,' to be published in his absence, was a mark of the defiant spirit in which he went to Worms. But underneath this spirit of defiance, it must never be forgotten, was a deep feeling that he was fighting in the cause of God. ' My dear brother,' he said to Melanchthon, in parting, ' if I do not come back, if my enemies put me to death, you will go on teaching and standing fast in the truth ; if yote live, my death will matter little.' Amidst the tears of his friends, he stepped into the covered wagon and commenced his journey. Others, too, thought he was eoingr out to his death. , ^ ' ° . Luther sets At one place which he passed there was a off for priest who kept, hanging up in his study, a portrait of Savonarola. He took down the picture from the wall and held it up in silence before Luther. Luther was moved. 'Stand firm,' said the priest, 'in the truth thou hast proclaimed, and God will as firmly stand by thee.' The journey took him twelve days. , Till 1 IT-/- 1 '/- "'^ journey. He had to pass through Erfurt, the scene of his mental struggles. He spent a night at the old con- vent, and the next day, contrary to the terms of his safe- conduct, fearlessly preached in the little church of the convent to crowds of people. Earnest tender words were his that day, setting forth that true religion is a 122 The Pf-otestant Reiwlution. pt. ii, thing of the heart, and not of ceremonies or penances, moving multitudes to tears, and making converts. In the midst of it a portion of the crowded building gave way, and people were terrified by the crash. In his wild imagination he set it down to Satan trying to hinder him. All through his journey he seemed to meet with the Devil at every step. If he was fatigued and ill, it was Satan who brought him low ; but, he wrote from Frank- fort to Spalatin, 'Christ lives, and we will enter Worms in spite of all the gates of Hell and the powers of the air !' These things did but prove his sense of the importance of the work in which he was engaged. His wild enthu- siasm grew out of what was true heroism. The noise, the worship of the crowd, the danger and excitement, would have turned the head of any mere enthusiast. When men are excited they must needs do strange things ; and of course on this journey to Worms strange things were done. At one place a parody on the Litany was produced, like the parodies made by modern revo- lutionary agents: — 'Have mercy upon the Germans. ' From the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff deliver the Ger- ' mans. From the insatiable avarice of the Romans ' deliver the Germans. That Martin Luther, that upright ' pillar of the Christian faith, may soon arrive at Worms, 'we beseech Thee to hear us. That the zealous German ' Knight, Ulrich Hutten, the defender of Martin Luther, ' may persevere in upholding Luther, we beseech Thee to ' hear us,' and so on. Of course, wherever the procession stopped at night the inns were full ; there were crowds, Popular vulgar merry-making, and music. Luther excitement. himself played upon his flute, and doubtless, as his enemies reported, there was no lack of jollity over the beer. All this was in the very nature of things. The CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 123 point to mark is this — it did not turn the head of Luther, When news of the enthusiasm occasioned by Luther's progress to Worms arrived at the city, the papal party became alarmed. Charles V. sent his private confessor with messages of compromise, but Luther refused to lis- ten till he reached Worms. It was well he did, for the safe-conduct was nearly expired, and there was danger of treachery. Luther's friends, too, became alarmed. Even Spalatin was afraid of his life if he entered Worms, and reininded him of the fate of Huss, whose safe-con- duct availed him little. Luther's noble reply was, ' Huss was burned, but not the truth with him.' He afterwards told the Elector of Saxony, when recalling Luther's he- to mind his own marvellous courage, ' The """"^ firmness. ' Devil saw in my heart that even had I known that ' there would be as many devils at Worms as tiles upon 'the house-roofs, still I should joyfully have plunged in ' among them ! ' As he drew near the city, six knights and a troop of horsemen of the princes' retinues went out to meet him ; and under their escort, the Emperor's herald He enters leading the way, and a great crowd drag- °'^"'^' gling through the streets beside him, in his covered wag- on and monk's gown, Luther entered Worms. (d) Luther before the Diet. The next day, towards evening, he was brought before the Diet. The Emperor presided. Six Electors were present, and a large number of archbishops, Luther's first bishops, and nobility — about two hundred beforeTh" in all. There was a pile of Luther's books ^'*'- on the table. The official then formally put to Luther two questions: 124 The Protestant Revolution. PT. ii. ' Do you acknowledge these books to be yours?' ' Do you retract the heretical doctrines they contain ? ' Luther replied, ' I think the books are mine ; ' and, He asks for after the titles had been read over, ' Yes time to consi- .i i i • • a .1 1 der his an- the books are mine. As to the second ^^^'■- question, he said it would be rash for him to reply before he had had time for reflection. The papal party, who had expected to find Luther raging like a lion, began to think he was going to give way. His deportment had been meek and modest. The ^, . young Emperor turned to one of his cour- They give . . him till the ticrs and said, ' This man will never make ay. ^ heretic of me.' Luther's request for time was allowed till the next day, and on condition that he gave his reply viva voce. He was taken back to his inn. People did not know what to make of it. Some thought he would retract. But, in the din and bustle around him, Luther wrote a letter to one of his friends. ' I write to you from the ' midst of the tumult. ... I confessed myself the author ' of my books, and said I would reply to-morrow touching 'my recantation. With Chris fs help, I shall never re- ' tract one tittle I ' That night there was excitement and noise in the Excitement Streets; quarrels between opposing parties in ill Worms. ^^ crowd, and soldiers rushing about. The next day Luther prepared himself. He was heard to pray earnestly, and had his Bible open before him. At four o'clock the herald came to bring him before the Diet. The streets were full of people, and spectators looked down from the tops of the houses as the herald led him through passages and private ways to escape the crowd. It was dark before they reached the hall, and torches were lit. As Luther walked up the hall CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 1 25 several noblemen met him with encouraging words, amongst whom was the old General Frundsberg, of whom we shall hear more hereafter. The hall was crowded, and some time was lost before the Princes and Electors were settled in their places. The official at length — two hours after , , ,. Luther's time — opened the prOCeedmgS. second ap- pearance ' Martin Luther, yesterday you acknowledged the t^.'oi'e the books pubhshed in your name. Do you retract those books or not? . , . Will you defend all your writings or dis- avow some of them ? ' Luther replied, in a speech which seemed to his ene- mies long and rambling ; but according to his own and Spalatin's version of it, the pith of what he said was this : — ' Most serene Emperor! Illustrious Princes, &c., — At the time fixed for me yesterday evening I am here, as in duty bound, and I pray God that your Imperial Majesty will be pleased r . ,1 r Luther's to listen, as I hope graciously, to these matters of speech. justice and truth. And should I from inexperience omit to give to any one his proper titles, or offend against the etiquette of courts, I trust you will pardon me, as one not used to them. ' I beseech you to consider that my books are not all of the same kind. ' (i) There are some in which I have so treated of faith and morals that even my opponents admit that they are worthy to be read by Christian people. If I were to retract these, what should I do but — I alone, among all men — condemn what friends and foes alike hold to be truth ! ' (2) Others of my books are against the papacy and popish proceedings — against those whose doctrine and example have wasted and ruined Christendom, body and soul. This no one can gainsay, for the experience of all men, and the complaints of all, bear witness that through the laws of the Pope and the teaching of men the consciences of the faithful have been vexed and wronged, and 126 The Protestant Revolution. PT. ll. the goods and possessions of this great German nation by faithless tyranny devoured and drained — yes, and will without end be devoured again ! . . . . Now if 1 were to retract these, I should do nothing but strengthen this tyranny. To its vast unchristian influence I should not only open the windows but the door also, so that it would rage and spoil more widely and freely than it has ever yet dared to do. Under cover of this my recantation, the yoke of its shameless wickedness would become utterly unbearable to the poor miserable people, and it would be thereby established and confirmed all the more if men could say that this had come about by the power and direction of your Imperial Majesty, and of the whole Roman Empire. Good heavens ! what a great cloak of wickedness and tyranny should I be ! ' (3) The third kind are those books which I have written against some private persons, as, for instance, against those who have undertaken to defend the Roman tyranny, and to oppose what I thought to be the service of God, against whom I know I have been more vehement than is consistent with the character and position of a Christian. For I do not set myself up as holy. I do not, however, dispute for my own life, but the doctrine of Christ. I cannot retract even these books, but I am ready to listen to anyone who, can show me wherein in these books I have erred.' Here Luther paused. He had spoken in German with, as he thought, modesty, but with great fervour and determination. The perspiration stood on his brow, he was exhausted with the effort of speaking : but when the Emperor, who hardly understood German, ordered him to repeat what he had said in Latin, after whisper- ing to a privy counsellor of the Elector of Repeats his ° ^ -^ speech in Saxony, who stood by him, he obeyed, and repeated his words in the language which not only Charles but the papal nuncio could understand. And now, as they understood more fully what he said, the anger of the papal party was naturally more kindled. When he had done, the orator of the Court, betraying his hostility by his manner, declared that Luther's an- CH. IV. The Ci'isis — Reform or Rcvoliitioti. 127 swer was not a fair one. They were not there to dispute about things that had long ago been settled by Councils. He demanded a plain, ungarnished answer. Would he recant or not? Luther replied : — ' Well, then, if your Imperial Majesty requires a plain answer, I will give one without horns or teeth ! It is this ; that I must be convinced either by the testimony of the Scriptures or clear arguments. For I believe things contrary recant to the Pope and Councils, because it is as clear as day that they have often erred and said things inconsistent with themselves. I am bound by the Scriptures which I have quoted ; my conscience is submissive to the word of God : therefore I may not, and will not, recant, because to act against conscience is unholy and unsafe. So help me God! Amen.' One other attempt was made to get him to yield, but in vain, and night coming on, the Diet was adjourned to the following morning, to hear the decision of the Emperor. The princes retired through the dark streets to their several inns; Luther to his. Frederic of Saxony sent for Spalatin and expressed his approval of Luther's conduct, except that perhaps he had spoken too boldly. Next morning, the 19th April, the Emperor sent to the princes a message written by his own hand, in French, declaring his intention to proceed against „„ ^ . The Emperor Luther as an avowed heretic, and calling decides against .1 • . 1 .1 A . Luther. upon the pnnces to do the same. An at- tempt was then made by the papal party to induce the Emperor to rescind the safe-conduct of Luther. The precedent of Huss was cited. 'Why should not Luther, with Huss, be burned, and the Rhine receive the ashes of the one as it had those of the other? This proposal met with strong opposition from the princes, and was negatived. 128 The Protestant Rfvolution. pt. ii. But while these discussions Avere going on in the Diet, murmurs were heard out of doors. The proposal to withdraw the safe-conduct roused the righteous indigna- ^, , tion of men like Hutten to the point almost Threats of revolution. of frenzy. A placard was found posted on the walls of the Town Hall, stating that 400 knights and 8,000 foot were ready to defend Luther against the Romanists. It had no signature, but under- neath were written the ominous words, ' Bundschuh, Bundschuh, Bundschuh.' Rumours came of murmurs and movements of the people in distant parts of Ger- many. Franz von Sickingen, a few miles off the city, was said to be prepared to take to the sword, and the rumours of this inspired terror in the minds of the papal party, as it gave some colour of likelihood to the threats of Hutten and the placard. Under the influence of the fears thus excited, the Electors prevailed upon the Emperor to srive The Electors ^ ^ ^ , ' * urge delay. a few days more for a further attempt to shake Luther's firmness. All was done that could be done to shake it, but with- out avail. Luther's mind was made up. Let the Pope and the Emperor do their worst, he would stand by his conscience and the Scriptures. At last, on the 26th of April, he received orders from the Emperor Luther leaves '^ , ^ ,, . , ,^ Worms. to depart on the following day. Twenty-one days were given -him for his return to Wit- tenberg, and on the morrow, escorted as before by the imperial herald, Luther left the crowded streets of Worms and comnienced his journey homewards. He left Worms the hero of the German had done at nation. He single-handed had fought the Gerrany,' battle of Germany against the Pope. He had hazarded his life for the sake of the CH. IV. The Crisis — Reform or Revolution. 1 29 Fatherland. It was this which made Luther's name a household word with the Germans for ages to come. There is no name in the roll of German historic heroes so German, national, and typical as Luther's. But Luther fought a battle at Worms not only for Germany but Christendom — not only against the Pope, but against all powers, religious or secular, *= ^ . and for who seek to lay chams upon the human Christen- mind and to enthrall the free belief of the °™" people. Against the Emperor as well as the Pope, against all powers that be, he asserted the right of free- dom of conscience. (ancis in the dark. But Charles chose a little longer to play fast and loose. In the meantime the Pope also was playing a double game. Whether to ally himself with Francis, who was preparing his army for another descent upon Italy, or with Charles V. and Henry VIII. against Francis, he kept an open question, though his preference was for the 134 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ll. latter plan, if only he could bring Charles V. to his terms ; the chief of them being that Charles should help him to put down the heretic Luther. The course which things took at the Diet of Worms was ruled by these political intrigues. The papal party triumphed. The Emperor, as we have seen, concluded an alliance on May 8 with the Pope against France and against Luther. The consequence was that Europe was to be given over once more to the ambitions and wars of its rival „ , princes. All chances of reform, for the pre- Reform re- ^ fused by Sent, were gone. The Diet of \\ orms came powers"roin to an end without having accomplished the motiv^ef work which Germany expected from it. Worst of all, the Emperor, instead of siding with Germany against the Pope, had chosen for his pri- vate purposes to side with the Pope against Germany. It is true a council of regency had been established, with the Elector of Saxony at its head, to manage the affairs of the Empire while the Emperor was busied with quelling a rebellion in Spain, and with his wars in Italy. But no decisive steps had been taken to stop those private wars which were the curse of Germany, and of wh'ich the cities so bitterly complained. No decisive steps had been taken to remedy the ecclesiastical grievances of which the princes complained. The grievances of the much enduring peasantry had not even been talked of. And as the worst sign of the times, Luther had been con- demned by both Pope and Emperor. The fears of Erasmus were fulfilled, and his bitter words justified by the result. 'Ecclesiastical hypocrites reign in the courts of princes . . . The Pope and Prin- ces treat the people as cattle in the market.' The reform, both of the Oxford and of the Wittenberg CH. V. Revolution. 135 Reformers, had been refused by the ruUng powers. There was nothing left but revolution. CHAPTER V. REVOLUTION. {a) The Prophets of Revolution {1522). The edict of the Emperor issued at the Diet of Worms was published all over Germany. But the papal party were astonished to find how very little peo- ^ , . , Popular teel- ple thought of it. The Germans thought a ing against the great deal more of the bold conduct of Lu- ther. So that the end of it was that the edict was treated with very much the same neglect as the Pope's Bull. Luther's books were burned in some places under the eye of the Emperor, Everywhere else they were read all the more. And another thing happened which the papal party had not foreseen. They had for the moment silenced Luther. He was safe in the castle of the Luther in the Wartburg, and silent, too, albeit he was Wanburg. hard at work at what would do more to spread the spirit of reform than anything else, viz. translating the Bible into the mother tongue of the Fatherland. Meanwhile the absence of Luther from his wonted place at Wittenberg did not take away the firebrand as they thought it would, but put it in the hands , , . ^ . ' ° - -'- J. - In his absence of the mob. In Luther's absence wilder wilder spirits spirits came to the top. Monks left the con- vents and went to trades. Under the leadership of Carlstadt, the form of public worship was changed. Ex- cited and half-crazy men, carried away by their zeal, set 136 The Protestant Revolution, pt. 11, themselves up as prophets and preached strange doc- trines. At Zwickau, under the range of the Erzgebirge, south of Wittenberg, near Bohemia, hved a weaver of the name of Claus Starch. He and some of his comrades fancied they were inspired. They mistook their own ex- cited imaginations for messages from of Zwickau^'^ heaven. They wanted no priests, for they were themselves prophets, no Bible, for they were themselves inspired, and they went about preach- ing violent changes, and exciting the crowds who lis- tened to them to violent deeds. Driven away from Zwickau by the authorities, some of them came to Wittenberg, where the people were already making great changes under the leadership of Carlstadt. Carlstadt was carried away by their zeal, and so were the people. Riots were raised. People went about smash- ing the images in the churches, and even Melanchthon, in Luther's absence, was half inclined to believe in the prophets, though they preached the uselessness of learn- ing and universities. These things came to the ear of Luther in his retreat at the Wartburg. He at once saw how all this delusion T , and madness would injure the cause of the Luther comes ■' back to Wit- Reformation. At the risk of his Hfe he left his place of concealment. He suddenly ap- peared at Wittenberg in his old pulpit. He entreated his old flock to calm their excitement ; and not without avail. After ten months' absence, the familiar sound of his voice soothed their passions. They recognized him once more as their leader. The prophets came to visit him — and this is a proof of their sincerity — expecting him at once to admit their claims. Luther did not doubt that they were inspired, CH. V. Revolution. 137 but warned them lest their inspiration should ^^^ confronts come from Spirits of Evil. One of them, the prophets. with the voice and tones of an enthusiast, stamping his feet, and striking his hands on the table, gave vent to his horror at the suggestion ; and then, gathering up his dignity, in a tone which almost shook the com- mon sense of Luther, said solemnly, ' That thou mayst know, O Luther, that I am inspired by the Spirit of God, I will tell thee what is passing in thy mind.' And then as Luther, really for the moment half carried away by his impressive manner, was beginning to waver, ' It is' (he added), 'That thou art ready to think that my doctrine is true.' To which Luther, suddenly re- His common covering himself replied, ' The Lord rebuke ^'^"^^ prevails. thee, Satan ! The God whom I worship will soon put a stop to your spirits.' And with these parting words he dismissed the prophets of Zwickau. Order was restored at Wittenberg. The Scriptures were again acknowledged as the rule of faith, and be- fore the end of the year the New Testa- ^, ■' The prophets ment was published in the German tongue, driven from The Lutheran Reformation was severed for ' ''" "^' ever from the wilder reforms of Carlstadt and the prophets of Zwickau ; and the latter were soon driven from Wittenberg, to spread their doctrines in other places where there was no Luther to withstand them. One of the disciples of Storch at Zwickau was Munzer, but instead of going to Wittenberg, he went first into Bohemia, and then all over that becomes the part of Germany where Joss Fritz had been. of°{Je He became very soon the prophet of the P<=^s=^"tO'- peasantry. We must look even upon Miinzer as honest and sincere, though wild. He thought himself inspired, and 138 The Protcsfa77f Revolution. pt. ii. preached like a prophet. Along with many reforms which Luther also urged, he claimed for the people the right of having divine worship performed in their own language instead of in the Latin of the priests. He preached a crusade against all who opposed the gospel, and urged a resort to the sword if preaching would not do. Driven from city to city, he went more and more among the peasants; and who shall blame him if he took up their grievances ? Was it not natural ? His own father, it is said, had fallen a victim to a quarrel with his feudal lord. He began to think himself the chosen messenger of heaven to avenge their wrongs ; and as he preached from place to place amongst the peasantry, and others like him followed in his track, it was not strange if it stirred up again in the minds of the disciples of Joss Fritz recollections of the days of the Btindschuh. {b) The end of Sickingeti and Hutteti , (1523). The council of regency appointed at the Diet of Worms to represent the Empire during the Emperor's absence in Spain (whither he had gone to quell a rebel- lion of his subjects) was made up of princes who had more or less sympathy with Luther. Frederic of Saxony was at the head of it. It was the nearest approach to a central government which had been formed. It was thoroughly German The Council ... . . , , , of Regency and national m spirit, and aimed at tho- Electorcf roughly national objects. It aimed not at Saxony carrvine out the edict against Luther, but at strives to -' o ° avert the obtaining from future diets those reforms which had been refused at Worms. It aimed at putting down private wars and the establish- ment of public peace. cii. V. Revolution. 139 But it had no power at its back to carry out its inten- tions. Its efforts to obtain something hke union among the powers of Germany in the work of reform were fruitless ; and so were its efforts to put down private wars. Knights hke Franz von Sickingen saw in it an attempt of the princes to put down the influence of their order. Its attempt to obtain the means to pay for national ob- jects by a system of customs — duties on luxuries im- ported into Germany from abroad — was , "■ but meets taken by the merchants of the towns to be with oppo- an invasion of their rights. So it was un- popular and powerless, though its intentions were good. Its powerlessness to preserve the public peace was soon shown in a great private war which was waged by Franz von Sickingen in i ^22-^ against the J"""^"^ '^°" *= -^ . , Sickingen Archbishop of Treves. The knight besieged takes to the Treves with his army of 5,000 foot-soldiers ' and 1,500 knights, and declared that he came to bring the people freedom from the Pope and priests, and to punish the archbishop for his sins against God and the Emperor. What could be a stronger example to the peasantry to take to the sword than such an act of the popular knight ! He counted upon the people of the town aiding him from within the walls, but was disappointed. The city held out till some neighbouring princes came to its rescue with an army of 30,000 men. On their approach, Franz retired to his castle of Landshut, there not being time to reach that of Ebernburg. There he was himself be- sieged. The cannon of the princes were powerful enough to batter down the solid walls, which before the use of J40 Tiie Protestant Revolution. PT. ii. , artillery would have been impregnable. He but IS defeated , , , "^ , , .,, , ,., and killed. held out for months, till at last a solid tower fell into a heap of ruins, and a breach was made in the walls. Franz himself was wounded and dying when his conquerors entered the castle. They upbraided him for disturbing the peace of the Empire. ' I am going,' he said, as he lay upon the floor, dying, , , , ' to render an account to a greater than the Huttens death. , • j tt- Emperor;' and soon after he expired. His friend Hutten died in the same year, while trying to urge other knights to aid Sickingen, and this was the end of the knights of Ebernburg Castle. They had threatened to reform the Empire by the sword. The peasantry had looked to them as their best knightly friends. They had done much by their pens and swords, their voice and example, to stir up warlike „, feeling among the peasantry, but their end The peasantry ° or j • got nothing came before the peasants had got any help knights. from them. In the meantime it was also clear that the council of regency was unable to preserve the public peace, as well as to bring about the needed reform. If help was to come neither from the Emperor and the council of regency, nor from the knights, where were the peasantry to turn next? Was not the time ripe for rebellion ? [c] The Peasa?its' J Far (1525). We must turn again to the map on which are marked the districts where lay the smouldering embers of the Btmdschuh, waiting only for the match to light them up again. On the opposite map are marked the districts in which, one after another, the explosions came. The connexion between the two maps will be seen at a CH. V. Revolutio7i. 141 glance. Joss Fritz had kept the embers ahve by his se- cret work in Swabia. The expulsion of Carlstadt from Wittenberg had sent him into the towns on the Rhine and in Franconia to stir up discontent and a spirit of re- bellion, not only against Rome, the priests and monks, but also against Luther, through whose in- ^ , , 1,1, , , ■ , Carlstadt and riuence he had been expelled. Miinzer had Miinzerstirup been driven from city to city, and thence into Southern Germany, to carry on the work of stirring up rebeUion. The train was indeed laid, and in November, 1524, the match was put to it in the very places where it was laid the deepest. The match was a little thing. The much-enduring peasantry of Swabia, and most of all, those about the Boden See (Lake Constance) needed but thelast straw to break the back of their endurance. It was a holiday, and the peasants on the estates of the Count von Liipfen were resting at home or taking the day for work on their own land. Orders came from the Count that they should turn out and gather snail-shells for the folk at the Castle. It was ofthe peasant- the very littleness of the- thing which made "^ '" S^^^'^- it so unbearable. They rose up in arms, and so did their neighbours in the valleys round. Soon all Swabia was in insurrection. The council of regency sent ambassadors to mediate between the peasants and their lords of the Swabian League. But it was of no use. They had not power to keep the public peace. Neither party listened to them. The peasants put forth twelve articles in which they stated their demands. Here, in brief, is a list of them. A mere glance will show that they were the old demands of the days of the BuiidschuJi, with a few additions. 142 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. vi> The right to choose their own pastors. '5i They would pay tithe of corn, out of which the pastors should be paid, the rest going to the use of the Their twelve parish. — But small tithes, i.e., of the pro- articles, duce of animals, every tenth calf, or pig, or &%%, and so on, they would not pay. 3. They would be free, and no longer serfs and bondmen. 4. Wild game and fish to be free to all. 5. Woods and forests to belong to all for fuel. 6. No services of labour to be more than were required of their forefathers. 7. If more service required, wages must be paid for it. 8. Rent, when above the value of the land, to be prop- erly valued and lowered. 9. Punishments for crimes to be fixed. 10. Common land to be again given up to common use. 11. Death gifts (/. c, the right of the lord to take the best chattel of the deceased tenant) to be done away with. 12. Any of these articles proved to be contrary to the Scriptures or God's justice, to be null and void. From this list of most substantial grievances we may well gather what the peasants were aiming at. We see Not likely to ^ow they aimed, like simple men, at the re- be granted by moval of the practical grievances and hard- eitner rope, "^ '^ nobles, or ships of their life. But their demands were not at all likely to be granted. For instance, if they had the choice of pastors they would choose men like Miinzer, and Carlstadt, and Storch, and perhaps even wilder spirits than these, so that neither the Pope nor Luther would be likely to concede that demand. Nor, of course, would the proud feudal lords like to lose their game and the forced labour of their serfs, and to meet their peasants on equal terms as free men, any more CH. V. Revolution. 143 than the slave-holders of America liked to have slavery- abolished. We may guess, too, how the ecclesiastics would tremble to hear of their small tithes being taken away, and other pastors being chosen instead of themselves. Had the feudal lords granted proper and fair reforms long ago, they would never have heard of these twelve articles. But they had refused reform, and they now had to meet revolution. And they knew of but one way of meeting it, namely, by the sword. The lords of the Swabian League sent their army of foot and horsemen under their captain, swabian George Truchsess. The poor peasants could peasants not hold out against trained soldiers and cav- April 1525. airy. Two battles on the Danube, in which thousands of peasants were slain, or drowned in the river, and a third equally bloody one in Algau, near the Boden See, crushed this rebellion in Swabia, as former rebellions had so often been crushed before. This was early in April 1525. But in the meantime the revolution had spread further north. In the valley of the Neckar a body of 6,000 peasants had come together, enraged by the news of the slaughter of thei^ fello\y peasants in the south of Swabia. The young Count von Helfenstein, a friend of the Arch- duke Ferdinand, who had married a natural daughter of the late Emperor Maximilian, lived at the castle in the town of Weinsberg, in this district. He seems to have so far lost his head in these days of terror as to have cut the throats of some peasants who met him on the road. This enraged them the more. The on the town and castle were stormed and taken by April"' the peasants, under their leaders, Florian "525- Geyer, Wendel Hipler, and Little Jack Rohrbach. The 144 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. Count offered a large sum of money for a ransom, but the stern reply of the peasants was, ' he must die though he were made of gold.' While the peasants were plundering the castle, the monastery, and the houses of the priests, the leaders held a council. Hipler advised moderation. He hoped that the smaller lords would, after all, side with the pea- sants. But Little Jack was a man of another kind. In the dead of night he held a council of his own, and doomed every knight and noble in Weinsberg to imme- diate death. As day was breaking the Count and other noble prisoners were led forth, surrounded by a circle of pikes with their steel points inward. The tears and pleadings of the Countess, with her babe in her arms, availed nothing. The peasants stood in two opposite ranks, with a passage between the points of their pikes. A piper of the Count mockingly led the way, inviting his late master to follow on a dance of death. The Count and nobles were compelled to follow. The ranks closed upon them, and they were soon pierced to death. A wild peasant woman stuck her knife into the Count's body, and smeared herself with blood. And so, un- ^, , known to the other leaders and to the mas- The peasants • i i » i revenge for scs of the peasantry, ' Little Jack, on that slaughter. terrible morning, had revenged the thou- sands of his comrades slain by the Swabian lords, blood for blood. A yell of horror was raised through Germany at the news of the peasants' revenge. No yell had risen when the Count cut peasants' throats, or the Swabian lords slew thousands of peasant rebels. Europe had not yet learned to mete out the same measure of justice to noble and common blood. But the eye of history cannot so be blinded. It records that about a month after, Truch- CH. V. Revolution. 145 sess, the captain of the Swabian League, „, ,. . ^ r o ■pjjg retaliation came northwards, and fell upon this band of the nobles, of peasants with his more disciplined sol- ^^ ^^^^' diers and horsemen. One night, after a bloody battle, * in which several thousand peasants were slain, the piper of Weinsberg was recognized amongst the prisoners — he who had piped to the dance of death at the murder of the Count von Helfenstein. Truchsess and the new Count von Helfenstein, who was with him, had him fastened with an iron chain about two feet long to an apple tree. With their own hands they and other nobles helped to build up a circular pile of wood round their victim, and then they set fire to the pile. It was night ; and amid the groans of wounded and dying peasants on the battle- field around them, and the drunken revelry of the camp, was heard the laughter of these nobles as they watched their victim springing shrieking from point to point of the fiery circle within which he was slowly roasted to death. Such was the revenge of nobles upon peasants. But the revolution spread, and the reign of teiTor spread with it. North and east of the valley of the Neckar, among the little towns of Franconia, 1-1 1, /- 1 -VT • 1 , 1 Insurrection in and m the valleys 01 the Mame, other bands Franconia. of peasants, mustering by thousands, de- stroyed alike cloisters and castles. Two hundred of these lighted the night with their flames during the few weeks of their temporary triumph. And here another feature of the revolution became prominent. The little towns were already, under the preaching of Carlstadt and such as he, passing through an internal „ , . . . Revolution in revolution. The artisans were rising against the towns of the wealthier burghers, overturning the town councils, and electing committees of artisans in their place, making sudden changes in religion, putting down L 146 The FrotesiaMt Revolution. pt. 11. the Mass, unfrocking priests and monks, and in fact, in the interests of what they thought to be the gospel, turn- ing all things upside down. A few extracts from the diary of a citizen of the free imperial fortified town of Rothenburg, on the Tauber,* may serve to fix on the mind a clear impression of the Peasants' War, as it seemed to a citizen of a Franconian town during the course of the events which he noted in his log-book in this terrible year 1525. March 19. — The Carlstadt sect being favoured by citizen of ^'^^ magistrates, Carlstadt himself came to Rothen- Rothenburg. burg, preached here, and wanted to become a citizen. March 21. — Thirty or forty peasants bought a kettle-drum and went about proudly, insolently, and mischievously, up and down the city. March 23. — About 400 peasants assembled. March 24. — All citizens were called to the Rathhaus and enjoined to stand by the honourable council. Only twenty-six do so ! The rest elect a committee of thirty-six. Messengers are sent to the peasants to inquire their plans. The peasants replied that they were not all collected yet. Letters come from Markgraf Casimir, and are read to the people, offering help, and to come in person to make peace. Some of the people treated the message with scorn and laughter. This evening, between five and six, the head of the image of Christ on the Cross is struck off, the arms broken and the pieces knocked about the churchyard. March 25. — The committee of thirty-six frighten the council into submission. March 26, Sunday. — The priest driven from the altar and his mass book thrown down. The peasants deploy themselves before the Galgen-thor. March 27. — The priest insulted, and his book thrown down whilst performing mass. March 28. — 700 peasants assembled, and force other peasants to join them. CH. V. Revolution. 147 2Iarch 31. — The peasants have increased to 2,000. Lorenz Knobloch having promised to be a captain, has gone out to them. Messengers from the Imperial Council came to make peace, but without result. April 4. — The oil lamps thrown down during the sermon. The peasants go about plundering cupboards and cellars. April 8, Good Friday. — The service done away. No one sang or read. But Dr. Drechsel preached against emperor, king, princes and lords, spiritual and temporal, for hindering the word of God. April 10, Easter Day. — Hans Rothfuchs called the sacrament idolatr)'. No service. April 11. — Dr Carlstadt preached against the sacrament. At night the Kupferzell (cloister) sacked by some millers, and tables and pictures thrown into the Tauber. April 12. — Declarations made that priests may marry. April 13. — Dr. Carlstadt preached again against the sacraments and ceremonies. April 14. — Some women run up and down the streets with forks, pikes, and sticks, making a row and declaring that they will plunder all priests' houses. April 15. — Priests are obliged to become citizens for safely. Ever)' citizen to give a gulden towards the watch, also take his turn at working at the fortifications. April 18. — The peasants demand 200 men and 100 long spears, a culverin, heavy field-pieces, and two tents. They are refused. The peasants reply that some citizens had promised help ; therefore they now demand it. April 23. — The peasants are told they shall have a reply in writing. April 28. — Com given out, but only some take it. Knobloch torn to pieces by the peasants, and they pelted one another with the pieces. The peasants have been heard to say that they would soon see what the Rothenburgers were going to do ! , 3Iay 1. — In the night they burned the cloister of E., plundered another, and burned the castle of C. May 8. — The people called together by the great bell in the parish church to hear a proposal of the Markgraf Casiniir to come 148 The Protestant Revolution. pt. 11. with his lady and jewels to Rothenburg; and on the other hand to consider whether to send to the peasantry or not. May 10. — Three neighbouring cities have gone over to the pea- sants. They want Rothenburg to join them, too. At 6 o'clock people are called together again, and the majority decide to send artillery and spears to the peasants. May 12. — More monasteries are sacked. Twelve kilderkins of wine plundered by the people and dnmk. May 15. — Florian Geyer. (one of the peasants' leaders) in the parish church proposes articles of alliance with the peasants for loi years. Demanded that the committee and people should by oath and vow league themselves with the peasants. Which was done, although against the grain to some. Thus to-day Rothenburg has gone over from the Empire to the peasants ! A gallows was erected in the market-place in token of this brotherhood, and as a terror to evil-doers. About 5 o'clock tents, wagons, powder are got ready and taken to the camp of the peasants, with intent to storm the castle of Wurtzburg. 300 peasants who went up on May 9 to storm the castle of Wurtzburg were all killed, part by the stones, part shot, part slain — taken like birds ! (So the castle still held out.) Casimir of Brandenburg is marching with forces to chastise the peasants. 3Iay 19. — He bums four towns. Four peasants at L. are beheaded and seven have their fingers cut off. At N. eighteen citizens beheaded. May 27. — 4,000 peasants are .slain in the valley of the Tauber by the allied powers. (The combined forces of the nobles were now joined by Truchsess, who had been victorious over the Swabian peasants.) May 29. — 8,000 more peasants slain by the allies. Three mes- sengers are sent from Rothenburg to Markgraf Casimir, carrying a red cross and fervently begging for mercy. No surrender would be accepted but on ' mercy or no mercy.' All citizens, clergy and laity, to pay seven florins for Blood and Fire Money, or to be banished thirty miles out of the city. The city to provide some tons of powder. June 2. — Wurtzburg retaken by the Bund. CH. V. Revolution. 149 June 24. — Mass said again, after thirteen weeks' interruption. June 29. — Markgraf Casimir came to Rothenburg with 800 horse, 1,000 foot, 200 wagons well equipped with the best artillery, which are placed in the market-place. June 30. — All citizens called by herald and ordered to assemble in the market-place, and form a circle under guard of soldiers with spears. It was announced that the Rothenburgers had revolted from the Empire and joined the peasants, and had forfeited life, honour, and goods. The Markgraf and many nobles were present. Twelve citizens were called out by name, and beheaded on the spot. Their bodies were left all day in the market-place. Several had fled who otherwise would have been beheaded, July 1. — Eight more beheaded. It was during the Franconian rebellion that the pea- sants chose the robber knight Goetz von Berlichingen as their leader. It did them no good. More than a robber chief was needed to cope with soldiers used to war. The failure of the Franconian rebel peasants was inevitable, and the wild vigour with which they acted in the mo- ments of their brief power did but add to the cruelty with which they were crushed and punished when the tide of victory turned against them. While all this was going on in the vallevs - , -. . , .... , ,' Insurrection of the Mame, the revolution had crossed the in Eisas.s and Rhine into Elsass and Lothringen, and the down'"May) Palatinate about Spires and Worms, and in ^525, the month of May had been crushed in blood, as in Swabia and Franconia. South and east, in Bavaria, m the Tyrol, and m Carmthia na, the I'yrol, also, castles and monasteries went up in flames, and then, when the tide of victory turned, the burning houses and farms of the peasants lit up the night and their blood flowed freely. Meanwhile MQnzer, who had done so much to stir up 150 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ii. the peasantry in the south to rebel, had gone north into Thurintria, and headed a revolution in the Miinzer heads ° _,_,, . , ^ an insurrection town 01 Mulhausen, and became a sort or inThuringia. g^^onarola of a madder kind, believing himself inspired, talking of his visions, uttering prophe- cies, denouncing vengeance on all who opposed what he believed to be the gospel. He exercised over the citi- zens something of the influence that Savonarola had done in Florence. His intense earnestness carried them away. They could not help believing in him and re- garding him with awe. For a while the rich fed the poor, and under his eye there was almost a community of goods. But Miinzer, not content with visions and his prophetic office, madly appealed to the sword. When he heard of the revolution in Swabia, he seemed to sniff the breeze like a war-horse. He issued a proclama- tion to the peasantry round about : Arise ! fight the battle of the Lord ! On ! on ! on ! Now is the time ; the wicked tremble when they hear of you. Be pitiless ! Heed not the groans of the impious! Rouse up the proclama- towns and villages ; above all, rouse up the miners tion. of the mountains ! On ! on ! on ! while the fire is burning ; on while the hot sword is yet reeking with the slaughter ! Give the fire no time to go out, the sword no time to cool ! Kill all the proud ones : while one of them lives you will not be free from the fear of man ! While they reign over you it is no use to talk of God! . . . Amen. Given at Muhlhausen, 1525. Thomas Miinzer, ser\ant of God against the wicked. These were some of the words which Avere meant to wake up echoes in the hearts of the neighbouring miners of Mansfeld, among whom the kindred of Luther dwelt ! This was what had come of the prophets of Zwickau CH. VI. Revolution. 151 giving up their common sense and following visions and inspirations ! But the end was coming. The princes, with their dis- ciplined troops, came nearer and nearer. What could Miinzer do with his 8,000 peasants ? He pointed to a rainbow and expected a miracle, but no miracle came. The battle, of course, was lost. 5,000 peasants lay dead upon the field near the little town of Frankenhausen, where it was fought. Miinzer fled and concealed himself in a bed, but was found and taken before the princes, thrust peath of into a dungeon, and afterwards beheaded. Muuzer. So ended the wild career of this misguided, fanatical, self-deceived, but yet, as we must think, earnest and in many Avays heroic spirit. We may well believe that he was maddened by the wrongs of the peasantry into what Luther called a 'spirit of confusion.' The prince and nobles now everywhere prevailed over the insurgent peasants. Luther, writing on June 21, 1525, says: — ' It is a certain fact, that in Franconia 11,000 peasants have been slain. Markgraf Casimir is cruelly severe upon his peasants, who have twice broken faith with him. In the Duchy of Wurtemberg, 6,000 have been killed ; in different places in Swabia, 10,000. Jt is said that in Alsace the Duke of Lorraine has slain 20,000. Thus everywhere the wretched peasants are cut down.' The struggle extended into Styria and Carinthia, w'nere there had been risings before, and lingered on longest in the Tyrol. It was not till Truchsess was aided by the General George Frundsberg, the old general who had shaken hands with Luther in the Diet of Worms, that victory was secured to the higher powers. Before the Peasants' War was ended at least 100,000 152 The Protestant Revohttio7i. pt, 11. perished, or twenty times as many as were put to death in Paris during the Reign of Terror in 1793. So ended the peasants' revolution. For two hundred and fifty years more the poor German peasantry must bear the yoke of feudal serfdom. They must wait till, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, German statesmen, awakened by the French Revolution, saw the necessity of preventing another Peasants' War by granting a timely reform. Luther, throughout the Peasants' War, sided with the ruling powers. He was firm as a rock in opposing the . , use of the sword against the civil power. The attitude ° ^ of Luther The reform he sought was by means of the Peaslfnts'' civil power ; and in order to cle^r himself ■"• and his cause from all participation in the wild doings of the peasantry, he publicly exhorted the princes to crush their rebellion. The peasants thought that in Luther (himself a peasant) they should have found a friend, but they were bitterly disappointed. He hounded on the princes in their work of blood. That Luther should be bitter against Miinzer and the wild prophets of revolution was but natural. He had seen the end from the beginning ; he had left his retreat in the Wartburg four years before to quell the tumults at Wittenberg. Driven out of Wittenberg the prophets had become madder still. No doubt Eurqjje owed much to the right-mindedness of Luther in setting his face against a resort to the sword in the cause of reli- gious reform. Yet one cannot sympathize with Luther's harsh treatment of the peasantry and their misguided leaders^ It cannot be denied that to some extent this revolution had grown up from the dragon's teeth that he himself had sown. There was a time when he himself had used wild language and done wild deeds. Eras- CH. V. Revolution. 153 mus had predicted that all Europe would be turned upside down in a universal revolution ; and had it not come to pass2 . .The monks blamed Erasmus and the new learning ; Erasmus blamed the wildness of Luther ; Luther blamed the wilder prophets. Who „„ ^ '^ who was was to blame ? History will not lay blame really to on Erasmus or Luther, or on the wilder ^'"^ prophets, or on the misguided peasantry, but on the higher powers whose place it was to have averted revo- lution by timely reforms. It^was their refusal of reform which was the real cause of revolution. __ It was the con- spiracy of the higher powers at the Diet of Worms to sacrifice the common weal to their own ambitious ob- jects on which history will lay the blame of the Pea- sants' War. In the meantime let us not forget that there was one at least of the higher powers who had no share in the blame — one of them who had shown himself able to sacrifice his own ambition to the common weal, who had worked silently and hard for reform — Death of the the good Elector Frederic of Saxony. As Elector of " ^ haxony, the peasant rebellion under Mi^inzer was May 1525. going on in Thuringia, on the threshold of Saxony, he lay dying. He had no revengeful feelings. He did not urge on the slaughter of peasantry like Luther. He wrote to his brother, Duke John, who succeeded him as Elector, and who was gone with the army, to act pru- dently and leniently. If the peasants' turn had really come to rule, God's will be done ! Only his servants were with him. 'Dear children,' he said to them, 'if I have offended any of you, 'forgive me, for the love of God ; we princes do many things to the poor people that we ought not to do ! ' Soon after he received the sacrament, and died. 154 The Protestant RevoIutio7i. PT. ii. {d) The Sack of Rome {1327). Now let us see what was the result to the higher Alliance of powers themselves of the secret treaty of theEm%ror Worms, May 8, 1 52 1, by which the Pope against France, and Emperor were to join their forces against France, and to secure which the interests of the German people were deliberately sacrificed. Henry VIII. of England soon joined the alliance against France. He had secret reasons to be mentioned Henry VIII. hereafter for keeping on good terms with joins it. Charles V. and the Pope, and so had his minister Cardinal Wolsey. Henry was tempted also with the prospect of winning back the English provinces in France, while Wolsey was flattered by the promises of Charles V. to do all he could to get him elected Pope on the next vacancy. The first skirmishes took place between Charles V. and Francis I. in the north, but with no decisive results. Meanwhile the allied army in Italy was strengthened and that of France weakened by the Swiss soldiers under the pay of France being withdrawn, and Swiss recruits ac- cepting imperial pay. The armies were soon in motion, and on Nov. 25, 1521, Leo X. received tidings that the Pope Leo X allied army had triumphantly entered the dies, 1521. city of Milan, but while the rejoicmgs at Rome in celebration of their triumph were still going on, the Pope suddenly died, on December i, not without suspicion of poison. To the surprise of everyone the Emperor's old tutor was now elected Pope under the title of Adrian VI. Charles V. had not used his influence to promote the success of Wolsey. Adrian was a Spaniard — a nominal governor in Spain while Ximenes really governed — and was more likely to serve Spanish CH. V. Revolution. 155 interests than the wily Enghsh minister. Adrian was a sternly virtuous, well-meaning pope. He would have made peace if he could. He would have reconciled the German nation by reforms if he could, but with the wish he had not the power. Everything was against him ; he was old ; his reign was short, and he died clement vil. in 1523, to make way, not for Wolsey, for i^op^* ^523- again Charles V. played his own game, but for another of the Medici, Clement Vll. He was not a Spaniard, but the most powerful ally of Spain that Italy could pro- duce among her cardinals. In the meantime the Duke of Bourbon (one of the Duchies which had become subject to the French crown) rebelled from Francis I. and joined the im- DukedeBour- perial league against France. Henry VIII. j^g^" i"' ^^ alnst also was once more tempted by a vague France, prospect of again annexing French provinces to the English crown, to help in the invasion of France. The result of this invasion was to rouse the national feeling, and therefore the power of France. It was un- successful, and ended in Francis I. assum- „ . , Francis I. ing the offensive and crossing the Alps, crosses the Then came the battle of Pavia in 1524, in ^^' which the imperial armies under the Duke at the battle of of Bourbon and the old German general ^^^'^• Frundsberg gained the victory, and Francis I. was taken prisoner. Henry VIII. began now to dream not only of getting back the lost English provinces, but even of being king of France. But Charles V. had little confidence in him and Wolsey. He was playing his own game, not that of Henry VIII. Pope Clement VII. meanwhile had expected Francis I. to win at the battle of Pavia", and, to make himself 156 The Protestant Revolution. pt. ll. safe, had come to secret terms of alliance with him. Before the battle of Pavia he had gone so far as almost to break with the Emperor. After the bat- tNveen"^Charles tie, all Italy began to be afraid that Spanish Pope"^ ^^^ influence would become omnipotent ; so a rupture between the Pope and Spain was imminent. In the meantime the Emperor removed his royal prisoner to Spain, so taking him out of the hands of his allies. Then came the breach between Charles V. and Henry VIII., the marriage of Charles — so long in- tended but kept secret — to the Infanta of Portugal, in- stead of to the English Princess Mary ; the secret peace of Henry with France. In 1526, followed the release of Francis on his oath to observe conditions from which the Pope at once formally absolved him. This produced a final breach between the Emperor and the Pope, and an alliance between the Pope and Francis against the Em- peror. It was at this moment that the Diet of Spires was sitting. The Emperor had ordered that stringent mea- sures should be taken against the Lutheran Result at the Diet of heresy, and that the Edict of Worms should ^"^"' be carried out. This was impossible. The new Elector of Saxony, and those who sided with him, were too strongly backed for such a course to be taken. Now the breach between the Pope and the Emperor came to their aid. The Emperor no longer cared to back up the interests of a Pope who had quarrelled with him, and the result of the Diet was a decree signed by Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V., in the Emperor's stead, con- taining the memorable clause, that ' Each state should, as regards the Edict of Worms, so live, rule, and bear itself as it thought it could answer it to God and the Enneror.' CH. V. Revolution. 157 This left the Cathohc princes to do as they liked on the one hand, and the princes who favoured Luther to do as they liked on the other. From this decree of the Diet of Spires came the division of Germany into Catholic and Protestant states. This came out of the quarrel between the Pope and Emperor. The next thing was the gathering of a Ger- man army under George Frundsberg, an ar- March of a my composed almost entirely of Lutherans, German ■' "^ ■' army on under a Lutheran general, a host of discon- Rome. tented, wild, reckless men, who had survived the horrors of the Peasants' War, were inspired by hope of plunder, and inflamed by the zeal of Frundsberg, who declared, 'When I make my way to Rome, I will hang the Pope !' They crossed the Alps by a dangerous unguarded pass, descended into the plains of Lombardy, and then joined the Spanish army under the Duke of Bourbon. This was in January 1527. A few weeks more, and the combined army, 20,000 strong, was marching on Rome. Then came delays, rumours of a truce, and the mutiny of the Span- ish soldiers for their long-withheld pay. Lastly, the German soldiers also mutinied, in vexation at which the old veteran general Frundsberg fell powerless under a shock of paralysis. The army advanced under Bourbon, and then followed the commencement of the siege of Rome ; the death of Bourbon, shot as he was mounting a ladder ; and — the rest shall be told in the graphic words, which the brother of the Emperor's secretary Valdez put into the mouth of an eye-witness in his ' Dialogue on the Sack of Rome.' ' The Emperor's army was so desirous to enter Rome, some to rob and spoil, others for the extreme ^1,^ 53^^ hatred they bore to the Court of Rome, and °*^ Rome, some both for the one and the other cause, that the Span- 158 The Protestant Revolution. pt. li. iards and the Italians on the one side by scale, and the Germans on the other side by pickaxes breaking down the wall, entered by the Borgo, on which side stands the Church of St. Peter and the Holy Palace. Though those within had artillery and those without none, yet they en- tered without the slaughter of a hundred of themselves. Of those within were slain, some say 6,000, but in truth there died not upon the entry above 4,000, for they im- mediately retired into the city. The Pope in his own palace was so careless that it was a wonder he was not taken, but seeing how matters stood, he retired himself into the castle of St. Angelo, with thirteen cardinals and other bishops and principal persons who stayed with him. And presently the enemies entered, and spoiled and sacked all that was in the palace, and the like did they to the cardinals' houses and all other houses within the Borgo, not sparing any, no not the Church of the Prince of the Apostles ! This day they had enough to do without entering Rome, whither our people, hoisting up the draw- bridge, had retired and fortified themselves. The poor Roman people, seeing their manifest destruction, would have sent ambassadors to the army of the Emperor to have agreed with him, and to have avoided the sack ; but the Pope would by no means consent to it. ' The captains of the Emperor presently determined to assault the city, and the very same night, fighting with their enemies, they entered, and the sack continued more than eight days, in which time they had no regard of nation, quality, or kind of men. The captains did what they could to stop it, but the soldiers, being so fleshed in their robberies as they were, you should behold troops of soldiers passing the streets with cries; one carried prisoners, another plate, another household stuff. The sighs, groans, and outcries of women and children in all CH. V. Revolution. 159 places were so piteous that my bones yet shake to make report of them. They carried no respect to bishops or cardinals, churches or monasteries; all was fish that came into their net; there was never seen more cruelty, less humanity, nor fear of God. 'They had no respect even to Spaniards and Ger- mans, and other nations that were vassals and servants to the Emperor. They left neither house, nor church, nor man that was in Rome unsacked or ransomed, not even the secretary Perez himself, who was resident at Rome on behalf of the Emperor. Those cardinals who could not escape with the Pope into the castle of St. Angelo were taken and ransomed, and their persons full ill- favouredly handled, being drawn through the streets of Rome bare-legged. To make mocking of them, a Ger- man, clothing himself like a cardinal, went riding about Rome in his "pontificalibus," and a bottle of wine on the pommel of his saddle, and then a Spaniard in the same manner, with a courtezan behind him. The Germans led a bishop of their own nation (who stood upon election to have been a cardinal) to the market-place to be sold, with a bough in his forehead, as they do when they sell beasts. ' It is said that the sack of Rome amounted unto, by ransoms and compositions, above 15 millions of ducats. Churches were turned into stables. The Church of St. Peter, both on the one side and the other, was all full of horses! Soldiers carried along the streets nuns from monasteries and virgins from their fathers' houses, and from the time that the Emperor's army entered Rome till the time that I departed — the 12th June — there was not a mass said in Rome, nor all that time heard we a bell ring nor a clock. Not a priest or friar dared walk in the streets except in garments of a soldier, else the Germans would cry out, "A pope ! a pope ! kill I kill!' " i6o The Protestant Revolution. pt. hi. This was what had come to the Pope from the con- spiracy of his predecessor with the Emperor at Worms, — an imperial edict at the Diet of Spires, in 1526, leaving the states of Germany virtually free to adhere to or sever themselves from the ecclesiastical empire of Rome as they severally pleased ; — Rome sacked By a German army in the Emperor's name, and more pitilessly pillaged than it had been 1000 years before by the Vandals ; — the Pope a prisoner of the Emperor in the castle of St. Angelo, and henceforth destined to act as the tool of his imperial master, and to yield an enforced submission to the supremacy of Spain ! „ , , , We may take this result as marking an Result of the , "^ , , . ^ ^ Papal policy, epoch. Rome had for ever ceased to be the capital of Christendom. The old Roman form of civilization radiating from Rome had finally given place to a new form of civilization, which would go on its way independently of Rome, and which Rome was no longer able cither to inspire or to control. PART III. RESULTS OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. CHAPTER I. revolts from rome. In Switzerland and Germany. [a) Meaning of Revolt from Ro77ie. We have now to trace how the Protestant Revolution re- sulted in several national revolts from the ecclesiastical empire of Rome. CH. I. Revolts from Rome. i6i 1 62 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. But first, what did a national revolt from Rome mean ? It was the claiming by the civil power in each nation of those rights which the Pope had hitherto Meaning of re- .... volt from claimed within it as head of the great eccle- siastical empire. The clergy and monks had hitherto been regarded more or less as foreigners — /. e. as subjects of the Pope's ecclesiastical empire. Where there was revolt from Rome the allegiance of these per- sons to the Pope was annulled, and the civil power claimed as full a sovereignty over them as it had over its lay subjects. Matters relating to marriages and wills still for the most part remained under ecclesiastical jurisdic- tion as before, but then, as the ecclesiastical courts them- selves became national courts and ceased to be Roman or Papal, all these matters came under the control of the civil power. Even in matters of religious doctrine and practice and public worship, the civil power often claimed the final authority hitherto exercised by the Pope. Such being the meaning of revolt from Rome, it will be clear at once that it was sl political (\\jL\ie as much as ,. . , and sometimes more than a relif^ious matter A political ., . change. — an assertion by the civil power in each nation of that free independent national life which we noticed as characteristic of the new order of things. A study of the map showing ' the extent of the revolt from Rome ' will illustrate this by another fact — viz. that ^^ ^ .it was those nations which in the main are of 1 he leutonic . . c • nations revolt- Teutonic or German origin — Germany, Swit- The Romanic zerland, Denmark, Sweden, England, Scot- maine"r^' l^nd, and the Netherlands— which finally under Rome, made good their revolt from Rome. As the Germans under their great leader ' Hermann* had, 1500 years before, been the first to make good their indepen- CH. I. Revolts from Rome — Switzerland. 163 dence from the old Roman Empire, so it was in the na- tions which were of Germanic speech and origin that revolt was made from papal Rome. On the other hand those nations — Spain, France, and Italy — which had long formed a part of the old Roman Empire, and were Romanic in their languages and instincts, remained in allegiance to the Pope. There were no doubt many people in Spain, France, and Italy who sympathized with the doctrines of the Reformers, but there was no revolt, because these na- tions, or the civil powers representing them, chose to re- main politically connected with Rome. It is well to observe also how the turn the revolt took in the revolting nations was in a great degree the result of their political condition. Thus in England, Denmark, Sweden, in whi-ch the central power was strong enough to act for the nation and to carry the nation with it, there was a ... ■ 1 1 r T-. I" some na- decisive national revolt from Rome; while tions there was in Switzerland and Germany, where practi- ^^t^^°in slmtt cally there was no central power capable of divided action / r r and civil wars. acting for the nation as a whole, there were divisions and civil wars within the nation, some of its petty states at length revolting from Rome, and others remaining under the ecclesiastical empire. We will first take the case of these divided nations — • Switzerland and Germany, and then pass on to the others. {b) The Revolt in Switzerland. No nation was so absolutely without a central authori- ty as the Swiss. Each canton was as independent of the others for most purposes as the petty r J 1 r /- -.TTi •. , ... Switzerland feudal states of Germany. When Machia- divided into velli complained of the divisions of Italy *^'='"'°"^- 164 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. preventing its becoming a nation, he warned the Italians of the danger of a country being ' cantonized ' hke Swit- zerland. But there was this difference between a Swiss canton and a petty feudal state. In the Swiss canton there was no feudal lord ; the people governed them- selves. It was not a feudal lordship, but a little republic of communes or villages of the primitive Teutonic type, in which the civil power was vested in the community. If therefore in a Swiss canton the civil power took to ^. ., itself the ecclesiastical power hitherto held Civil power , , T-. 1 -1 1 • vested in the by the rope, that power became vested m peope. ih.Q people, not, as in other countries, in the prince or king. Bearing this in mind, the history of the revolt from Rome in Switzerland will be easily comprehended. ,„ . , ^ . The Swiss reformer, Ulrich Ziving^le, was Ulrich Zwin- . . gie, the Swiss born m 1484, and was the son of the chief man of his village. Well educated at Basle CH. I. Revolts from Rome — Switzerland. 165 and Berne, and after having taken this degree at the university at Vienna, he became a curate in Canton Clarus. The new learning had spread into Switzerland, and Zwingle was one of its disciples. He studied Plato and the new Testament in Greek, like Colet and Eras- mus. Being sent into Italy twice as army preacher, he saw the Swiss troops conquered at Marignano, and re- turned home full of patriotic hatred of the system of hiring out troops to fight other nations' battles. Then he settled in Zurich and became a reformer ; settles ^t Zu- preaching against indulgences, celibacy in "'^l^- the clergy, and whatever else he thought could not be justified by the New Testament. His own canton, Zurich, under his influ- Zurich as- ence, threw off the episcopal yoke of the ecdesilsticll'^ Bishop of Constance and assumed the eccle- po^^^rs. siastical authority to itself. The Zurich government au- thorized the use of their mother tongue instead of Latin in public worship, burned the relics from the shrines and altered the mode of admistering the sa- Berne did the craments. So Zurich revolted from Rome same soon in 1 524. Berne followed soon after ; while the Forest Catttons — Lucerne, Zug, Schwitz, Uri, and Un- terwalden — followed by Fribourg and the Valais, which was not yet a Swiss canton, held to the old order of things. Some cantons going one way and some another, the result was division and civil war, the Catholic cantons calling in the aid of their old feudal enemies, ^. ., Civil war. the House of Hapsburg. The civil war lasted, off and on, for two or three years till, in 1531, after Zwingle himself had fallen in battle, it was ended by the peace of Cappel, at which it was -p^^f.^^^ decided that each canton should do as it Capptl, 1531. 1 66 Resiclts of the Protestant Revolutio7i. pt. iii. liked, while in the districts which were dependent on the Swiss Confederation, and not to any particular canton, the majority in each congregation should manage its own ecclesiastical affairs. The map will show which cantons revolted from Rome, and how the districts were divided in their action. Zwingle was a true patriot. He wished to see the Swiss a united nation ; and with that object he proposed Character of political as Well as religious reforms which Zwingle. g^j-g j^Q^ being carried out. He was rather a disciple of Erasmus than of Luther. He did not adopt the strong Augustinian views of Luther. He also took freer views respecting the sacraments, Luther, a slave in this respect to the mere letter of Scripture, held by the words 'This is my body' so strongly as to Luther quar- -^ ^ , rels with Uphold the doctrme of ' the real presence winge. almost as fully as the Catholic party. Zwingle took wider views, treating the sacrament as a symbol. The violent dogmatic intolerant spirit of Luther was never more painfully shown than in the dis- pute with Zwingle on this subject. The bitter hatred he showed to Zwingle and Erasmus was all of a piece with his violent feelings against the poor peasants of Germany. Whilst doing justice to the noble and heroic character of the great German reformer, these things re- mind us that there lingered in his mind much of the dogmatism and intolerance of the scholastic theologian. [c] The Revolt in Germany (1526-1555). We have seen how the German people suffered at the commencement of the era because they had not yet be- come a united nation ; and also how deep and widely spread were their yearnings after national life and unity — peasants crying out to the higher powers for protec- CH. I. Revolt from Rome — Germany. 167 tion from feudal oppression — Luther and Hutten ap- pealing to them to free the German nation from the tyranny of the great ecclesiastical empire of Rome. Had Charles V. cared more for Germany than his own selfish ambitions, and put himself at the head of the strong national feeling, as Frederick of Saxony wanted him to do at Worms, there was at least a good chance of uniting Germany into a powerful and prosperous nation. But he threw away the chance. We have seen how the course taken by Charles V. and the higher powers in the Diet of Worms produced a revolution which cost a hundred thousand lives. We have now to ,^^ ^ 1 • T • 1 1 ^ • -1 The freedom see how it divided Germany into two hostile oftheGer- camps, hurried her into the horrors of the try'post'^'^^" Thirty Years' War, postponed for eight or p°"^'^ 'P'" '<=" ■' ' r r o generations. ten generations the freedom of her peasan- j 1 f • , ,• • The Diet of try, and left to our own times the realization Spires, 1526, of the yearnings of the German people after sL'te^to take national unity. '"^^ °^^" , ^ _ _ course about The decision of the Diet of Spires in 1526 Luther. had already settled that each state of the Empire should do as it thought best in the matter of the edict against Luther. As might be expected, those princes who sided with Luther, and followed the lead of Saxony, at once took reform into their own hands. Monasteries ,, . Hence arose were reformed or suppressed, and their rev- Protestant enues turned to good account, either for nation'ar " ' educational purposes, for supporting the f ^JJ^^u " *^^*^* preaching of the gospel, or for the poor, while others remained Monks and nuns were allowed to marry. Catholic. Luther himself setting the example of mar- rying a nun. Divine service was in part carried on in German, thoutrh Latin was not cntirclv excluded. The 1 68 Results of the Protestant Revoltition. pt. iii. youth were taught to read in common schools and in the language of the Fatherland. Luther's German Bible and German hymns came into popular use. In a word, in what were called the ' Evangelical States ' a sever- ance was made from the Church of Rome ; and national churches sprang up, resting on the civil power of each state for their authority and adopting Lutheran doctrines. This was the result of the decree of the first Diet of Spires and the Emperor's quarrel with the Pope. Meanwhile the Emperor, having settled his quarrel _, , with the Pope, returned to his loyalty to The second i , Diet of Rome, and, taking advantage of this, the re'versed^tfe Catholic party succeeded, in the second wltht'tan'drn.^' ^^^^ ^^ Spircs, in I $29, in passing a decree the protest of re-enacting the Edict of Worms, and for- the Protestant , . princes. Diddmg all future reform till a regular coun- cil was summoned. The Lutheran princes protested against the decree, and so earned the name of ' Protestants.' Civil war would very likely have at once resulted from this had not the Turks very opportunely made an attempt to extend their empire westward by besieging Vienna. The old dread which filled the minds of Christians at the beginning of the era came upon them again. Melanch- thon, who, with all his wisdom, still believed in astrology, watched the movements of the stars, and averted by the augured disastrous results from the approach on'vienna^'^'' ^^ ^ comct. Lutlicr showed how thorough a German he was by counselling unity in the moment of common danger. For a time Germany was united again, but only till the Turks had retreated from Vienna. Charles V. had now reached the summit of his power. He had conquered France, he had conquered the Pope, CH. I. Revolt from Ronie — Germany. 169 he had been crowned kinpr of Italy at Bo- ^, ^ , ° . . The Turks losna. He was now asiain reconciled with driven back. r"h 1 V the Pope, and lastly, he had driven back the turns again Turks, He had only to conquer the he- hPrTtics*"^"^" retics of Germany to complete the list of his triumphs. So he came in person to the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 to ensure by his presence the enforce- ment of the Edict of Worms. Every effort was made to induce the Protestant princes to submit; ^. ^ . . Diet of Augs- but, headed by John of Saxony and Philip burg. The /• TT 1 ■ • 1 1 • 1 'Augsburg of Hesse, they mamtamed their ground. Coniession.' Luther and Melanchthon were at Coburg, near at hand, and drew up a statement of Lutheran doc- trines which was known henceforth as the 'Augsburg Confession.' The Emperor at length gave them a few months to consider whether they would submit; if not, the decree of the Diet was, that the Lutheran heresy .„ Protestant should be crushed by the imperial power, princes form „,, „ • r J ii the league of Ihe Protestant princes at once formed the Schmaikaid 'league of Schmalkalden ' for mutual de- defence"^ fence. And this, in spite of Luther's protest against opposition to the civil power, would have at once led to civil war, had not another Turkish invasion in 1532 again diverted the attention of Charles V. and of Germany from religious disputes. During the life of Luther, the inevitable civil war was postponed. Melanchthon used the delay for an attempt, by argument and persuasion, to bring about a reconcili- ation between Catholic and Protestant theologians. At the council of Ratisbon, as we shall see ^. ., . Civil war by-and-by, a theological peace was almost postponed concluded ; but the schism was too wide and Luthir's deep to be healed so easily. Meanwhile, state '''^'' I "JO Results of the Protestant Rcvohitioru pt. in. after state went over to the Protestant side, and civil war became more and more imminent. The death of Luther in 1 546 was the signal for its commencement. The Em- peror and Catholic princes, by means of Spanish soldiers, , . . . now tried to reduce to obedience the princes but It begins soon after of the Schmalkald league. They conquered the Elector John Frederic of Saxony and Duke Philip of Hesse, the leaders of the Lutheran party, and proceeded to enforce by the sword a return to Cath- olic faith and practice all over Germany. Charles V. now appeared in his true light as the Span- ish conqueror of Germany. John Frederick of Saxony and Philip of Hesse, the most beloved and Spanish con- quest of Ger- truly German of German prmces, were sen- ■^"^' tenced to death, kept in prison, and brutally treated. Germany, which Charles V. had sacrificed at the Diet of Worms to secure his Spanish policy, was now kept down by Spanish soldiers, and practically made into a Spanish province. This was not the national unity which the German peo- ple yearned after; it was subjugation to a foreign yoke. A few years of Spanish rule produced its natural effect — revolt of the German princes, alliance even with France ! and then came, with strange suddenness, the defeat and flight of Charles V. He made an attempt to regain part of the ground which the French had taken, and then abdicated, leaving the empire to his brother Ferdinand, Spain and the Netherlands to his son Philip ^ , , II. Then followed his cloister life, his Revolt of . . •■ • , 1 , , the Protes- Strange remorse in consideration that he had Defea['or^' not averted all these evils by the timely de- Charles V. ; struction of the heretic Luther at the Diet nis abdica- tion and of Worms \ and then at last the end of his death. Strange, brilliant, but misguided life in 1558. CH. II. Reviylt of England f}-om Rome. 171 The struggle of Charles V. with Germany ended in the Peace of Augsburg (1555), with its legal recognition of the Protestant states and its wretched rule ^^ „ 1 he Peace of mock toleration — cujiis regio, ejus religio of Augsburg — toleration to princes, with power to compel Us^ruie o" their subjects to be of the same religion as [^0^'"°'^'^^' themselves ! It was a peace so rotten in its foundation that out of it came by inevitable necessity that most terrible chapter of German history, and perhaps of any history — the Tlmiy Years' War — which cost Ger- many, some say, half her population, robbed her citizens of the last vestige of their political freedom, confirmed the serfdom of her peasantry for two centuries more, and left upon some of her provinces scars which may be traced to-day. Such terrible paths had the German people to tread towards national freedom and unity. Ten generations of Germans had to bear the curse brought ^ ., ° Evils upon them, not by the Reformation, but by brought those who opposed it — not by Luther, nor many b"" even by Miinzer and his wild associates, but ^^^"^'^^ ^• by the Emperor Charles V. and others of the higher powers who sided with him when he sold the interests of Germany and signed the treaty with the Pope on that fatal 8th of May, 1521, at the Diet of Worms. CHAPTER II. REVOLT OF ENGLAND FROM ROME. [a] Its Political Character. There were two points in which the revolt of England from Rome differed from the revolt in Switzerland and Germany. 173 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. (i) England was a compact nation with a strong central government; and so, instead of splitting into In England parties and ending in civil war, revolted fromTome altogether, the king and parliament acting was national, together, and transferring to the crown the ecclesiastical jurisdiction hitherto exercised by the Pope in England. (2) In the Protestant states of Germany and cantons of Switzerland, a religious movement had preceded and and came at caused a political change ; but in England poUtfcT the political change came first and the causes. change in doctrine and mode of worship long afterwards. The severance of England from Rome was not the result of a religious movement, but of political causes, which we must now trace. [b) Reasons for Henry VIII' s Loyalty to Rome. Up to a certain point in his reign Henry VIII. held by Henry VIII. ^^ Pope and opposed Luther. At the time of defends the j-^g j^jgt of Worms he joined the league of the divine autho- ■' . rity of the Pope and Emperor, not only against France, wrfte'sa" but also against Luther. Whilst the Diet of Lmher^n"^' Worms was sitting, he wrote his celebrated 1521. book against Luther and in defence of the divine authority of the Pope — for doing which the Pope rewarded him with the title of " Defender of the Faith." His zeal in this matter was so eager as to surprise Sir Thomas More, who was now in Henry VIII. 's service. When the king showed him the book, and he saw the passages in defence of the divine authority of the Pope, He tells Sir More (who himself doubted it, and had Thomas hinted his doubts in his Utopia by making More of a ... secret reason the Utopians talk of electing a Pope of their own) questioned with the king whether it CH. II. Revolt of England ffom Rome. 173 was wise to write so strongly on that point. "Where- unto (More says) his Highness answered me that he would in no wise anything minish of that matter ; of which thing his Highness showed me a secret cause whereof I never had anything heard before." Thereupon More studied the matter afresh, altered his opinion, came to the conclusion that the Papacy was of divine authority, and held that view so strongly ever after, that at last he died rather than deny it. The reasons which made Henry VHI. uphold the divine au- thority of the Pope, are the clue to the history of the severance of England from Rome afterwards. What were they ? We saw how the ruling idea of Henry VH. was to establish himself and his heirs firmly on the throne. Kings had hitherto had such precarious thrones that they lived in constant fear of rebellions and pretenders. We saw how Henry VII. relied greatly on his foreign policy and alliances to make his throne secure, and that the chief way of making these alliances firm, in an age of bad faith and Machiavellian ma^rmge with policy, was by royal marriages. Henry VII. Arra'^o"^ ^^ knew Ferdinand of Spain would tell lies or break his oath without remorse, but he also knew that if he could marry his son and probable successor to Ferdinand's daughter, Ferdinand would stick by him in close alliance in order to secure that his daughter might some day be queen of England. So Henry VII. had married his eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales, to Cathe- rine of Arragon, and when Arthur died, had strained a point to get Catherine betrothed to his next son, Henry VIII. Now there was a difficulty about this marriage. If the marriage with Arthur was merely a formal marriage, then 174 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. it was only an ecclesiastical matter, and the Pope's con- sent to Catherine's marriage with Henry might make all right. But if it was a real marriage, then Secret doubts , , . . , -, , , , about its the second marriage with Henry would be vaidity. clearly contrary to the divine law, as con- tained in the Book of Leviticus, where marriage with a brother's wife was forbidden : and so, in that case, the question would be whether the Pope could set aside the divine law, and make lawful what it forbad. To do this must certainly be a great stretch of the papal power, and it only could be justified on the very high ground of the divine authority of the Pope. The betrothal of Henry to Catherine was from the beginning a miserable affair. Its object was political. It was. his father Henry VII. 's doing while Its unsatisfac- ^ " torj' beginning, he was a boy ; and so doubtful, to say the least, was its validity to those who knew all about it, that to Henry VII. 's superstitious mind the death of his queen seemed a divine judgment upon it. He even then, as we have seen, proposed to marry Catherine himself, but Ferdinand of Spain would not hear of it. A bull was obtained from Pope Julius II., treating the ques- tion of the reality of the former marriage as doubtful, but, notwithstanding the doubts, sanctioning Catherine's mar- riage with Henry. The betrothal was completed, but the wary monarch made his son sign a secret protest against it as soon as he was of age, so that he might at any time set it aside if the turn of political events made it expedient to do so. We must remember, however, that some of these matters were court secrets, and would never have been publicly known had not future events brought them to light. Upon the accession of Henry VIII. it was needful for him to make up his mind about his marriage. The CH. II. Revolt of E}tglaiid fro)ii Rome. 175 doubts and difficulties remained the same as ever to those who knew all about it, and it was not possible to dispel them. But the alliance with Spain was still considered important. And so the marriage with Catherine was concluded. The public were told that the former mar- riage had never been consummated, and that Henry VIII. was acting under the sanction of a Papal bull. This silenced talk out of doors, and the king smothered any secret doubts of his own, relying on the divine au- thority of the Pope. So the matter was concluded, and now for years had not been questioned again; When, therefore, Luther's attack upon the divine authority of the Pope was attracUng attention every- where, we see that Henry VIII. had serious rested on the r , . r 1 r ^• • tt Divine autho- reasons of his own lor defendmg it. He rity of the knew in fact that the validity of his mar- ^°P^" riage, and the legitimacy of his children's rights to suc- ceed to the throne, depended upon it. He had naturally been very anxious for an heir, so that his throne might be secure. Unless he had an heir, people must be thinking who will be king next, and plotting to succeed to the throne, .^^nxilty about^ Henry and Catherine had had several, chil- I.u(.^efsion dren, but all had died except one — the Princess Mary — who, at the time of the Diet And anxiety tt. of Worms, was a child of four years old. te'rms°wi?h°the On her alone the succession depended, and charles"v Henry was anxious to secure it, as we have seen, by a close alliance with the Pope and Spain, ce- mented by the marriage of the Princess Mary to Charles V. Henry VIII. knew that the succession to the throne might at any time Vje made very precarious indeed if he should ever quarrel with the Papal and Spanish Courts. An event which happened about this time showed how 176 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. keenly alive Henry VIII. was to these anxieties about ^ . , the successsion of the Princess Mary. He Execution of the Duke of Startled the world all at once by the execu- forhavfng^ tion of the Duke of Buckingham for trea- his eye upon ^^^ ^qj. Slaving his eye on the succession the succes- ' ° •' siontothe to the throne. The Duke, it was said, amongst other things, had been heard to speak of the death of the royal children as judgments on Henry and Catherine for their marriage. This was enough to rouse Henry's suspicions, and so, after a formal trial, he was found guilty of treason and be- headed as a warning to others. (<:) Sir Thomas More defends Henry VIII. against Luther, Probably the secret which Henry VIII. confided to Sir Thomas More had something to do with the doubts ^^ , about the validity of the marriage, and Effect of . ' ° ' knowledge of Opened his eyes to the fact how the succes- viTl/s se- sion to the throne and the safety of the Th'm" ^"^ kingdom was involved in the divine au- More's tliority of the Pope. It set him, as we have said, studying the fathers until he came to the conclusion that an authority which had long been recognized, and on which so much depended, must have divine sanction. Having come to this conclusion, he was not likely to be made more favourable to Luther than he otherwise would have been. We have seen that the Oxford Reformers had from the first taken high ground on the necessity of unity in the Christian Church. They had also always been opposed to the Augustinian views which Luther had adopted. They had agreed with Luther in little but in the demand for "a religious and ecclesiastical reform. CH. 11. Revolt of England from Rome. 177 Erasmus had refused to identify himself with Luther, and while defending him up to a certain point against the Papal party had urged upon him moderation. This advice Luther had not followed, and now Erasmus held aloof from the Protestant struggle, urging moderation on both sides, preaching unity, and going on quietly with his own works, amongst which were fresh editions of his New Testament. It is not surprising, then, that when Luther wrote his violent reply to Henry VIII. 's book, More should be ready to defend it. He did so, and as time went on his zeal against Luther grew by degrees almost into hatred. As news of the wild doings of the prophets of Zwickau and the horrors of the Peasants' War were reported in England, More laid the blame on Luther. He regarded him as a dangerous fanatic, scattering everywhere the seeds of rebellion against the powers that be, whether civil or religious. He also urged his friend Erasmus to write against Luther. In 1524, on the eve of the Peasants' War, Erasmus did write a book against Luther's „ ° . Keaction in strong Augustinian views, in which he urged the minds of , , 1 1 , 11 J r Erasmus and that they were sure to lead to all sorts 01 More against abuses in wilder hands. In the year of the Luther. Peasants' War Sir Thomas More wrote an earnest letter to one of Luther's supporters in Wittenberg, charging the Lutheran movement with having lit the flame of se- dition and set Germany on fire. It is sad to see good and noble men like More hurried into reaction, and unable to see the good and noble points in a man like Luther, as well as his violence and errors. But it was not unnatural. He dreaded lest the heresies which had led in Germany to the Peasants' War, might spread into England, and lest heresy and N 178 Results of ilic Protestant Revolution, pt. hi. treason should again be joined as in the days of the Lollards. His judgment was no doubt to some extent carried away by his fears. But we must recognize the sincerity and mental reactions such as these in the lives of good men. Each class of Reformers we have seen to be suspicious of those who went further and faster than they did themselves. Honest men of the old school blamed Erasmus for all that happened. Erasmus, they said, had laid the ^ZZ' ^^^ Luther had hatched it. Eras- mus, in his turn, blamed Luther's violent conduct and language. Luther again denounced Miinzer and the wild prophets of revolution, as well as the poor deluded pea- sants. If this was natural, so was the reaction in the mind of Sir Thomas More. We need not, however, re- gret it any the less on that account. {(T) Reasons for Henry VIII.' s ehange of Policy. Having thus seen that Henry VIII. from policy, and More from conviction, were at this time strongly in fa- vour of the Pope and his divine authority, the next thing is to mark how long Henry VIII. continued of this mind. The answer is, Just so long as his alliance with Spain continued. During the wars of the Emperor, the Pope, and Henry VIII. with France, Wolsey (now cardinal and legate, and Archbishop of York, and soon after lord chancellor also) was the war minister. It was he who Wolsey, the great war kuew all the mind of Henry VIII. and car- H't"nry^vni. ricd on his secret negotiations with Charles V. and the Pope. It was he who managed the treachery with Francis I., and made what prepara- tion was needful for royal meetings, embassies, and wars. It was Wolsey, too, who had to manage parlia- ments, and urge them to grant subsidies to pay for the CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. \irj wars, and when he could get no more money from Parhament it was Wolsey who managed to get it by le- gal means, such as forced contributions from private persons called ' benevolences.' More was a novice on the privy council, ,, More opposed and holding Utopian views, often in a mi- to the wars nority against Wolsey's measures. Once he was alone in disapproval of the great minister's plans. Wolsey hinted that he must be a fool. ' God be thanked,' replied More, ' that the king has but one fool in his council ! ' It mattered little to the king or Wolsey what he thought, but More took care to let the king know that England's joining in the wars with France was against his judgment. Wolsey's and Henry's confidence in Charles V. was shattered by degrees. First came the treachery of Charles V. in not helping to secure the dec- ^, , „ Charles V. s tion of Wolsey as Pope on the death of treachery, Leo X. and afterwards of Adrian VI. Then came the continuance of the war against France, under the Duke of Bourbon, who flattered Henry with hopes of regaining in case of victory the lost English provinces in France. Next came Pope Clement VII. 's fast and loose game with the allied sove- Pope's '^ reigns ; and lastly, the battle of Pavia. Of these events we have spoken in a previous chapter. On hearing the news of the capture of Francis I. at the battle of Pavia, Henry VIII. proposed that he himself should be king of France and Charles V. marry the Princess Mary, so that in her right Charles V. might some day become lord of all Christendom. Up to this moment he had clearly not changed his mind. He still wished to continue the Spanish alliance, and was true to i8o RcsicUs of the Protestant Revolution, pt. hi. Catherine and the Princess Mary. But just as his hopes were at their highest point they vanished for ever. Charles V. let Francis I. resume his throne on conditions which the Pope declared to be null and void. Charles v., instead of marrying the Princess Mary, married the Infanta of Portugal, and Henry found him- VIII. 's self betrayed. Charles V. and the Pope, on poitcy"all at whose alliance so much depended, had now sea again. \,o'Cn escaped from his control. When, by the conquest of Rome, the Pope himself soon after be- came Charles V.'s prisoner and tool, Henry VIII. 's for- eign politics were indeed all at sea. {e) The Crisis — Henry VIII. determines upon the Divorce from Catherine of Arragon. Now look at Henry VIII.'s position. Mary was still his only child. There had never yet been a queen on „ , , the throne of England. He could no longer Results of * " breach with rely on Charlcs V. and the Pope. They at any time, and for political purposes, and in spite of Henry, could dispute the legitimacy of his only daughter. Once more the succession to the throne was uncertain, and in its nature the uncertainty could not be cured. What was he to do ? He resolved to take the bull by the horns, to divorce himself from Catherine of Arragon, to disinherit Mary, to Political rea- marry a young maid of honour, named vorce from ' Anne Boleyn, and to hope for other heirs to Catherine. ^^iQ crown. It was a bold pohcy, for mar- riage was a matter which belonged to the ecclesiastical empire, and so the divorce required the Pope's consent. Wolsey set his wits to work to secure the Pope's sanc- tion to the divorce. He got his own ecclesiastical power as legate increased by the Pope, and Cardinal Campeg- CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. i8i gio over from Rome to join him in deciding on the validity of the marriage. He tried every means to se- cure the divorce required by Henry. He ,„ , ^ _ •' ^ Wolsey tries had no notion of destroying in Henry's to get the Pope 11 1 1 ■ 1-1 1 i to grant a di- mmd the papal authority which as legate vorce, but he wielded in part, and as pope still hoped ^^''^• some day to wield entirely. Had he succeeded in obtain- ing the papal sanction, there would have been no breach with Rome. But he failed. The Pope, at the bidding of his Spanish conqueror, made endless de- Henry viil. , J/- • . j-iUi-u takes the mat- lays ; and Campeggio returned without hav- ter into his ing settled anything. At last, in spite of all °*" *^ands. that Wolsey could do, Henry VIII. determined to mar- ry Anne Boleyn, and took the matter into his own hands. This involved a deliberate breach with Rome and the fall of Wolsey. Henry VIII. made up his mind to face both. (/) Fall of Wolsey {ij2p-isjo). Cardinal Wolsey had been the very type of an over- grown ecclesiastical potentate. Second to none but the king, he had assumed to himself a viceregal „„ ^,„ , ° ° Fall of Wolsey. magnificence and state. And now that ec- clesiastical grievances had come to the top, and, above all, the king kimself was quarelling with the Pope, Wol- sey became a sort of scapegoat for both ecclesiastical and papal sins. He was condemned formally for having used his legatine and ecclesiastical authority contrary to the royal prerogative. But the king had so far connived at and sanctioned the very things for which he was now condemned, and used them for his own purposes, that he could hardly deal very harshly with his old minister. He left him his archbishopric of York, to which he re- turned in 1 530. There he resumed some of his old state, but by his intrigues to obtain popularity amongst the 1 82 Results ijf t]ie Protestant Revolution. pt. ill. Northern nobles again excited the fears of the court. Messengers were sent down to arrest him of high treason, and he was on his journey to London to answer the charge, when, seized by a fever, he died at Leicester Abbey, having given utterance to the famous words, 'Had I served my God as I have served my king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs ! ' Henry VHL was not conspicuous for gratitude to his ministers. {g) The Parlia7neftt of \i,2g-i ^2)^. Revolt of England from Rotne. Wolsey was dismissed in 1529. Hitherto the chief ministers and lord chancellors of kings of England had „. ~, been ecclesiastics. This rule was now sir Thomas More lord broken through. The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk were made chief ministers and Sir Thomas More lord chancellor. Lastly, a parliament was called, A crisis had come in English history. The parliament , of 1529 was to England what the Diet of Worms might „ ,. have been to Germany. The English Com- Parhament r i • i- of 1529. A mons made use of this parliament, as the English his- Germans did of the Diet of Worms, to make oletof^ *^ complaints against the clergy and the eccle- Worms in siastical courts. For a long time the people German , ,., i ^ i i • i history. of England, like the Germans, had resisted the power of the ecclesiastical empire. The freedom of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the secular courts on the one hand, the jurisdiction of the ecclesi- Complaints against the astical courts on the other hand over laymen clergy and . * , . i_ .. r ecclesiastical m such matters as marriages, probates 01 abuses. wills, and the distribution of property amongst the next of kin on the death of the owner, were real and long-standing grievances. The clergy, by their CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. 1S3 ecclesiastical courts, harassed and taxed the people be- yond endurance. The character of the clergy and monks was also grievously complained of. Wolsey had sought, as Cardinal Morton had done attempts at , c 1 . ^ c ii 1 TT- ecclesiastical before him, to reform these abuses. Him- reform under self a cardinal and legate, he had sought Pj^p^' ^""^°- powers from the Pope to repress the evils ; to visit and even suppress some of the worst and pariia- ^ , . . , , ment now of the monasteries and correct the clergy ; take up the and his scheme, partly carried out, was to '"=^"'^'^- found colleges at the universities out of the proceeds. This was all very well as far as it went, but it never went far enough to be of much use, and now the time of re- formation under papal authority was passed. Both king and parliament were in a mind to undertake themselves the needed ecclesiastical reforms. A petition, describing at length the ecclesiastical grievances, was laid by the Commons before the king. The king submitted it to the bishops, at the ^ . . . . . r 1 1 Petition of same time requiring henceforth that no new the Com- law should be passed by the clergy in con- "c"es?fs^-'"^' vocation, any more than in parliament, "'^^' g"ev- ' ■' f ' ances. without his royal consent. The bishops tried to explain away the complaints, but before parliament was prorogued acts were passed fixing at reasonable sums the amounts to be demanded for probate of wills and funeral fees, prohibiting the clergy from engaging in secular business, or holding too many benefices, and obliging them to reside in their parishes. These were matters of practical reform, such as Colet had urged in his sermon to convocation in 1511. He had urged that the clergy in convocation „ . , J °-' Practical should take up these reforms, and reform reforms. themselves. They had let eighteen years slip by without 184 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. doing it, and now the bolder power of Parliament was over-ruling their feeble opposition. Meanwhile the divorce question went into another phase. Cranmer now came on to the scene. He was The divorce soon to be the chief ecclesiastical adviser of beforlThi''''^ Henry VIII. He consulted the chief univer- Universities sities of Europc on the power of Pope Julius by Cranmer. ,. .,,,.., to dispense with the divine law, and so upon the validity of the marriage with Catherine. The Uni- versities gave their opinions very much according to the influence brought upon them. The English and French were most in favour of Henry VIII. 's views. The opinions were laid before parliament in 1531, but nothing further was clone that year. In its next two sessions this celebrated parliament proceeded step by step with ecclesiastical reforms. reforms. The greatest of all legislative scandals, benefit of clergy, was curtailed. Payment of annates to Rome was forbidden. Appeals The king declared to Rome were abolished. Heretics were still head^oFthe to be bumed, but speaking against the Pope En"land°^ was declared no longer to be heresy. The instead of king's asscnt was made necessary to eccle- siastical ordinances. The Pope's jurisdiction in England was abolished and transferred to the king. Lastly he assumed the title of supreme head of the Church of England, which was finally confirmed by Parliament in 1 534. The king meanwhile determined to deal The king - . , , . . ^ , , ^ , marries Anne With his own marriage. In dehance 01 the revok"of ^ Pope, he married Anne Boleyn in January England 1 532-3. The marriage with Catherine was from Kome jj ~j a is now com- declared null and void by Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, and by act of CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. 1S5 parliament. Thus the breach with Rome was complete. England had, in fact, revolted from the ecclesiastical em- pire, by the joint action of king and parhament, and with the assent, however reluctant, even of the clergy. {h) Heresy still pxinished in England. Now it will be observed that all this came to pass without any change of religious creed, without England becoming Lutheran or Protestant. All the while heresy was a crime against which king and parhament and clergy were equally severe. The breach with .^.^^^^ j^^^ Rome made no difference on this point, ex- been no change oi cept that speaking against the Pope was no religious longer heresy. There was as stern a deter- . .1 J r Heretics still mination as ever to prevent the spread 01 persecuted, heresy in England. Wolsey's dying advice ^^"eVS/, to Henry VIII. in November 1 530 was not to t^^e transla- .' ■'-^ tor of the let the new pernicious sect of the Lutherans New Testa- spread in England. Tindal, the noble single- '"^" ' minded Englishman to whom we owe the first translation of the New Testament into English, was all this while watched and tracked and persecuted from place to place as a dangerous foe. Fired with zeal by reading the New Testament of Erasmus, to give the English people access to its truths in the " vulgar tongue," he pursued his ob- ject with a heroism and patriotism which should make his name dear to Englishmen. Strange was it that one of his persecutors was Sir Thomas More, who, in his "Utopia," had expressed views in favour of religious toleration. It was just after the sack of Rome that More pub- lished his opinion that heresy, being dangerous to the state, ought to be punished in England, lest Sir Thomas it should lead to similar results to those it had against ^ led to on the Continent. It was only a few ^'-'''-''^y- 1 86 Results of tlid Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. months after, that when, on the fall of Wolsey in 1529, he was made lord chancellor, he had to swear by his oath of office, amongst other things, to carry out the laws against heresy. He became now, by virtue of his office, the public prosecutor of heretics. The bishops were his most active police, and ever and anon poor men were handed over to him for examination and legal punishment. The times were barbarous. Torture was used in the examina- tion of criminals and of heretics also, and, it can hardly be doubted, even in the presence of Sir Thomas More. Yet, in a certain way, More's gentleness showed itself even in persecution. By the law of the land, heretics must abjure or be burned. More tried hard to save both their bodies 'and souls. He used every ineans in his power to induce them to abjure. During the first two years of his chancellorship he staved off the evil day. Every single heretic abjured ; no single fire had yet been lit in Smithfield during his rule ; but, in the last six months of it, three abjured heretics relapsing into heresy were burned under his authority, the dying martyrs' prayers rising from the stake, " May the Lord forgive Sir Thomas More !" " May the Lord open the eyes of Sir Thomas More !" Strange was it that during these sad months, while More was persecuting others for conscience' sake, he himself had to choose between his own conscience and death. (/) Execution of Sir Thomas Afore (1535). We have seen that he had come to the conviction that the Pope was head of the Church by divine authority. ,, ^. ,, He had held his post of Lord Chancellor so More himself »^ • i j has to suffer _ long as the action of Parliament mvolved ^or^conscience ^^^^ ^^^ much needed reform of ecclesias- tical abuses— till 1532. But so soon as, in CH. II. Revolt of England fro7n Rome. 187 1532, he saw the breach with Rome was inevitable, and that Henry VIII. would delay no longer, he resigned the seals and retired into the bosom of his home at Chelsea — that home which Erasmus had made known all over Europe as a pattern in respect of domestic virtue, cul- ture, and happiness. More had firmly told the king that he disapproved of the divorce, both before and after he was lord chancel- lor. He declined to be present at Anne Boleyn's coro- nation ; and when warned and threatened by order of the king, his brave reply was that threats were argu- ments for cJiildrcn, not for him. When the oath ac- knowledging Anne Boleyn as the lawful wife of Henry VIII. was administered to him, he refused to take it. Bishop Fisher alone among the whole bench ,, ^ ° More and of bishops did the same. More and Fisher Fisher sent were therefore sent to the Tower.' Himself in prison for conscience' sake, More's thoughts turned to the heretics against whom he had been so zea- lous ; and he left a paper for his friends warning them if ever, by reason of their office, they had to punish others, not to let their zeal outrun their charity. It was, perhaps, a confession that it had been so with him. He pondered also on the divisions in the Church, and ex- pressed his hopes that after all there might be a recon- ciliation between Catholics and Protestants. His wife visited him in prison, and reminded him of his home and his peril in not taking the oath. ' Good Mistress Alice,' he replied to her, 'tell me one thing: Is not this house as nigh heaven as mine own ?' His beloved daughter Margaret Roper visited him of- ten, and the story of his love for her and her daughterly affection for him, has become a favourite theme of his- torians, painters, and poets. 1 88 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. ill. His trial, like that of the Duke of Buckingham, was a typical Tudor trial. It was not a question of guilt or innocence, but of state necessity. Anne Boleyn's star being in the ascendant. Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher must die. This is Mr. Froude's account of More's death : ' The four days which remained to him he spent in ' prayer, and in severe bodily discipline. On the night . . ' of the 5th of July, although he did not Execution of "^ j j • o Sir Thomas ' know the time which had been fixed for ' his execution, yet, with an instinctive feel- ' ing that it was near, he sent his daughter Margaret his ' hair-shirt and whip, as having no more need of them, ' with a parting blessing of affection. ' He then lay down and slept quietly. At daybreak ' he was awoke by the entrance of Sir Thomas Pope, who ' had come to confirm his anticipations, and to tell him ' that it was the king's pleasure that he should suffer at ' 9 o'clock that morning. He received the news with ' utter composure. " I am much bounden to the king," ' he said, " for the benefits and honours he has bestowed ' " upon me ; and, so help me God, most of all am I ' " bounden to him that it pleaseth his Majesty to rid me ' " shortly out of the miseries of this present world." ' Pope told him the king desired he would not use ' many words on the scaffold. " Mr. Pope," he answered, ' " you do well to give me warning ; for, otherwise, I had ' " purposed somewhat to have spoken, but no matter ' " therewith his grace should have cause to be offended. ' " Howbeit, whatever I intended, I shall obey his High- ' " ness' command." ' He afterwards discussed the arrangements for his ' funeral, at which he begged that his family might be ' present ; and when all was settled, Pope rose to leave CH. 11. Revolt of England from Rome. 189 him. He was an old friend. He took More's hand and wrung it, and, quite overcome, burst into tears. ' " Quiet yourself, Mr. Pope," More said, " and be not " discomfited, for I trust we shall once see each other " full merrily, when we shall live and love together in " eternal bliss." ' So about 9 of the clock he was brought by the lieu- tenant out of the Tower, his beard being long, which fashion he had never before used — his face pale and lean, carrying in his hands a red cross, casting his eyes often toward heaven. He had been unpopular as a judge, and one or two persons in the crowd were inso- lent to him ; but the distance was short, and soon over, as all else was nearly over now. ' The scaffold had been awkwardly erected, and shook as he placed his foot upon the ladder. "See me safe " up," he said to Kingston; "for my coming down I " can shift for myself." He began to speak to the peo- ple, but the sheriff begged him not to proceed ; and he contented himself with asking for their prayers, and desiring them to bear witness for him that he died in the faith of the holy Catholic Church, and a faithful servant of God and the king. He then repeated the Miserere Psalm on his knees ; and when he had ended and had arisen, the executioner, with an emotion which promised ill for the manner in which his part would be accomplished, begged his forgiveness. More kissed him, " Thou art to do me the greatest benefit that I " can receive," he said ; " pluck up thy spirit, man, and " be not afraid to do thine office. My neck is very " short ; take heed, therefore, that thou strike not awry " for saving of thine honesty." The executioner offered to tie his eyes. " I will cover them myself," he said ; and, binding them in a cloth which he had brought IQO Results of the Protestant Rcvohition. pt. iii. ' with him, he knelt and laid his head upon the block. ' The fatal stroke was about to fall, when he signed for a 'moment's delay, while he moved aside his beard. ' " Pity that should be cut," he murmured, " that has ' " not committed treason." With which strange words — ' the strangest, perhaps, ever uttered at such a time — the ' lips famous through Europe for eloquence and wisdom ' closed for ever.' {k)Death of Erasmus. (1536). The news of the Death of Sir Thomas More in 1535 reached Erasmus in old age and suffering from illness, ^ but labouring still with his pen to the last. Erasmus . . dies soon He was Writing a book on the ' Purity of the Church,' and in the preface he described his friend as ' a soul purer than snow.' He lived only a few months longer, died in 1536, and was buried in the cathedral at Basle with every token of respect. Not forty years had passed since Erasmus had first met Coletat Oxford, and since the three Oxford students ^, , ^ whom for the sake of distinction we have The work of the Oxford Called the Oxford Reformers, jomed heart had pro- 'ind soul in that fellow-work which had resuTts^"^^^' caught its inspiration from Florence. How much had come out of their fellow work ! Colet, the one who brought the inspiration from Flo- rence, had died in 15 19, before the crisis came. But even then the work of the Oxford Reformers was already in one sense done. They had sown their seed. The New Testament of Erasmus was already given to the world, and nothing had so paved the way for the Protes- tant Reformation as that great work had done. Since Colet's death, Erasmus and More had never met. Each had taken his own line. More was driven far further CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. 191 into reaction than Erasmus. After the Peasants' War and the sack of Rome, Erasmus still preached tolerance on the one hand, and satirized the monks and school- men on the other hand. And his satire Avas just as bitter in these later writings as it had been in the ' Praise of Folly.' But he too, like More, held on to their old hatred of schism, preached concord in the Church, and longed for a reconciliation between the contending parties. (/) Dissolution of the Monasteries, and Reform of the Universities 1536. The bitter satire of Erasmus upon the monks bore fruit sooner than he himself expected, and especially in England. The necessity of a thorough re- ^, . ^ . . .^ * The work set form m the monasteries was now every, a going by where acknowledged, and there was no Reformers longer any reason to wait for bulls from ^"" °"' Rome before beginning the work. The king was in a mood to humble the monks. The bishops and secular clergy had bowed their heads to the royal supremacy. The time now for the monks and abbots had come. Within a few months of More's death, a commission was issued by Thomas Cromwell (the minis- , . ^ , Cromwell, ter who was now vicegerent of the new now ecciesi- royal ecclesiastical authority), for a general fer of Henry" visitation of the monasteries. viii., in- quires into The popular complaints against them were the state of not found to be baseless. Scandal had long teries. been busy about the morals of the monks. The commissioners found them on inquiry worse even than scandal had whispered, and reported to Parliament that two-thirds of the monks were leading vicious lives under cover of their cowls and hoods. 192 Results of the Protestant Revolutio7i. pt. iii. Erasmus, in his ' Colloquies,' had spread all over Europe his suspicions that the relics by which the monks attracted so many pilgrims, and so much wealth in offer- ings to their shrines, were false and their miracles pre- . , tended. He had visited and described both And into ,. , , shrines and the two great English shrines of ' St. Thomas ^ Becket ' and ' Our Lady of Walsingham,' and had dared to hint that the congealed milk of the Virgin exhibited at the one was a mixture of chalk and white of ^gg, and that the immense wealth of the other would be of more use if given to the poor. The result of the royal inquiry convinced Henry VIII. that the 'milk of our Lady' was 'chalk or white lead,' and that Thomas ^ Becket was no saint at all, but a rebel against the royal prerogative of Henry II. The result of the visitation was the dissolution at once ^. , . , of the smaller, and a few years afterwards Dissolution of the monaste- of the larger monasteries, the monks being struction of pensioned off, and the remainder of their shrines. \2l?X cstatcs being vested in the king. The universities as well as the monasteries were visited by the Commissioners, and that reform was carried out „ , , , at the universities which Colet, forty years Reform of the ^ r 1 <• Universities. before, had begun at Oxford ; a reform which converted them from schools of the old into schools of the new learning. ' The learning of the wholesome doctrines of Almighty God and the three tongues, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, which be requisite for the understanding of Scripture,' were specially en- joined, while the old scholastic text-books became waste paper and were treated as such. These were the final labors of the memorable Parlia- , ment which begun in 1 520, accomplished the Parliament of , ^ ^'^ •', -^ i- i i 1529-36 revolt from Rome, and was now dissolved dissolved. . ^ in 1530. CH. II. Revolt of Englaiid from Rome. 193 One step further the Reformation went under Cran- mer and Cromwell. In 1536 the Scriptures ^ . , „ ,. , . . Tindal s trans- themselves, m the English translation of lationofthe Tindal, revised and completed by Cover- sanctioned, dale, were ordered to be placed in every church, and the clergy were instructed to exhort all men to read them. Thus England owes the basis of her no- ble translation of the Bible to William Tindal. He lived to see it thus published by royal authority, ,, ,. ^ ,, . . . . Martyrdom of but soon after fell a victim to persecution in Tindal. Flanders, and ended his heroic life in a martyr's death. (;;/) Later Years of Henry VIII. (i 536-1 547). In 1536 Queen Catherine died, and in the same year the still more miserable Anne Boleyn was divorced, and, with the partners of her al- Anne"Bol"yn. leged guilt, beheaded. The sole offspring of this ill-fated marriage was the Princess Elizabeth, and she now, like the Princess Mary, was declared illegitimate, and thus the succession was again uncertain. To meet this difficulty the king married his third queen, yatte Seymour, and parliament set- ,, , 1 , • -i rr ■ , Henry VIII. tied the succession upon her offspring, and marries Jane in default of a direct heir, upon such person ^y"""""- as Henry VIII. should name in his will. Meanwhile, this time of renewed unsettlcmcnt was chosen by the papal party for a general rebellion, known as ' The Pilcrpnaee of Grace.' Reforms had ^ -* -^ , , A Catholic re- gone too fast for many. It was not to be bdiion breaks expected that so great a change should meet Nor't"/ ^ with no opposition. It would have been strange if Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher had o 194 Results of the Protestant Revolution, ft. hi. been the only martyrs on the papal side. The rebellion was chiefly in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It was headed by some of the old aristocracy, and no doubt was fo- mented by the issue just before of a papal fomented by '■ '■ the Pope and buU of excommunication against Henry Reginald Pole. ,rTTT ii • re- -i Vlll., and by expectations of foreign aid. Reginald Pole, a relation of the king's, and afterwards legate and Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Mary, did his best, under papal encouragement, to bring about a holy war against England, and thereby enforce obedience to the papal power. But It IS quelled. . these schemes of war from without came to nought, and the insurrection within was promptly met and quelled. The royal supremacy was vindicated by the execution of the chief rebels, and the Catholic reac- tion thus postponed till the days of Queen Mary. Probably the birth at this moment of a long-desired prince (afterwards Edtuard VI.), did as much as the Birth of execution of the rebels to assure the stability Edward VI. ^f Henry's throne. But it cost the hfe of the and death ol ■' the Queen. queen-mother, and niade another marriage a state necessity. While Cromwell was pursuing his Henry VIII. policy, dissolving the remaining monasteries, marries demolishincT the shrines of Walsingham and Anne of " ° Cleves, Canterbury, and transferring their wealth to the royal exchequer, he had once more to arrange a match for Henry. His choice fell upon Anne of Cleves, a connexion of the Elector of Saxony. It fell in with Crom- well's policy to use the opportunity to bring about a Prot- estant alliance, and Henry married in 1 539 Anne of Cleves. But how was it likely that he should fall in love with a fourth wife who was plain-looking and spoke not a word , , of English ? He soon was weary of his new but does not ° •' ^ like her. match, and as Wolsey was sacrificed to se- CH. II. Revolt of England from Rome. 195 cure the divorce of Catherine, so Cromwell was now sacrificed to secure a divorce frorn Anne of Cromwell Cleves. Another Tudor trial, with less show sacrificed to get nd of her. of justice even than those of the Duke of Buckingham and Sir Thomas More, paved the way for the state necessity. Cromwell, like Cranmer, had been all along half a Protestant at heart. Unless he had been, he could hardly have carried through as he did for the king, the successful revolt of England from the ecclesi- astical empire of Rome. The king had profited by that, but he now meant to profit by Cromwell's fall. So Crom- well died upon the scaffold as a traitor. Henry was soon rid of Anne of Cleves. The Pro- testant alliance fell through. A sort of reconciliation was made with Charles V., who naturally hated Cromwell more even than he had distrusted Wolsey. And a sort of colour of religion was given to the whole Reconcilia- proceeding by the more stringent repression Ji°" '\^'^\ of those heresies towards which the fallen minister was said to have been unduly lenient. This was in 1 540. The king now married the guilty and unfortunate Catherine Howard, whose turn to die on the scaffold came (so soon!) in 1542; and then at last Henry came the final marriage with Catherine Parr, viii.'s last ° two mar- a virtuous widow, who proved an honoura- riages. ble and efficient royal nurse during the king's few re- maining years. These years of his decaying health were marked by the renewal of the alliance with Charles V. and breaches of peace with Francis I. Henry's foreign Alliance policy ended as it had begun under the ^''|' Spain, * ^ _ ° and wars shadow of Spanish ascendancy, threatened with France. English invasion of France, French retaliative invasions 196 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. of England, and financial difficulties which always fol- lowed in the wake of war. The treasures of Henry VII. sufficed not to supply the means for Henry VIII. 's early wars with France. So again, in spite Want of ■' , ^ money. of the Wealth which came to the Crown from the dissolution of monasteries and the destruction of the shrines, the king in his last years found himself with an empty exchequer, and obliged to debase the coinage to ^ , , obtain the supplies he wanted. He died in Death of ^^ Henry VIII. Jan. 1 547 — the year after the death of Luther, >n 1547- jygj. ^g Q\^J\[ war broke out in Germany, and Charles V. set about conquering Germany with his Spanish soldiers. While Germany was passing through this struggle, England was becoming more and more Protestant, under Reform goes *-^^ guidance of Cranmer, who managed the on during ecclesiastical affairs of England in the short the reign 01 Edward VI. reign of Edward VI. But a reaction was to follow. On Edward VI. 's death in 1553 the Princess Mary became queen, reaction under A Catholic herself, and the wife of Philip II. yueen ary. ^^ Spain, she restored the Catholic faith in England, and tried to quench the English Protestant spirit in blood. But she died in 1558 — the same year as ^ , J ^ Charles V. — and under her successor, the tngland be- comes finally Protestant Queen Elizabeth, the revolt of unde^/Queen England from Rome became once for all an Elizabeth. established fact. Thenceforth, both in po- litics and in doctrine, England was a Protestant state. {n) Influence of Henry VIII.' s reign on the English Constitiitiott. It has been sometimes said that Henry VIII. 's reign was the reign of a tyrant, and that during his reign the CH. II. Reiwlt of Engla7idfro77i Rome. 197 English parliament was subservient and How far the cringing to the monarch. constitution To judge of this matter rightly we must ^tned'.^'"' remember that England was passing through a great crisis in her history which we have likened to that which was marked by the Diet of Worms in Ger- man history. How different the English from the Ger- man result ! At the Diet of Worms the Em- _ Ine revolt peror and princes acted in opposition to the from Rome ,- 1 ,1 r accomplished German people ; the necessary reforms were by constitu- not made, and so there came revolution. In ''°"''' '"'^^"^• the parliament of 1529-36 the king and House of Com- mons acted together, and made the necessary reforms ; the clergy submitted to them when they saw they must, the dissolution of the monasteries removed the abbots from the House of Lords and placed the lay lords in a majority, and so in the end England was forced from the yoke of the ecclesiastical empire of Rome by con- stitutional means, without the revolutions and civil wars which followed in Germany. That such a revolution was peaceably wrought by parliament under the guidance of the king's ministers, Cromwell and Cranmer, sustained partirment ° by most important precedents the power of ""^'n'^'ned. parliament in the constitution. During his wars, Henry VHT.'s ministers, especially Wolsey, resorted to benevolences and forced loans to obtain supplies. But the fall of Wolsey, , , . , . - It preserved its and on later occasions the sanction of par- control over liament obtained afterwards by way of in- '^*^'*"""- demnity for acts admitted to be illegal, kept up the con- stitutional principle that the king could levy no taxes without the consent of parliament. The real struggle on this matter came in the days of the Stuarts. 1^3 Results of the Protestant Rci'olution. pt. iii. The new ecclesiastical powers of the king as supreme head of the Church gave rise to new branches of juris- . , , diction, some of which were of a dangerous And over the _ , ° making of kind. Parliament also, by statute, gave to the king's proclamation, within a very re- stricted range, the force of statutes, but this was repealed in the next reign. And on the whole, the second great constitutional principle on which English freedom is based was well maintained ; viz., that the king could make no new laws without consent of parliament, Bearing these things in mind it would be hard to deny ^ , , , that the parliaments of Henry VIII. deserve On the whole ^ ■' the parliaments tolerably wcll of Englishmen, considering deserve'^well of the grcatncss of the crisis through which Englishmen. ^^ \)Zx\l of the State had to be steered in their time. The greatest blots upon the reign of Henry VIII. were the unjust trials for treason by which the most faithful of ministers were sacrificed to clear away Unjust State , ,• " i , , trials the chief obstaclcs to royal policy, and the way that reign of Henry Sometimes justice was sacrificed to the per- ^^^^- sonal wishes or even passions of the king in connexion with his unhappy matrimonial caprices. These things will always stain the memory of Henry VIII., but regarding his reign as a whole it would be England fared Unfair to forget that in it a great crisis was [hanVrance passcd through without civil war, which left and Spain. England freed from the ecclesiastical em- pire of Rome, and under a constitutional monarchy, while France and Spain were left to struggle for cen- turies more under the double tyranny of the ecclesiasti- cal empire and their own absolute kings. CH. III. Denmai'k and Sioeden. 199 CHAPTER HI. REVOLT OF DENMARK AND SWEDEN AND (lATER) OF THE NETHERLANDS. [a] Denmark and Swede7i [j^2j-lj6o). Denmark and Sweden both revolted from Rome, but under peculiar circumstances. From 1520 to 1525 they had both been governed by one kin^ — a „ , ^ b 3 a g(^(j, Denmark wretched tyrant — Christian II., who legally and Sweden had little power, but following the royal yoke of Chris- fashion of the day, tried to make himself an 'If" ^^- ^"'^^ ' ' then separate. absolute monarch. Denmark and Sweden both rebelled, dethroned Christian II., and then went their several ways. In Sweden the people, /. e. the citizens and then the peasantry, were sick of the tyranny of their nobles and clergy, as well as their king, and sighed for The Swedes a good king strong enough to curb them, vasa thd^^"^ It was the old story, what the citizens and '^'"S peasantry of Germany had long sighed for in vain. But in Sweden they got what they wanted. They elected as king Gustavus Vasa, a noble who had taken the popular side against their former tyrant ; and having elected him, they backed him in carrying out in Sweden very much the same sort of reforms as Henry VIII. had Sweden, under carried out in England. The clergy were a'pr'otMtam" humbled, their property seized by the crown, nation, and Sweden, roused to a sense of national life under Gustavus Vasa, took its place among modern nations. It was soon to play a prominent part in the great struggle between Catholic and Protestant powers. The Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, was the greatest of the Pro- testant leaders in the Thirty Years' War. 200 Results of tJie Protestant Reiwlution. pt. hi. In Denmark also (and Norway was under the same crown) a new monarchy succeeded to that of the ex- Denmark al?o, pelled tyrant. The nobles joined the crown Wntberom:: in crushing the power of the clergy. The Protestant. Danish monarchy became established on the ruins of the Church. Lutheranism was encouraged. Denmark became a Protestant state, and took part, like Sweden, on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years' War. {b) The Revolt of the Netherla^ids [ij8i). The last of the revolts from Rome was that of the Netherlands. It was a revolt not only from Rome but also from Spain. It does not fall altogether within the limits of the era, and so requires only brief notice here. Philip II., king of Spain and husband of the English queen Mary, tried to enforce the double yoke of Spain and Rome upon the Netherlanders. The Netherlands, it will be remembered, belonged to the Burgundian pro- „ ,. ^ vinces which came to the Spanish crown by Policy of \. Philip II to the marriage alliance of the mother of Nether- ^ Charlcs V. He was a Netherlander, and as Spalnlnd to such popular ; but his son, Philip II., was a Rome. Spaniard, and felt to be a foreign tyrant. He had entered into close alliance with Rome. If he could, he would have conquered all countries which had revolted from Rome ; and in restoring them to Rome, he would have liked to have made them into Spanish provinces. It was in pursuance of these ideas that he encouraged Queen Mary's restoration of the Catholic faith in England, and sent his 'Spanish Armada' to conquer the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. In the same spirit he sent his cruel minister, the Duke of Alva, to force into submission his rebellious subjects in the Netherlands, and to fasten on their necks the double CH. IV. The Genevan Reformers. 201 yoke of Spain and Rome. The result was -j.,^ ^^^jj the revolt of the Netherlands under the and the , _ A r -11 ' United Prince of Orange. After a terrible strug- Provinces' gle, it was at last successful, and ended in Prototann the complete escape of the northern pro- nation. vinces from both the Spanish and Papal yoke. This was in 1581. From that date the 'United Provinces' took their place, like Sweden and Denmark, among the Protestant nations of Europe. CHAPTER IV. THE GENEVAN REFORMERS. [a] Rise of a new School of Refonn. The force of the Protestant Revolution was not. wholly spent in these national revolts from Rome. Although apart from them there was a Protestant movement going on in the minds of the peo- ^ Protestant pie, both in those nations which revolted "novement '^ which was from Rome and in those which did not. not national. We must now turn our attention to the rise of a new school of reform, which led to remarkable results. Luther was too national — too German — a reformer, to admit of his becoming the universal prophet /- T-> ■ ii , 1 1 -A '^"' which of Protestantism all over the world. Den- influenced mark, Sweden, and Norway, coming under fertantsof German influence, did indeed become E''^'?"', ' hngland, Lutheran; but the Protestants of France, Scotland, England, Scotland, and America are not more than and never have been Lutherans. They "' " ' " came more under the influence of the Genevan re- formers, of whom we must now speak. 202 Rcstills of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. [b) yohn Calvin, The chief of these was John Calvin. He was a Frenchman, born in 1509, and so was twenty-five years Tohn Calvin, younger than Luther. He was educated at born 1509. ^.j^g universities of Paris and Orleans, adopted the Augustinian theology, as Wiclif, Huss, and Luther had done before him, and became a Protestant. In France heretics were burned, so he left his home to travel in Italy and Germany. In 1536, just as Erasmus was passing to his rest, he came to Basle, and began his „. < T public work as a Protestant reformer by His ' In- "^ . . . ■' stitutes,' publishing his ' Institutes of the Christian which gave _ ,. . . t. i , t • . r --- i logical form Religion. It was these Institutes of Cal- • Ca^vinistic ' ^^^ which gave rigid logical scholastic form doctrines. to thosc Augustinian doctrines which, as we have said, were held in common by most Protestant reformers from Wiclif to Luther, but which have been since called 'Calvinistic' He differed from Luther both in theory and practice, on those points about which Zwingle and Luther had quarrelled. He rejected tran- substantiation, which Luther did not altogether ; and he founded his Church, like Zwingle, on the republican basis of the congregation rather than, as Luther did, on the civil power of the prince. He thus was in a sense more Protestant than Luther, though at that time only the Lutherans were called Protestants. Geneva soon became the sphere of his actions. It was in a state of anarchy, having rebelled from its bishop, ^ , , who had been practically both ecclesiastical Calvin settles at Geneva. and civil ruler in one. Other French re- formers had settled at Geneva before Calvin, and these shared his stern Protestant doctrines. But Calvin soon proved the most powerful preacher. Like CH. IV. The Genevan Reformers. 203 Savonarola, he rebuked the vices of the people from the pulpit. At first this made him unpopular, „ * ^ . . ^ ^ Becomes a and he was driven away; but in 1541 he was kind of dictator ,,,,,, , 1 1 ,. of the Genevan recalled by the people, and made practi- state. cally both civil and religious dictator of the little state. He was in a sense Protestant Pope of Geneva, but de- riving his power from the congregation. He and his consistory held it their duty to force men to lead moral lives, go to church, give up dice, dancing, ^^. 1 "'^ severe dis- swearing, and so forth; and the council of cipiine andin- the city supported this severe exercise of ec- clesiastical power by their civil authority. Thus for twenty years Geneva was under the rule of Calvin and his fellow ' saints ;' and an intolerant despotic rule it was. Men were excommunicated for insulting Calvin, and sent to prison for> mocking at- his sermons. To impugn his doctrine was death or banishment. Hired spies watched people's conduct, and every unseemly word dropped in the street came to the ear of the elders. Children were liable to public punishment for insulting their parents, and men and women were drowned in the Rhone for sensual sins. Witchcraft and heresy were capital crimes; and one heretic, Servetus, was burned, with his books hung to his girdle, for honest difference of opinion from Calvin on an abstruse point of divinity. The same view of the functions of the Church which led him to exercise this severe discipline, led him also to control education. He founded academies ,, ^ .He founds and schools; and when his system was ap- schools. plied to Scotland, as it afterwards was under John Knox, a school as well as a church was planted in every parish. 204 Results of the P}-otestant Revolution, pt. iii. (<:) Influence of the Gettevan School 07i Western Protestantism. Whatever Calvin did at Geneva would have mattered little to the world if it had stopped there ; but it did TT- . a riot. The historical importance of Calvin xlis influence '■ on Western lies in the fact that he impressed upon West- Protestantism. . ern Protestantism his rigid scholastic creed and his views of ecclesiastical discipline. The Protestants of France, called Huguenots, were and are mainly the offspring of Calvinism, liiu^iTnJu, Jo^^" Knox, the reformer of Scotland, and the Scotch (-j^^g Scotch Covenanters, were also disciples Covenanters, ^ the English of Calvin ; and so Scotch Protestantism re- Purituns, .... ^ . the 'Pilgrim ceived its impress irom Geneva. The Puri- of^New^Eng- tans of England were also Calvinists. Crom- land, all of the y;Q\\ -was a Calvinist, and the rule of his Oenevan • school. ' saints ' was on the Genevan model. The Pilgrim Fathers took with them from Eng- land to the New England across the Atlantic the Calvin- istic creed, and, alas ! its intolerance too. So engrained was it in their theological mind that, even though them- selves fleeing from persecution, they themselves perse- cuted in the land of their refuge. Under the rule of the Boston saints there was as little religious liberty as under the rule of Calvin at Geneva. Nevertheless, the offspring of the Genevan school of reform deserve well of history. However narrow and ^, . , . hard in their creed and Puritanic in their Their his- torical im- manners, they were men of a sturdy Spartan andtn^^' type, ready to bear any amount of persecu- nationaf" ^ion and to push through any difficulties, character. democratic in their spirit and aggressive in their zeal. The banishment of the Huguenots from CH. V. Reform within the Catholic Church. 205 France took away the backbone of her reUgious hfe. Scotland would not be what she is but for Knox and his parish schools. England could not afford to lose the Puritan blood which mixes in her veins. New England owes a rich inheritance of stern virtues to her ' Pilgrim Fathers.' CHAPTER V. REFORM WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. (a) The Ifalimt Reformers {to 1541). One of the results of the Protestant revolution was the reform of the Catholic Church itself. We ought never to forget that the Roman Catholic Church of our own times is, in fact, a reformed Church as well as the Protestant Churches. And we must now have patience enough to trace how and by whom its re- form was effected. Good men of all parties had for long seen the neces- sity of a practical reform in the morals of the pope, clergy, and monks. And we have seen that the necessity was recognized in high quarters. Ferdinand and Isabella's great minister. Cardinal Ximenes, and the English min- isters. Cardinal Morton and Cardinal Wol- Efforts at sey — three cardinals all of great power and ^^'°l'" ^^^^' undoubted loyalty to Rome — even went so Church, far as to get bulls from the Pope, authorizing them to visit and reform the monasteries. All good men cried out against the crimes of such a pope as Alexander VI. And it is not right to charge the Catholic Church wholesale with these crimes any more than it would be to charge the English nation with the matrimonial sins of Henry VIII. There was so strong a feeling all through the Church 2o6 Results of the Pr-otestant Revolution, pt. iii. against these scandals that, after what had happened, Improve- "^^1 werc not likely to occur again. The character^of popes who Came after Alexander VI. were popes. not angels, but they were outwardly more decent than he, at all events. Julius II., as we have seen, was the fighting pope. The scandal in his case was his lust of war and the extension of the Papal terri- tory. Leo X. cared more for art and literature than for war, but he, too, had his faults, and the scandal in his case was a doutjt whether, after all, he really believed in Christianity. Adrian VI. was an earnest and stern mor- al reformer — too stern for the times — and his reign was too short to produce much result. Clement VII. was a better man than many, though of blundering politics, letting down the Papal power, and becoming at last the prisoner and the tool of his Spanish conqueror Charles V. All this while there were men in Italy of earnest Christian feeling who, like the Oxford reformers, were men of the new school on the one hand, and opposed to the semi-pagan skepticism of the mere ' humanists ' of Italy on the other hand. These men longed for reform, not only in morals but also in doctrine. They wanted ^, ,. religion to be made a thing of the heart, that The media- . . ° ting reformers the gross Superstition connected with indul- ^^' gences and other abuses should be set aside, and some of them held the Augustinian doctrine of jus- tification by faith. This gave them a sort of sympathy even with Luther, and they wanted such a reform of the Church as they hoped would win back the Protes- Vaidez Pole tants into her fold. Juan de Valdez, brother Contarini. of Charles V.'s secretary (from whose writings we have more than once quoted), was one of them. Reginald Pole (who opposed Henry VIII. 's CH. V. Reform within the Catholic Church. 207 revolt from Rome so strongly) and Caspar Contari7ii (a Venetian nobleman of the highest character and influ- ence in court circles) were of their number. They had among them eloquent preachers and ladies of rank, for- tune, and beauty. They held together and exerted much influence, and there was a time when they seemed to be not without chance of success as mediators between the extreme Catholic and Protestant parties. Paul III. became pope in 1534, and the hopes of the reform party were raised by his making Pole and Con- tarini and some others of their friends cardi- Paul ill. 1 rr"! .1 . r • 11 makes some nais. 1 hese men were on the most friendly ^f ^\^^^ terms with Erasmus, who in his old age was cardinals, urging concord on religious parties and purity on the Church. It was rumoured that Erasmus himself was to be made a cardinal, and it was said that a red hat was on the way to Bishop Fisher when he was executed by Henry VIII. It was some of these and other signs of the times which cheered Sir Thomas More in his prison with the beUef that better days were coming, that there was at least some chance of a reconciliation with the Protestants, and a healing of the schism by which the Church was rent. The prospect was for the moment promising. Paul III. wrote to Erasmus, telling him that he intended to call a council (as Erasmus had urged his „, , ^ ° _ Chances of a predecessors to do) and asking for his in- recondiia- ,11111/- 1-1 'i"" W''^ fluence and help both before and m the Protestams council. But things moved slowly. Cardinal 'j'Pj^" P^"' Contarini was more zealous for a council than the Pope, who was only half-inclined to it, fearing lest it might abridge his power. At length in 1541 — five years after the death of Erasmus — the Pope deputed 2o8 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. „ . . Contarini to meet the Protestants at the Diet Contarmi and Melanch- of Ratisbon, and to try whether a reconciha- make peace tion could be arranged with them. He was of RatEbon. "^^'^ ^X ^^^ gentle Melanchthon (Luther dis- trusting the whole thing and keeping away), and they agreed upon the doctrine of justification by faith as the basis of reunion. For a moment a peace seemed within reach. But alas ! other motives came in But the Pope o^i the Pope's side. Francis I. urged upon draws back. j^jj^ ^^^ concord and unity in Germany would make the Emperor — their common enemy — dan- gerously strong ; and so Paul III. drew back. On the other side, Luther scented mischief in any And Luther peace with Rome. It was too good to be ^^°' true ; and he even hinted that the devil was somewhere and somehow at work in it. _ , . So everything was left over for settlement Everything ^ ° left over till at the council which now at length the Pope of Trent. was to convene — the famous Council of Trent. But meanwhile another power came upon the stage, which was destined to take the reins out of the hands of the Italian mediating reformers, to close the door for reconciliation forever, and to reform what was left of the Catholic Church on the narrow basis of reaction. {b) The Neiu Order of the Society of Jesus ( 1 540). Ignatius Loyola, a young Spanish knight of noble fa- mily, was born in 149I, and so was eight years younger than Luther. He was a soldier in the army Ignatius Ley- , . , , oia, a Spanish of Spain — that land in which the national °'^ '■ wars against the Moors had kept up chivalry and the spirit of the old crusaders, in which knights still fought for the Cross against the ' Infidel,' and whose citi- CH. V. Reform within the Catholic Chtrch. 209 zens more than any others felt the romance of the con- nexion with the New World. Loyola was thirty years old, fighting in the Spanish army against an insurrection in Navarre, secretly aided bv the French, just after the Diet of Worms, ,^ . -^ •' Heiswoundea when his leg was shattered by a cannon in 1521. ball. The one hope of the young knight was such a recovery as would let him return to his sol- dier's life and pursue his knightly career. He submitted to two cruel operations in this hope, but alas, in vain. After racking torture and fever, which brought him near to the grave, he survived to find his contracted limb still a bar to his hopes. As he lay upon his couch in pain and fever, he changed the scheme of his „ , ' ° . Kesolves tobe- life. He resolved to become a soldier — a come a general , . . J , . , of an army of general — m another army, under a higher saints instead king, fighting for the cross. Legends of the °^ '°'<^'"^- saints inspired his imagination with dreams still more romantic than the tales of knight-errantry. In his deli- rium his fevered eye saw visions of the Virgin, and thus he thought he received divine commission to pursue his plan. He would be a true son of the Church, the sworn enemy of her enemies, be they heretics, Jews, or infidels. His creed should be the soldier's creed — obedience to superiors, hard endurance, and dauntless courage. The holy saints of the legends were his patterns. He prepared himself for his work, as they did, by fastings and the se- verest austerities. His food was bread and water and herbs, his girdle sometimes an iron chain, ,,. , His sometimes prickly briars, his work humble austerities. service of the lowest kind, such as dressing the foulest wounds in the hospitals. Then he dwelt for a while in a cavern in solitude, and fasted till he saw vi- sions again, and fancied he had communications with P 2IO Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. heaven. And now he had perfected his plan — a soldier's plan — to found a religious army, perfect in discipline, in every soldier of v^hich should be absolute found ihe devotion to one end, absolute obedience to lesus""*^ his superior, with no human ties to hinder and no objects to divert him from the service required. It was in fact to be a new monastic order, and to be called the Society of Jesus. He must first prepare himself for his generalship by years of study. He began at a common To prepare i i i i , t t • • / himself studies school, and then went to the University of at the Univer- p sity of Paris. -c ariS. The next thing was to get round him a few others like himself, and so to form the nucleus of his army. They must be men of power and metal, and all the better if of noble blood and high position. There was a young Spanish noble at the university of Paris named Francis Xavier. While Loyola At Paris meets , . , ... Francis was Studying at the university he came in Xavier. contact with him. He watched him, read his mind and character, and then set himself to work to make his own. Xavier sought fame and applause, and just as he got it, Loyola would come in his way with the solemn question, 'What shall it profit if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?' Loyola would help him to new triumphs, but as often as they came would come to him again from Loyola the solemn question, 'What shall it profit?' At last the proud spirit of the Spanish rioble yielded to the spell. Xavier be- came a disciple of Loyola; rivalled him in Xavier be- . . . comes a austenties, and ere long became the mis^ '^"^'^ '^' sionary of the Society, carrying his cross, his Bible, breviary and wallet to India and the Indian Isles, and even to Japan and China, till at last he laid down CH. V. Reform within the Catholic Church. 211 his life after eleven long years of heroic la- Andthegrcnt hour, stretched on the sand of the sea-shore J""" mission- ' _ ary to the lii- of a lonely island in the Chinese seas, with dies, China, his cross in his hand, tears of holy joy in his eyes, and uttering the words, ' In Thee have I put my trust, let me never be confounded.' Of such stuff were the first Jesuits made — a type of human nature which, rising up as it did just then, was of immense import to the future of the Catholic Church. It was in truth a reaction from the looseness both of morals and creed which had marked the recent condi- tion of the Church. These men were pious, „, ^ Character of earnest, and devoted to the Church, be- the Jesuits, cause their minds were cast in a mould which allowed them still to believe in her pretensions. They had all the piety, fervour, energy, and boldness of the Protestant Reformers, but their reform took another direction. Instead of going back to St. Augustine as their e.xponent of the Bible, they took St. Francis and the mediaeval saints as their models, and rested with ab- solute faith on the authority of the medieval Church. To reform *the Catholic Church to mediaeval standards by the formation of a new monastic order, having for its corner-stone the absolute surrender of free inquiry and free thought, and absolute obedience to supreme eccle- siastical authority — this was the project of ^, . '■ ■^ _ Uheir suc- Loyola. It was not abortive. Before its cess and founder died he had succeeded in founding more than a hundred Jesuit colleges or houses for train- ing Jesuits, and an immense number of educational es- tablishments under their influence. He had many thou- sands of Jesuits in the rank and file of his order. He had divided Europe, India, Africa, and Brazil into twelve Jesuit provinces, in each of which he had his Jesuit offi- 212 Resiclts of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. cer, whilst he, their general, residing at Rome, wielded an influence over the world rivaling, if it did not exceed in power, that of popes and kings. Its very success was the cause of its ultimate doom. The nations of Europe, ^ , . after the experience of some generations. Causes of its . ^ . ultimate found it to interfere with their national free- dom, as they had done the old ecclesiastical empire of Rome. They ultimately banished the Jesuits because of their power and because their presence and their plots endangered the safety of the state. But as yet the Society of Jesus was young, and had its work before it. The Order received Papal sanction in 1 540. {c) The Council of Tre?it {134s — 1555)' The Council of Trent was opened in 1545. Cardinal Contarini, who had been the Pope's confidant in matters ^ ., , relating to the Council, died before it assem- Councu of , , , T 1 Trent meets bled. But Cardmal Pole, Contarini the '" ^545- younger, and others of the mediating party, were members of the Council. They took the same line as at Ratisbon, and urged the doctrine of justification by faith as common Christian ground. But tlfe Jesuits in „, ^ . the Council, under the instruction of Loyola, 1 he Jesuits . . "^ prevail over opposed it with all their might. The dispute ing Refor-' was long and hot, and even led to personal '"^'^" violence. One holy Father was so angry that he seized another by the beard. The Jesuits pre- vailed, and carried the decision of the Council their own way. Pole, on the plea of ill health, had left the Council, and the younger Contarini followed his example. It was clear there was to be no reconciliation. The party of reaction had gained the day. No sooner had the party of reaction taken the lead than Cardinal Caraffa (afterwards Pope Paul IV). ob- CH. V. Reform within the Catholic Chirch. 213 tained powers to introduce into Rome the , '^ Inquisition Inquisition — that terrible tribunal of perse- introduced cution which in Spain had slain and ban- CardinaT'ca-^ ished so many Moors, Jews, and heretics "^ds^pop'e under the sanction of the zeal of Queen Isa- Pa"' IV. bella. Persecution began, and some of the members of the mediating party were among its first victims. This was the work of the Council of Trent at its early sessions. Then owing to a disagreement between the Pope and Charles V., it was adjourned for Council ad- some years. Paul III. died, and two sue- ^i°5"5"under ceeding popes, before it really got to work ^^"^ ^^• again to any purpose under Paul IV. This was in 1555, the year in which, after the long struggle between Charles V. and Germany, the peace of Augsburg was come to, by which the revolt of the Protestant princes from Rome was first legally recognized as a thing which must be. The Council of Trent had now in its later sessions to reorganize what was left of the Catholic Church. It could not, and did not try to undo the re- ^, ^ "^ 1 he Roman volts. The Jesuits were the ruling power. Catholic Reaction was the order of the day. Cleri- formed in cal abuses were corrected, and some sort of much more decency enforced. Provisions were made r'g'd than . ever in creed. for the education of priests and for their de- votion in future to active duties. But in points of doc- trine there was reaction instead of concession. The di- vine autkority of ihe Pape was confirmed. The creed of the Church was laid down once for all in rigid state- ments, which henceforth must be swallowed by the faith- ful. Finally, the Inciuisition, imported from Spain, was extended to other countries, and charged with the sup- pression of heretical doctrines. In a word, the rule of 214 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. hi. the ecclesiastical empire was strengthened, and the bonds of the scholastic system tightened ; but not for Christendom — only for those nations who still acknow- ledged the ecclesiastical supremacy of Rome. The Church was thus both reformed and narrowed by the decrees of the Council of Trent. Henceforth it tole- rated within its fold neither the old diversity of doctrine on the one hand, nor the old laxity of morals on the other hand, and henceforth it was by no means coexten- sive with Western Christendom, as it once had been. It is now generally called the 'Roman Catholic Church,' to distinguish it from the ' Catholic Church ' of the Mid- dle Ages, from which it and so many other churches have sprung. CHAPTER VI. THE FUTURE OF SPAIN AND FRANCE, (a) The Future of Spain. Charles V. had inherited the absolute monarchy pre- pared for him by Ferdinand and Isabella. The strengthening of the central power was needful to create a modern nation. But the history of England has taught us that the central power may be strong with- out being an absolute monarchy. The vice in the Spanish system was the Growth of , . , -^ , , . absolute mon- attempt to Seek national power by subject- arc yin pain, j^^^ ^ classes within the nation to the ab- solute will of the monarch. This vice was the worm at the root of the greatness of Spain, and silently wrought the ruin in which she finds herself to-day. Philip II., the son and successor of Charles, Philip II. Ti 1 • J 1 1 1 • was, like his predecessor, an absolute king. CH. VI. The future of Spaiji. 215 It was during the period of Spanish supremacy in Europe that the Council of Trent decreed j„ ^jg^g the absolute ecclesiastical supremacy of the league with ^ . ^ the Papacy. Pope. It was the Spanish Jesuits who had brought this about. It was by adopting the Spanish In- quisition that the ecclesiastical triumph was to be enforced upon the people. And now Philip II. 's aim, ^ , ^ •■ I- i Seeks to as we have seen, was to establish both the establish absolute power of the Spanish throne and pa'pai supre- the papal supremacy, wherever his rule ex- ^ether'°' tended, by the sword and the Inquisition. England felt this influence in the days of Queen Mary, but happily Philip II. 's Spanish Armada failed to con- quer England under Elizabeth. He tried ^ , ^ ° Fatal results his fatal policy in the Netherlands, and, as of his policy. we have seen, they revolted, made good their revolt from both Spain and Rome, and became a free Protest- ant nation. He tried the same fatal policy in Spain, and with what result ? The Spaniard of to-day points to the civil and ecclesiastical despotism of the reign of Philip II. (from which, unhappily, Spain could not shake herself free, as the Netherlands did) as the point in her history when her national life was strangled, her literature began to lose its power, her commerce to languish. To fatten an absolute monarchy, and armies of officials, soldiers, and priests, in course of generations the nation was ruined. Spain for a while was big on the map. For a while she maintained her supremacy in Europe, but her greatness was not the result of her advance on the path of modern civilization. It was not the result of true national life — the welding together of all classes into a compact nation. It rather belonged to the old order of things, and so was doomed to decay. 2i6 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. ill. [b] The future of France. Absolute monarchy answered no better for France than for Spain. France was a prey during the era to the evils caused by the constant ware of Francis I. While the two abso- lute monarchs strove for supremacy in Italy, sacrificed to their subjects alike Suffered. The reckless- fmbitlonof ness of the ambition of Francis I. showed the absolute itself in the way in which, while persecuting monarchy ^ . under heresy in France, he was ready to ally him- self with the Protestants of Germany, or even the Turks, if need be, to gain his military ends. He bequeathed his ambition for military glory and supre- macy to his successors. France, though a Catholic power, fought on the Pro- testant side in the Thirty Years' War, and one result of it was that the supremacy of Spain ended and that of France began. But French, no less than Spanish su- premacy, was the growth of absolute monarchy, contrary to the true interests of the French nation. It was gradu- ally ripening the seeds which were already sown, and which bore fruit in the great Revolution of 1789, and in the alternate republics and despotisms under 1 he curse , . , _ which her which France has smce suffered so much. monarchy The want of common feeling and interest France between the citizens of the towns and pea- sants of the rural districts which began so early in French history still continues to perplex her ru- lers, and so does the lust for military glory and supre- macy in Europe which also is an old inheritance of the French people. The way in which the Protestant revolution was met in France also left scars upon the nation which may be traced to-day. Under Francis I., Calvinism spread in CH. VI. The future of France. 217 France among the nobility, whose order had been humbled to make way for the absolute mon- Struggle archy. This gave rise in the next era to re- Huguenots ligious wars, in which some of the Protes- '" France. tant nobility headed a rebellion against the Catholic throne. These civil wars lasted forty years, and cost the lives, it is said, of more than a million Frenchmen. In France the persecution of heresy was political as well as religious. Political ambition and intrigue, as well as religious bigotry, prompted it, and stained the pages of French history with crimes unique in their blackness. The massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572 was the diabolical work of the queen, Catherine de' Massacre of Medici, to maintain her political power. iomew7n°' She had coquetted with the Huguenots ^572- when it served her purpose. She tried to exterminate them by the massacre of 20,000 — some say 100,000 — in one fatal night. The Edict of Nantes in „ , ° Toleration 1598 ended the civil wars and granted a for a time . . , . . under the respite from persecution, but its revocation Edict of in 1685 resulted in the banishment of the Mantes. Huguenots from France. Some of them Its revoca- ° tion in 1685, came to Protestant England, and brought and the ba- • 1 1 ■, • ^^,^ 1 1 • 1 T-1- nishment of With them their silk and their looms. 1 hus the Hu- France by her intolerance lost one arm of ^^^^Tto ^^"^ her national industry and an important cle- England. ment from her national character. The want of cohe- sion and unity of interest between various classes in France was increased by the banishment of the Hugue- nots. There is even now a middle term wanting — a missing link — between her religious and her republican elements. The Puritans — the religious republicans- were that middle term in England. 2i8 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. ill. CHAPTER VII. GENERAL RESULTS OF THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. (a) 071 the Growth of Natio7ial Life. We have now traced the course of the Protestant revo- , „ , lution, and marked both its direct results Innuence of the Protest- upon those nations which revolted from ant revolu- _ ,,..,. , tion on na- Komc, and also its indirect results upon tiona 1 e. Rome herself and those nations which re- mained in allegiance to her ecclesiastical empire. The revolution was obviously only partially success- Where it sue- ^'^- Where it succeeded it produced re- ceeded. form — the Protestant nations had gained one substantial step towards independent national life and towards the blending of all classes within them into one community. Where it failed, it produced, as every unsuccessful Where it revolution does, reaction. The Catholic na- f^i'sd. tions seemed to gain in the outward signs of strength by the alliance which resulted between the civil and ecclesiastical powers within them. But it was an alliance intended to strengthen the absolute power of the Crown and of the ecclesiastical empire, and there- by all the more to enthrall the people. Henceforth, both in France and in Spain, the nation was more than ever enthralled under the double despotism of Crown and Church. The Inquisition may be taken as the sym- bol of the one kind of despotism, and the French Bas- tille of the other. The two despotisms acting together tended, as we have seen, to destroy national life, to in- crease the separation of classes and prevent their being welded together by common interests into one commu- CH. VII. Results of the Era. 219 nity. It postponed their progress on the path of modern civilization and ended in a series of alternate revolu- tions and reactions, out of which it is hard to see a final escape. So hard is it for nations to cast off the fruit, however bitter, of seeds sown even centuries ago ! Where it partially failed and partially succeeded, as in Switzerland and Germany, we have seen that it resulted in civil wars and in the postponement of the- where it growth of their national life almost to our P'"^!;''^' ^^^}^^ ^ and partly own times. In Switzerland the people were succeeded. already free, but in Germany, where serfdom still pre- vailed, the emancipation of the peasantiy was postponed till the beginning of the nineteenth century. {d) On the Relatiojis of Nations to each other. The Protestant struggle apparently did little or nothing to secure progress in civilization in the dealings between nations. The events of the era show that the small im- notion of universal empire which had provcment m ^ the dealings marked the old order of things was not yet between na- /■ 11 • -T^i • r • r tioris. fully given up. The aim after extension of empire which went along with it we have noticed throughout. The struggle between the two absolute monarchies of Spain and France for supremacy in Chris- tendom, the efforts of the princes of the House of Haps- burg to unite as many countries as they could under their rule, the designs that both France and Spain had upon Italy, the revived claims of Henry VIII. to the 0I4 English possessions in France — in all this there was little sign of progress from the old to the ne^v order of things. Although the Oxford reformers were faithful in enjoining upon princes an international policy based The Oxford upon the golden rule, and having for its ob- JTot'^iiTtencd ject not the aggrandizement of the prince '° '" '*'"'■ 220 Results of fhc Protestant Revobition. pt. hi, but the weal of the nation, the popes and princes still preferred to follow the maxims of "the Prince" of Machiavelli, rather than those of the " Christian Prince" of Erasmus. They still, as Erasmus said, treated the people too much as " cattle in the market." Nor was the immediate result of the Protestant revo- lution any cessation from international strife. For the next hundred years there was almost incessant strife between Catholic and Protestant powers. Though, however, Henry Vlll. himself hankered But Henrv again and again after the realization of the W' ^^ empty title of King of France ; yet practically English king we may say that Henry VIII. 's dreams were recovering the last in which English monarchs have France. indulged on that subject. And though the attempts to urge sounder views on international matters did not succeed in this era, yet they And Hup-o were not made wholly in vain. Before the Ciatiusv/as century was out was born Hus[o Grotius, the born beiore ■" . the century father of the present system of international law, who was well acquainted with the works of Erasmus, and like him rejected Machiavellian prin- ciples and sought to base the law of nations upon the golden rule. {c) Influence on the Grozvth of National Languages a7id Literature. " In no point was the effect of the Protestant^ struggle more clearly marked than in the stride it gave, as it were all at once, to the growth of national languages and literature. In Germany we noticed how Luther and Hutten ap- pealed to the people as well as to the learned ; how, first writing in Latin for scholars, they soon found it needful CH. VII. Results of the Eia. 221 to write in German for the people ; how Luther intro- duced wood-cuts to make his appeals to the populareaji. still more vivid and telling. ^^All this promoted the -g£owth of a national popular literature. "This turning from LatHr^EcrGerman was in fact throwing Luther's off in one point the yoke of the scholastic ^'mnf fit system, and was in itself a great step in ad- the character r , ■ , , ^, oftheGer- vance for the nation to have taken. The man Ian- crowning gift of Luther to the German peo- ^"^^^^ pie was in fact his German Bible and his German hymns. The earnest vigorous German in which they are written fixed the future style of the language. The German spoken to-day is the German of Luther's Bible and hymns. They have been better known by the German people than any other literature, and so have done more than perhaps anything else to form the German lan- guage, and with it in no small degree the national character. It was so in some measure in France. Calvin did not gain so great a hold on the French nation as Luther did on the German, but still his l"fl"?",ce °f ' Calvin s French Writings did very much the same writings on the 1 • r -I T- 1 , 1 T 1 . French lan- thing for the r rench language that Luther s guage. Bible did for the German. In England, too, the same thing is to be marked. The fact that the religious controversies of the times were carried on by books and pamphlets, not in T . , . -^ ,. , . , Influence of Latin but in English, gave a stmiulus to TinUai's New English literature, and prepared the way for ,^h"EngM"h"" the succeeding generations which were to y^f^'"" "\ 'h*= ° Bible, and so give England her Shakespeare and her Mil- upon the Eng- ■KT • t r ■\ 1 11 hsh language. ton. Nor can it be forgotten that the noble English version of the Bible has done as much as other versions in other countries to fix the character of mo- 222 Results of the Prott'xiant Revolution, pt. iii. dern English. The simpUcity, terseness, and power of the Enghsh version, to which the taste of England, after frequent wanderings, again and again returns as to its best classical model, we owe, and this should not be forgotten, to the poor, persecuted, but noble-minded English reformer, William Tindal, who, in his English New Testament, set a type which others in completing the translation of the whole Bible loyally followed. ( A 1 1 • • • 1 /- Change from commg Protestant. And this m itself was Catholic to no small result. But what has already been cre°dswas said must have made it clear that the Pro- c^^ange |rom one rigid testant reformers, in adopting the theology scholastic • 1 • • • 1 • creed to of St. Augustine, and msistmg upon their another followers adopting the new Protestant ^'^"^ ^ "^' ' creeds, did but appeal from the scholastic standards of their day to others just as rigid. The Oxford Reformers had aimed at leaving people open to form their own honest judgment on various points of theology and practice, according ^ „ ^ . . , Small connex- to their own consciences, and urged that ion between people with different opinions and practice domoVThougiit might be members of the same Christian f "f^ o"i""^'"^ Church, have charity one towards another, and agree to differ without quarrelling. But how hard a 226 Results of the Protestant Revolution, px. in. thing it was to get people to do this we see from the case of Sir Thomas More himself, who, though he had advo- cated toleration in his 'Utopia,' yet afterwards, seeing the anarchy Protestantism had led to on the Continent, and fearing its spreading to England, became himself a persecutor. We must not be surprised after this that the Protestant Reformers failed also in the same respect. It is strange to see how little connexion there seems to be between claiming freedom of thought and conceding it to others. Lutherans persecuted Catholics as well as Catholics Protestants ; and, worse still, they persecuted their fel- low-Protestants who followed Zwingle and Calvin rather than Luther. So Calvin put Servetus to death, and ex- So persecution ercised a thoroughly intolerant rule in the perseiLted Geneva. So the English Government, after tolerant. ^j^g rcvolt from Rome, persecuted Protes- tants, and soon after ordered by statute practices which a few years before they had condemned. So the Catho- lic Government of Queen Mary shed the blood of Pro- testants again. So the English Protestant Church of after generations persecuted the Puritans. So finally, the Puritans, fleeing from persecution to New England, put people to death for no other crime than that they honestly preached doctrines differing from their own ! Looking at these facts, one would certainly say that the Protestant struggle had not made men more tolerant ! And yet, in spite of this temporary failure, toleration was a distant fruit of the great movement we have traced. In this era its first seeds were Yet toleration . ^ was after all sown. Sir Thonias More's ' Utopia was m'ate resuUs of perhaps the first clear statement of the doc- the Protestant t:rine of tolcration. The works of Erasmus revolution. did something, probably mere than is CH. VII. Results of tlte Era. 227 known, to prepare the minds of men for its ultimate adoption. The strength of conscientious conviction which Protestantism created made men claim freedom as a right, and after all, the men who were fighting the battle of toleration with most effect, were the men whose strength of conscientious conviction made them endure persecution rather than surrender their freedom of con- science, even though they themselves, under other cir- cumstances, might have been persecutors. (/^) The Causes why the Success of the Era was so partial. We might, in view simply of its immediate results — the wars and bloodshed, and anarchy, persecutions, and heartburnings which came out of it — be inclined to re- gard the failures of the era of the Protestant revolution as greater than the good we owe to it. This would be false. It would be to forget that pro- gress in civilization is of necessity like that „ of the advancing tide, made up of ebbs and must be flows. It is well also to note clearly the ^™ cause of the failures, and especially of those of which we have just been speaking. Let us ask ourselves why did not the human mind in this era free itself from its trammels, claim its true freedom, and concede it to everyone ? Limited by rr., • x^i_ ^ -i • -11 T'l the range of The answer IS, that it was impossible. Ine men's know- range of knowledge was too narrow. Men's '•^'^s^- minds could not take a broader view of things than the horizon of their knowledge let them. Let us try to realize what were the bounds of their knowledge in some directions. They knew that the earth is a globe, and in their own time Magellan, for tlie first time, had sailed round it. 2 28 Residts of tlie Protestant Revolution, pt. iii. But they thoueht the earth was in the centre Limited view ^ , . , , ,, , i , oftheuni- 01 the univ^crse, and that all the heavenly ^^"^^^ bodies move round it every twenty-four hours. The notion that it was the earth that moved they The earth thought to be absurd. We should see the tobi'irthe' motion, they said. At the rate it would centre. have to move, it would leave the clouds be- hind it as it went, and towers and church steeples would be thrown down by the violence of so rapid a motion ! So the earth stands still, they maintained in the centre of the universe. The heavenly bodies were supposed The crystal- ^° rotate on what were called crystalline line spheres. spheres. The first was the sphere of the moon — all things confined within it were called .j«<^/z^«arj/ things. They were supposed by some to be under such pressure as made the heaviest things all tend towards the centre, while the lightest things tended upwards. It was sometimes said that it was in the nature of fire and air to rise, while it was the nature of water and earth to fall towards the centre. In rough ways like these they tried to account for the facts which are now attributed to the force of gravitation. The spheres beyond the moon were called celestial spheres. First, they thought, came those of Mercury, Venus, and the Sun, then in order those of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ; then that of the fixed stars, and, outside all, a ninth sphere, called primtwi mobile, which gave motion to all the others. They be- Heaven lieved further, in a vague way, that heaven beyond. came beyond. Theologians speculated upon what sort of a sphere that of heaven must be, and Erasmus, in his ' Praise of Folly,' laughed at their ' creating new spheres at pleasure, this the largest and most beautiful being added that, forsooth, happy spirits CH. VII. Results of the Era, 229 might have room enough to take a walk, to spread their feasts, or play at ball.' Such was the universe of spheres, one within the other, which they thought all moved round the earth in the centre every twenty-four hours. It was The motions a small thing altogether, compared with the regarded "" vastly wider and grander universe, a little with awe, bit of which modern science has revealed to us, but it was a marvellous universe still, and its mysteries filled them with awe when they thought of it. When asked questions about it, some wise men like Erasmus answered, ' God only knows.' But more super- stitious minds gave far different answers, ^^^ ;„ popy. Luther, who saw the action of the Devil in 't''' supersti- tion referred every accident which befell him, stood to angels. aghast at the magic motions of the celestial spheres, as ' no doubt done by some angel.' Many wise . / ° ^ Astrology. men still believed in astrology. They could not bring themselves to believe that the stars and planets, looking down upon our world, had not some magic meaning. When comets came, they saw in them omi- nous presages of coming events. Pico and Ficino, Colct, Erasmus, and More had all tried to x.auehed at laugh people out of belief in astrology, by some but >^ r r ^ bj beheved m Luther, too, laughed at it, but Melanchthon by others, still held on to the old belief in spite of Luther's argu- ments and jests. How can there be anything in astro- logy, Luther used to say to him, since Jacob and Esau were born under the same star ! The same kind of superstition which attributed the motions of the planets to angels, and magic influence on the affairs of men to the stars, made men „ ,. ,. 1 Ti 1 T ... , . Behef in the more readily believe in visions and in- visions and .■ 1 , ... inspirations. spirations, such as we have seen in the case 230 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. of the wilder reformers from Savonarola down to Miin- zer and Loyola. Luther himself was remarkably free from these things — he never claimed either visions or in- spirations, as the wilder prophets did ; but, as an in- stance of how superstitious even he was, it may be men- tioned that he and Melanchthon devoutly believed that a monster had been found in the Tiber, with and in prodi- , , , r 1 1 i r j gies. the head ot an ass, the body oi a man, and. the claws of a bird. After searching their Bibles to find out what the prodigy meant, they concluded that it was one of the signs and wonders which were to precede the fall of the papacy, and published a pamphlet about it. Luther again, and probably everybody else, believed in witchcraft. Hundreds and thousands of poor wretches ^, . , were burned for the supposed crime of hav- Universal . belief in mg sold thcmselvcs to the powers of evil, and having held communion with evil spirits. And stranger still is it that the number of witches ,,,. , burned was rapidly on the increase. There Witches as ^ "^ well as here- Were more witches burned in the i6th cen- tics burned. , . . , tury than in any previous one, and more still in the next. Heresy and witchcraft were looked upon as nearly allied, and probably the zeal against botVi grew together. Nor was the cruel death allotted to these supposed crimes out of proportion to that of others. Thousands and thousands of people were hung in England for no other crime but that of vagrancy and ' sturdy begging.' The system of criminal law was everywhere criminal law brutal. Soon after the Peasants' War, the Prince Bishop of Bamberg published a popular criminal law book for the benefit of his subjects — his poor crushed peasantry among others — in which CH. VII. Results of the Era. 231 were inserted wood-cuts of thumb-screws, the rack, the gallows, the stake, pincers for pulling out the tongue, men with their eyes put out or their heads cut off, or mangled on the wheel, or suspended by the arms with weights hung on their feet, and so on, and then, to add the terrors of another world (as if these humanly in- flicted tortures were not enough), there was a blasphe- mous picture representing the day of judgment, and the hobgoblins carrying off their victims to hell. The Prince Bishop, we may suppose, had learned a lesson from Luther, and produced, as he thought, a good book for the laity, meant, not like Luther's, to dispel men's fears of the Pope, but to frighten his poor subjects into sub- mission to his episcopal and princely authority. This may be taken as an example both of the way in which civil and ecclesiastical power were sometimes blended together, and of the brutality of the times. Such an age was not ready for wider views. Further knowledge of the laws of nature must come ^, . . Ill T"^ ^Se not before popular superstitions could be re- prepared for moved, and until this was done it would be in vain to look for much progress in toleration and free- dom of thought. (z) Begi7ining of Progress in Scientific Inquiry. Nevertheless the era of which we have spoken was the beginning of the era of freedom. From it dated a great awaking of human thought. Its great ^ U- 1 J- u J J Beginning of geographical discoverers had opened new scientific in- fields for scientific inquiry. N^t only had '^""^^' navigators been round the world, but they had seen as it were the rest of the sky. They had seen the south polestar and the Southern Cross in their voyages round the Cape of Good Hope. Thus was not only their 232 Results of the Protesia7it Revolution, pt. iii. geographical but also their astronomical knowledge widened. A beginning of truer and wider views of the universe was almost a natural consequence, but to attain to it scholastic and even ecclesiastical bonds had to be loosened. A scientific Luther was wanted to burst through them, but the age did not produce such a man. Nevertheless it did produce one who silently lived and worked timidly to demonstrate that the motions of the planets and the moon can only be fully accounted for on the hypothesis that the sun and not the earth is the cen- tre of the solar system, that the moon is a satellite of the earth, and that the sphere of the fixed stars is at an immense distance from the farthest of the planetary spheres. Our present theory of the solar system is still sometimes called after his name, Copernican, though it is far more truly called after Newton. Nicolas Copernicus died two years before Luther. His story is that of a brave life, and one which may ^^ , ^ well be set by the side of that of other Nicolas Co- / pernicus. great men of the era. Educated at the University of Cracow, in Poland, he after- wards proceeded to Rome, and studied under the best astronomer of the day. Then he spent a long life in working out his grand scientific problem from careful observations and according to the best lights he could get. He was loyal to the Church. He did not want to be a heretic, and yet the great truth he had to tell was contrary to the teaching of the Church. For thirty-six years — all the time the Protestant struggle was raging — he was working at the immortal book in which his ob- servations and discoveries were embodied, but he did not venture to publish it till under Paul III. there was a lull in the ecclesiastical storm. He was then an eld man. CH. VIII. Economic Results of the Era. 233 in broken health ; his book was in the printer's hands when he was on his death- no't^ ^pubu^shed bed. All he cared for now was to see it [,'" ^je Jh-beT safe in print before he died. He waited at death's door day after day. At last the printer's mes- senger came with the printed book. He received it with tears in his eyes, composed himself and died. This was in 1543, and he was seventy years old. He was fol- lowed by other scientific discoverers — Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. Thus the brave life of Copernicus may be taken as marking the epoch when scientific thought and inquiry began to free itself from theologi- cal trammels and to seek to discover the laws of nature by a simple, childlike, and careful observation of facts. But necessarily many generations must pass away before men became used to scientific modes of research and of thouffht. CHAPTER VIII. ECONOMIC RESULTS OF THE ERA. Amongst the powers which belonged to the old order of things, and which were going out, the feudal system was mentioned as silently giving way under „ , ^ ° 1 r Results of the the combined influence of the growth of the era on what re- ^ , . ,, 1 ■ 1 r mained of the central power m the modern nations and of feudal system. commerce. The results of the era in hastening the dissolution of the feudal system require a few words of further expla- nation. In Germany, we have seen, serfdom — the essential of which, it will be remembered, was services of forced 234 Results of the Protestant Revolution, pt. in. , ^ personal labor in return for occupation of In Oermany ^ personal ser- land — remained unchanged, except for the tinued. worse, after the Peasants' War, and lasted on till the beginning of the present cen- tury. In France serfdom was a thing of the past, but there In France remained numberless feudal rents and pay- feudal rents ments made chiefly hi kind (i. e. in produce and payments -' -' ^ ^ chiefly in kind of the land) which the peasantry went on continued till . .,, , „ , _, , . ^ _ 1798. paymg till the French Revolution of 1798, In England serfdom was gone, but had left behind it fixed rents in money instead of the old feudal payments , ^ , , in services or in kind. These rents were In England feudal rents Originally nearly equal to the annual value hi^fixedmoney of the land. But an economic cause came payments. jj^^.^ pj^y during the era which, while it did not help the German peasant nor the French peasant who paid his rent in kind, lessened the burden of Effect of the ^ discovery of the English peasant's rent so much as to mi'nes^rthe change his position gradually into that of an New World. absolute owner. This economic cause was the discovery of the silver and gold mines in the New World. It made silver more plentiful, and therefore cheaper in proportion to other things, such as corn and land. In other words, it increased the price in pence and shillings ^, , „ . , of almost everything. A penny or a shilling The fall in the ■' ° * value of money would not buy SO much com after as before caused a great , . , . i j • rise in prices, the new mines were discovered ; and as in England Tudor monarchs at the same time for their own purposes, lessened the weight of silver in the penny and shilling by about one-third, the effect of the increased plenty of silver was made all the greater; 6s. would buy a quarter of wheat at the beginning of the CH. VIII. Economic Residts of the Era. 235 centur)'', it took 38^. 6d. to buy a quarter of wheat at the end of it. The annual value of land was about \d. per acre at the beginning of the century„3o^. at the end of it. The German peasant was not helped by this, for he had to work just as many hours a day for his feudal landlord at the end as at the beginning of ^, . ,. , ° ° This did not the century. lessen the Ger- The French peasant, so far as he paid in ^^icesf^^" produce, was not helped by it, because the ~^^^ ^^^ price of his produce had increased as fast as French pea- , fill 11- -J sant's rents in the value of the land, and his rent remamed produce. the same burden as before. But the English peasant, who in the year 1500 paid \d. an acre fixed rent for his land, which was then worth about JLd. an acre in the market, r^ . , . , . . But It reduced found himself in 1600, if he still held on to the burden of his land, still paying only \d. an acre, while peasants' rents his land was worth in the market six, seven, l/thor'iVh of or eight times as much as that. His burden the value of ° their land. of rent was reduced to ^th or ^th of what it This would J , have made used to be. them peasant Had the English peasantry held on to ^X'hey held their land as the German and French pea- ?" '° „*='"■, . . land. But their sants did, they would thus have grown into tendency was ,, . to leave their peasant proprietors, paying very small nomi- land and be- nal rents for their land. But other economic fo°"'J^g^°"'''" causes were at work, tending to loosen them from their little holdings and make them labourers for wages. The growth of commerce and manufactures at- tracted them to the towns, the large farms of men with capital more and more took the place of the little peasant holdings, and thus began the present state of things in which England differs so much from other countries. There were perhaps, in the year 1500, about half a 236 Results of the Protestmit Revolution, pt. iii. Change from peasant pro- prietorship of land or of looms to labour tor wages. million families in England living by the land, and most were, or had been, farming some little bit of land for themselves. Perhaps there were not so many as a quarter of a million families earning their living by trade or manufactures in the towns, and most of them owning their own workshops or looms. The half million agricultural families have now grown into about a million. These no longer are occupiers of land, but are mostly working for wages for a few hun- dred thousand farmers. But in the meantime the two or three hundred thousand families living by trade and manufactures have increased to 3,000,000, and these again, as a general rule, like their agricultural brethren, have become workers for wages, and no longer are owners of their own workshops and looms. We probably owe this to the growth of capital and commercial enterprise, stimulated by the increased profit which comes from division of labour, and doing things on a large scale by machinery rather than on a small scale as of old by hand labour. But what we have to mark here is that the beginnings of these great changes were already at work in the era of which we have been speaking, and that in their course the last remains of the old feudal system have been demo- lished in England. We only see in England now traces of a sort of mock-feudalism in the deer forests and game preserves, and antiquated forms and customs still clinging to the laws of land tenure. These things are survivals of a system which once had life, but which belonged to the old order of things. In the l6th century it was already fast dying out chiefly the result of the growth of commerce and capital, and the use of machinery. These changes had begun in the i6th century, and they com- pleted the- silent down- fall of the feudal system in England. CH. VIII. Conclusion. 237 to make way for commercial enterprise and all that belongs to the new order of things — an order of things which has muldplied by six or seven the population of England, and peopled with about an equal additional number of Englishmen those great colonies for which the maritime enterprise of the i6th century first opened the way. CONCLUSION. In the introductory chapter we said that the passage from the old decaying form of civilization to the new, better, and stronger one, involved a change which must needs take place slowly and by degrees ; but that in the era under review was to be the aisis of the change — the final struggle between the two forces. We have now traced the main lines of the history of this crisis, and tried to point out its connexion with the future as well as with the past. We have seen that the Protestant revolution was but one wave ^ , , . . , ^ , ..... The Protes- of the advancmg tide of modern civilization, tant revoiu- It was a great revolutionary wave, the on- begi^itngof ward swell of which, beginning with the agreatrevo- ° ^ lutionary refusal of reform at the Diet of Worms, pro- wave which duced the Peasants' War and the Sack of ire„ch Rome, swept on through the revolt of the of'iTgs."'"' Netherlands, the Thirty Years' War, the Puritan Revolution in England under Oliver Cromwell, the formation of the great independent American re- public, until it came to a head and broke in all the terrors of the French Revolution. It is impossible not to see in the course of the events of this remarkable period an onward movement as 238 Results of the Protestant Reiwlution. pt. hi. irresistible and certain in its ultimate pro- gress as that of the geological changes which have passed over the physical world. It is in vain to speculate upon what might have been the result of the concession of broad measures of reform everywhere (as in England) whilst yet there was time ; but in view of the bloodshed and misery which, humanly speaking, might have been spared, who can fail to be impressed with the terrible responsibility, in the eye of history, resting upon those by whom in the i6th century, at the time of the crisis, the reform was refused ? They were utterly powerless, indeed, to stop the ultimate flow of the tide, but they had the terrible power to turn, what might otherwise have been a steady and peaceful stream, into a turbulent and devastating flood. They had the terrible power, and they used it, to involve their own and ten succeeding generations in the turmoils of revolution. The move- ment was inevitable, and might have been peacefully met and aided by timely re- forms. But the refusal of reform at the time of the crisis in- volved ten generations in the turmoils of revolution. NOTES ON BOOKS IN ENGLISH RELATING TO THE REFORMATION. The term " Reformation" is used by historical writers in two meanings. It quite frequently denotes the reli- gious movement, which began under the auspices of Luther, Calvin, Cranmer and other leaders, and in- volved an emancipation from the rule of the Papacy, and an important change in the interpretation of the Gospel, as well as in the rites of Christian worship. The Reformation, as thus regarded, is an exclusively religious and ecclesiastical revolution. As such, it forms a portion of the history of Christianity and the Church. At the same time, Protestantism, as a religious system, was partly dependent for its origin on circum- stances which properly fall within the province of secu- lar history ; and the progress of Protestantism, and of the conflict with the Papacy, is inextricably connected with the general course of European affairs. Hence, the general condition of society at the opening of the sixteenth century, the causes other than religious which prepared for the outbreaking of the great Protest against Rome, and the events of political history which link themselves to the religious Reform, must fall under the notice of a historian who takes a comprehensive view of his subject. But the term " Reformation " is frequently used with more latitude as a convenient designation for the open- ing era of modern history, — the history of the post- mediasval times. While the religious reform was one 239 240 Notes on Books in English leading and defining characteristic of the new era, it Avas not the sole peculiarity that distinguished it. On the contrary, various and complex elements, appear in the modern as distinguished from the mediaeval period. Events like the growth of monarchy, the spread of Com- merce, the new birth of Art, the Revival of Learning, are essential features in that form of society which gradually arose, and followed upon the Middle Ages. The histo- rian who undertakes to describe the era as a whole must give its proper place to each of these new elements. He must trace each to its sources, and form an estimate of the reciprocal influence and collective effect of each of these features of society as it emerged from the mediaeval condition. But he will, under such a plan, still be obliged to give a central place to the religious movement, both in the centuries which preceded Luther, and in the age contemporaneous with him. The Pro- testant religion cannot be considered as an incident; it must be treated as a vital, as the most commanding, fact in the new epoch. So that whether the Reforma- tion is taken in the more special sense to which we first adverted, or in the more comprehensive meaning, the same facts come under the survey of the historian. The difference is chiefly in the point of view from which these facts are regarded, which will of course determine their grouping. As regards the mediaeval period, secu- lar history and ecclesiastical history are inseparable. Neither can be studied apart from the other. If a divi- sion is more possible as relates to the modern era, still even here, one class of phenomena are so closely asso- ciated with another, that ecclesiastical history cannot be understood apart from secular, nor can secular history be adequately studied apart from ecclesiastical. The life of nations, as of men, is one. Relating to the Reformation. 241 In the following list of some of the most useful works to be found in English on the Reformation, general literary works, as well as distinctively ecclesiastical wri- ters, are included. I. The Period before Luther. On Wickliffe, the Re- forming Councils, and the beginnings of the Revival of Learning, the last two (viith and viiith) volumes of Mil- man's Lafifi Christianity are valuable. The fifth vol- ume of the same work describes the Waldenses and other sects, of an earlier date. Ullmann's Refonners before the Reformation (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1855) gives an excellent account of the theological and religious forerunners of Luther, especially in Germany. Gillett's Life and Times of John Huss (2 vols., 187 1) is a reada- ble narrative of the career of the Bohemian Reformer. Villari's Life of Savotiarota is a thorough biography (2 vols., 1873). With it may be read George Eliot's (Mrs. Lewes's) Romola. The most recent Life of Erasmus is by Drummond (2 vols., 1873). Milman's Article on Erasmus {Quart. Rev., No. ccxi., and in his collected Essays') is an elaborate and instructive discussion. Jor- tin's Life of Erasmus is a learned, but at the same time, an interesting biography, abounding in extracts from the writings of Erasmus. Upon Erasmus and his asso- ciates, the friends of the New Learning, in England, we have Seebohm's The Oxford Reformers of I4g% (Lon- don, 1869). The literature of the age prior to Luther is described in the work of Hallam, Introduction to the Lit. of Europe in tlie 13th, 16th, and jyth centuries (3 vols., 1855-56). II. General' IVorks trGLANl). In half roan, gilt top, per set of twelve vols. i2mo $21.00 Elegance and cheapness are combined in a remarkable degree in this edition. It takes its name Irom the place of Mr. Froude's residence in London, also famous as the home oJ I'homas Carlyle. In cloth, at the rate of $1.25 per volume. The set (12 vols.), in a neat box. $15.00 The Same, in half calf extra 36.00 This edition is printed from the same plates as the other editions, and en firm white paper. It is, without exception, the cheapest set of books of its class ever is.sued in this country. Tn twelve vols, crown 8vo, cloth $30.00 The Same, in half calf extra 50.00 The Edition is printed on laid and tinted paper, at the Riverside Press, and is in every respect worthy a place in the most carefully selected library. SHORT STUDIES ON GREAT SUBJECTS. By James Anthony Froude, M.A., " History of Englatid" " The Kttglish in Ireland durittf; the Kightcentk Century " etc. POPULAR EDITION. Two vols. i2mo, cloth, $1.50 per vol. The Set $3.00 Chelsea edition. Two vols. i2mo, half roan, gilt top, $2.00 per vol- ume. Per Set. 4.00 The Complete Works of James Anthony Froude, M,A. HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND SHORT STUDIES. Fourteen vols., in a neat Box. POPULAR EDITION jiSoo CHELSEA EDITION 2500 7'^ ice SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 6^4 r.KOAinvAY, New York, An Important Historical Series. EPOCHS OF HISTORY. EDITED BY EDWARD E. MORRIS. M.A., Eacn 1 Toll 16mo. with Ontline Maps. Price per Tolune, in cloth, $1.00i HISTORIES of countries are rapidly becoming so numerous that it is almost impos- sible for the most industrious student to keep pace with them. Such works are, of course, still less likely to be mastered by those of limited leisure. It is to meet the wants of this very numerous class of readers that the Epochs of History has been projected. The series will comprise a number of compact, handsomely printed man- uals, prepared by thoroughly competent hands, each volume complete in itself, and sketching succintly the most important epochs in the world's history, always making the history of a nation subordinate to this more general idea. No attempt will be made to recount all the events of any given period. The aim will be to bring out in the clearest light the salient incidents and features of each epoch. Special attention will be paid to the literature, manners, state of knowledge, and all those character- istics which exhibit the life of a people as well as the policy of their rulers during any period. To make the text more readily intelligible, outline maps will be given with each volume, and where this arrangement is desirable they will be distributed throughout the text so as to be more easy of reference. A series of works based upon this general plan can not fail to be widely useful in popularizing history as science has lately been popularized. Those who have been discouraged from attempt- ing more ambitious works because of their magnitude, will naturally turn to these lipochs of History to get a general knowledge of any period ; students may use them to great advantage in refreshing their memories and in keeping the true per- spective of events, and in schools they will be of immense service as text books,— ^ point which shall be kept constantly in view in their preparation. THE FOL L O U 'ING I 'OL UMES A RE NO VV RE A D V : THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. By F. Seedohm, Author of " The Oxford Reformers, — Colet, Erasmus, More," with appendix by Prof. Geo. P. Fisher, of Yale College. Author of " HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION." The CRUSADES. By Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A., Author of the " History of Greece." The THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK; with the CONQUEST and LOSS of FRANCE. By James Gairdner of the Public Record Office. Now ready. 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