LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY MRS. ERIC SCHMIDT THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH, WILLIAM EOBERTSO:tT D.D. AN ACCOUNT OF THE EMPEROR'S LIFE AFTER HIS ABDICATION. BY WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT ^ CO. 1871. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. / n \J.2 CONTENTS \OLUME THIED HISTOEY OF CHARLES V. BOOK X. The Pope's Schemes against the Emperor. — Election of Pope Julius III. — Diet at Augsburg. — Schemes of Maurice of Sax- ony against the Emperor. — War upon Magdeburg. — Council summoned at Trent. — Attempt to obtain the Liberation of the Landgrave. — Plan of Charles for procuring the Imperial Crown for his Son, Philip. — The Pope and Emperor attempt to re- cover Parma and Placentia. — Octavio makes an Alliance with Henry 11. of France. — Hostilities between Charles and Henry. — Henry protests against the Council. — Violence of the Em- peror against the Protestants. — Siege of Magdeburg by Mau- rice. — Martinuzzi favors the Pretensions of Ferdinand to Hun- gary. — He is assassinated by Order of Ferdinand. — Maurice makes a Treaty with Henry II. — He demands once more the Liberty of the Landgrave. — He amuses the Emperor, and mean- while makes Preparation for War. — He takes the Field. — The Emperor endeavors to gain Time by Negotiation. — Maurice takes the Castle of Ehrenberg. — The Emperor flies from In- spruck. — He hberates the Elector of Saxony. — The Council of Trent breaks up. — The French attack Strasburg. — The Operations of Albert of Brandenburg. — Negotiations for Peace %t Passau at last successful. 8-94 IV CONTENTS. BOOK XI. Maurice marches against the Turks. — The Landgrave and the Elector recover their Liberty. — The Emperor makes War upon France. — The Siege of Metz. — Losses of the Emperoi In Italy. — Descent of the Turfes u])on the Kingdom of Naples. — Con- federacy under the Lead of Maurice against Albert of Branden- burg. — Maurice is slain in Battle, but Albert is defeated, and afterwards driven out of Germany. — Success of the Emperor in the Netherlands. — His Losses in Hungary and Italy. — The Family Troubles of Solyman. — The Ambition of his Mistress Roxalana, and the Fate of his Son Mustapha. — Marriage of Philip with Mary of England. — Etforts of ^lary to overthrow Protestantism. — Henry conducts a vigorous Campaign against the Emperor. — Co.^mo de' Medici's Schemes. — The French under Strozzo defeated. — Siege of Siena. — Retreat of the Duke of Alva from Piedmont. — Conspiracy to betray Metz dis- covered. — Diet at Augsburg. — Death of Pope Julius. — Charles endeavors anew to acquire the Imperial Crown for his Son, Philip. — The Peace of Religion established. — Pop** Marcellus n. — Pope Paul IV., and the ambitious Schemes of his Nephews. — The Emperor abdicates in favor of his Son, Philip. — Peace between France and Spain. — The Pope attempts to rekindle War. — The Duke of Alva takes the Field against him. — A Truce between the Pope and Philip 95-220 BOOK XII. New and fruitless Attempt of the Emperor to procure the Succes- sion foi- his Son, Philip. — He sets out for Spain. — His Retreat at St Justus. — The Pope renews Hostilities against Philip. — Duke of Guise's Operations. — Philip gains the Aid of Eng- land. — The War in the Netherlands. — Siege of St. Qucntin — Measures of Henry for the Defence of France. — Peace be- tween the Pope and Philip. — Placentia restored to the Duke of Parraa. — Cosmo de' Medici recovers Siena. — The Duke of Guise invests and takes Calais. — Ferdinand chosen Successor to the Emperor, but is not acknowledged by the Pope. — Mar^ riage of the Dauphin and the Queen of Scots. — Defeat of the French at Graveliaes. — Proposals for Peace. — Death of Charles CONTENTS. V V. — Death of Mary of England. — Both Henrj- and Philip court her Successor, Elizabeth. — Her Artifice towards Philip. — Articles of Peace agreed upon. — Death of Henry. — State of Europe during the Reign of Charles V. — Progress of the House of Austria. — Growth of France, and of England. — The Reformation. — State of Venice and other Italian Nations ; — of Russia, and the Northern Powells. . • • 221 328 LIFE OF CHARLES V. AFTER HIS ABDICATION. BOOK I. The Convent of Yuste. — Charles's Departure from the Nether- lands. — His Voyage to Spain. — His Progress through the Country. — Reception at Valladolid. — Journey to Jarandilla. — His Residence there. — Discontent of his Household. — His Visitors. — Pernicious Indulgence of his Appetite. — His Re- moval to Yuste . . .831-878 BOOK II. Charles's Mansion at Yuste. — Furniture and Works of Art. — Van Male. — Charles's Household and Expenditure — His Way of Life. — His Contessor. — His Mechanical Pursuits. — His Observance of Religious Rites. — His Contentment at Yuste 879-419 BOOK III. Erroneous Opinions respecting Charles. — His Interest in Public Affairs. — Luis de Avila. — Petty Annoyances. — Visit of Fran- cisco Borja. — Charles's Memoirs of Himself. — Visit of his Sis- ters to Yuste. — Death of Queen Eleanor. — Charles's Resignar tion of the Imperial Title. — His Zeal for the Faith. . 420 - 466 A2 Vi CONTENTS. BOOK IV. Charles's 111 Health. — He rehearses his Obsequies. — Is attacked by his last Illness. — Codicil to his Will. — Proj^ress of the Dis- ease. — Extreme Unction. — Last Hours and Death. — Funeral Honors. — Philip the Second's Visit to Yuste. — Bodies of Charles and his Family removed to the Eiscorial. — Decay of the Convent at Yuste 467-610 INDEX 613-665 HISTORY OF THE REIGN EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. TOL. EXL BOOK X. The Pope's Sfhemes against the Emperor. — Election of Pope Julius ITI. — Diet at Auirsburg. — Schemes of Maurice of Saxony against the Emperor. — War upon Magdeburg. — Council summoned at Trent — Attempt to obtain the Liberation of the Landgrave. — Plan of Charles for procuring the Imperial Crown for his Son, Philip. — The Pope and Emperor attempt to recover Parma and Placentia. — Octavio makes an Alliance with Henry TL of France. — Hostilities between Charles and Henry. — Henry protests against the Council. — Violence of the Emperor against the Protestants. — Siege of Magdeburg by Maurice. — INLartinuzzi favors the Pretensions of Ferdinand to Hun- gary. — He is assassinated by Order of Ferdinand. — IVIaurice makes a Treaty with Henry H. — He demands once more the Liberty of the Landgrave. — He amuses the Emperor, and meanwhile makes Preparation for War. — He takes the Field. — The Emperor en- deavors to gain Time by Negotiation. — ^laurice takes the Castle of Ehrenberg. — The Emperor flies from Inspruck. — He liberates the Elector of Saxony. — The Council of Trent breaks up. — The French attack Strasburg. — The Operations of Albert of Branden- burg. — Negotiations for Peace at Passau at last successful. While Charles labored, with such unwearied industry, to persuade or to force the Protestants to adopt his regulations with respect to religion, thi^ effects of his steadiness in the execution of his plan were rendered less considerable by his rupture 4 REIGN OF THE [Book X. with the pope, which daily increased. The firm resohition which the enperor seemed to have taken against restoring Placentia, together with his repeat- ed encroachments on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not only by the regulations contained in the In- teiim, but by his attempt to reassemble the council at Trent, exasperated Paul to the utmost, who, with the sveakness incident to old age, grew more attached to his family, and more jealous of his au- thority, as he advanced in years. Pushed on by these passions, he made new efforts to draw the French king into an alliance against the emper- or;^ but finding that monarch, notwithstanding the hereditary enmity between him and Charles, and the jealousy with which he viewed the successful progress of the imperial arms, as unwilling as for- merly to involve himself in immediate hostilities, he Avas obliged to contract his views, and to think of preventing future encroachments, since it was not in his power to inflict vengeance on account of those which were past. For this purpose, he determined to recall his grant of Parma and Pla- centia, and, after declaring them to be reannexed to the holy see, to indemnify his grandson Octavio by a new establishment in the ecclesiastical state. By this expedient he hoped to gain two points of no small consequence. He, first of all, rendered his possession of Parma more secure ; as the em- peror would be cautious of invading the patrimony of the Church, though he might seize, without 1 Mem. de Rlbier, ii. 230. 1549 J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 5 scruple, a town belonging to the house of Far- nese. In the next place, he would acquire a better chance of recovering Placentia, as his solicitations to that effect might decently be urged with greater importunity, and would infallibly be attended with greater effect, when he was considered, not as plead- ing the cause of his own family, but as an advocate for the interest of the holy see. But while Paul was priding himself on this device as a happy re- finement in policy, Octavio, an ambitious and high- spirited young man, who could not bear with pa- tience to be spoiled of one half of his territories by the rapaclousness of his father-in-law, and to be deprived of the other by the artifices of his grandfather, took measures in order to prevent the execution of a plan fatal to his interest. He set out secretly from Rome, and, having first endeav- ored to surprise Parma, which attempt was frus- trated by the fidelity of the governor, to whom the pope had intrusted the defence of the town, he made overtures to the emperor of renouncing all connection with the pope, and of depending entirely on him for his future fortune. This un- expected defection of one of the pope's own family to an enemy whom he hated, irritated, almost to madness, a mind peevish with old age ; and there was no degree of severity to which Paul might not have proceeded against a grandson whom he re- proached as an unnatural apostate. But, happily for Octavio, death prevented his carrying into ex- ecution the harsh resolutions which he had taken 6 REIGN OF THE [Book X. with respect to him, and put an erd to his pontif icate. in the sixteenth year of his administration, and the eighty-second of his age.^ As this event had heen long expected, there was an extraordinary concourse of cardinals at Rome; and the various competitors having had time to form their parties, and to concert their measures, their ambition and intrigues protracted the con- clave to a great leno:th. The imperial and French factions strove, with emulation, to promote one of their own number, and had, by turns, the prospect 2 Among many instances of the credulity or weakness of historians in attributing the death of illustrious pei-sonages to extraordinary causes, this is one. Almost all the historians of the sixteenth century affirm, that the death of Paul TIL was occasioned by the violent pas- sions which the behavior of his grandson excited; that being informed, while he was refreshing himself in one of his gardens near Rome, of Octavio's attempt on Panna, as well as of his negotiations with the emperor by means of Gonzaga, he fainted away, continued some hours in a swoon, then became feverish, and died within three days. This is the aciount given of it by Tlmanus, lib. vi. 211 ; Adriani, Istor. de* suoi Tempi, lib. vii. 480; and by Father Paul, 280. Even Cardinal Pallavicini, better informed than any writer with regard to the events which happened in the papal court, and, when not warped by prejudice or system, more accurate in relating them, agrees with their narrative in its chief circumstances. Pailao. lib. ii, 74. Paruta, who wrote hia history by command of the senate of Venice, relates it in the same manner. latorici Venez. vol. iv. 212. But there was no occasion to search for any extraordinary cause to account for the death of an old man of eighty-two. There remains an authentic account of this event, in wh) ,'u we find none of those marvellous circumstances of whi-h the historians are so fond The cardinal of Ferr?ira, who was intrusted with the afl^alrs of France at the court of Heme, and M. d'Urf cendant over the councils of the party; and Mau 14 REIGN OF THE [Book X. rice neither wanted discernment to see the advantage of this pre-eminence, nor ambition to aim at attain- ing it. But he found himself in a situation which rendered the attempt no less difficult than the ob- ject of it was important. On the one hand, the connection which he had formed with the emperor was so intimate, that he could scarcely hope to take any step w^hich tended to dissolve it, without alarm- ing his jealousy, and drawing on himself the whole weight of that power which had crushed the great* est confederacy ever formed in Germany. On the other hand, the calamities which he had brought on the Protestant party were so recent, aB well as great, that it seemed almost impossible to regain their confidence, or to rally and reanimate a body, after he himself had been the chief instrument in breaking its union and vigor. These considerations were sufficient to have discouraged any person of a spirit less adventurous than Maurice's. But to him the grandeur and difficulty of the enterprise w^ere allurements ; and he boldly resolved on measures, the idea of which a genius of an inferior order could not have conceived, or would have trembled at the thoughts of the danger that attended the ex- ecution of them. His passions concurred with his interest in con- firming this resolution ; and the resentment excited by an injury, which he sensibly felt, added new force to the motives for opposing the emperor which sound policy suggested. Maurice, by his authority, had prevailed on the landgrave of Hesse 1.-550.] EMPEROK CHARLES THE FIFTH. 15 to put his person in the emperor's power, and had obtained a promise from the imperial ministers that he should not be detained a prisoner. This had been violated in the manner ah'eady related. The unhappy landgrave exclaimed as loudly against his son-in-law as against Charles. The princes of Ilesse required Maurice to fulfil his engagements to their father, who had lost his liberty by trusting to him ; and all Germany suspected him of having betrayed, to an implacable enemy, the friend whom he was most bound to protect. Roused by these solicitations or reproaches, as well as prompted by duty and affection to his father-in-law, Maurice had employed, not only entreaties, but remonstrances, in order to procure his release. All these Charles had disregarded ; and the shame of having been first deceived, and then slighted, by a prince whom he had served with zeal as well as success, which mer- ited a very different return, made such a deep im- pression on Maurice, that he waited with impa- tience for an opportunity of being revenged. The utmost caution as well as the most delicate address were requisite in taking every step towards this end; as he had to guard, on the one hand, against giving a premature alarm to the emperor, while, on the other, something considerable and ex- plicit was necessary to be done, in order to regain the confidence of the Protestant party. Maurice had accordingly applied all his powers of art and dissimulation to attain both these points. As he knew Charles to be inflexible with regard to the l^ REIGN OF THE [Booic X. Bubmission which he required to the Interim, he did not hesitate one moment whether he should establish that form of doctrine and worship in his dominions; but being sensible how odious it was to his subjects, instead of violently imposing it on them by the mere terror of authority, as had been done in other parts of Germany, ne endeavored to render their obedience a voluntary deed of their own. For this purpose, he had assembled the clergy of his country at Leipsic, and had laid the Interim before them, together with the reasons which made it necessary to conform to it. He had gained some of them by promises, others he had wrought upon by threats, and all were intimidated by the rigor with which obedience to the Interim was extorted in the neighboring provinces. Even Melancthon, whose merit of every kind entitled him to the first place among the Protestant divines, being now deprived of the manly counsels of Lu- ther, which were wont to inspire him with forti- tude, and to preserve him steady amidst the storms and dangers that threatened the Church, was se- duced into unwarrantable concessions, by the ti- midity of his temper, his fond desire of peace, and his excessive complaisance towards persons of high rank. By his arguments and authority, no less than by Maurice's address, the assembly was pre- vailed on to declare, " that, in points which were purely indifferent, obedience was due to the com- mands of a lawful superior." Founding upon this maxim, no less uncontrovertible in theory than 1550.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 17 dangerous when carried into practice, especially in religious matters, many of the Protestant ecclesi- astics whom Maurice consulted proceeded to class among the number of things indifferent several doctrines which Luther had pointed out as gross and pernicious errors in the E-omish creed ; and placing in the same rank many of those rites which distinguished the reformed from the popish wor- ship, they exhorted their people to comply with the emperor's injunctions concerning these par tic ulars.^ By this dexterous conduct, the introduction of the Interim excited none of those violent convul- sions in Saxony which it occasioned in other prov- inces. But though the Saxons submitted, the more zealous Lutherans exclaimed against Melancthon and his associates as false brethren, who were either so wicked as to apostatize from the truth altogether, or so crafty as to betray it by subtile distinctions, or so feeble- spirited as to give it up ^rom pusillanimity and criminal complaisance to a prince, capable of sacrificing to his political inter- est that which he himself regarded as most sacred. Maurice, being conscious what a color of probabil- ity his past conduct gave to those accusations, as well as afraid of losing entirely the confidence of the Protestants, issued a declaration containing professions of his zealous attachment to the re- ' Sleid. 481, 485. Jo. Laur. Moshemil Institutionum Hist. Ecclesi- asticae, lib. iv. Helmst 1 755, 4to, p. 748. J". And. Schmidii Hi*toria (nterimistica, p. 70, &c. Helmst. 1730. ▼OL- in. 3 18 REIGN OF THE [Book X formed religion, and of his resolution to guard against all the errors or encroachments of the papal see.^ Having gone so far in order to remove the fears and jealousies of the Protestants, he found it neces- sary to efface the impression which such a declara- tion might make upon the emperor. For that pur- pose, he not only renewed his professions of an inviolable adherence to his alliance with him, but, as the city of Magdeburg still persisted in rejecting the Interim, he undertook to reduce it to obedi- ence, and instantly set about levying troops to be' employed in that service. This damped all the hopes which the Protestants began to conceive of Maurice, in consequence of his declaration, and left them more than ever at a loss to guess at his real intentions. Their former suspicion and distrust of him revived, and the divines of Magdeburg filled Germany with writings in w^hich they represented him as the most formidable enemy of the Protestant religion, who treacherously assumed an appearance of zeal for its interest, that he might more effectu- ally execute his schemes for its destruction. This charge, supported by the evidence of recent facts, as well as by his present dubious conduct, gained such universal credit, that Maurice was obliged to take a vigorous step in his own \ indi- cation. As soon as the reassembling of the coun- cil of Trent was proposed in the diet, his ambas- sadors protested that their master would not ao- 8 Sleid. 485. 1550.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 19 knowledge its authority, unless all the points which had been already decided there were reviewed, and considered as still undetermined ; unless the Prot- estant divines had a full hearing granted them, and were allowed a decisive voice in the council; and unless the pope renounced his pretensions to preside in the council, engaged to submit to its de- crees, and to absolve the bishops from their oath of obedience, that they might deliver their sentiments with greater freedom. These demands, which were higher than any that the Reformers had ventured to make, even when the zeal of their party was warmest, or their affairs most prosperous, counter- balanced, in some degree, the impression which Maurice's preparations against Magdeburg had made upon the minds of the Protestants, and kept them in suspense with regard to his designs. At the same time, he had dexterity enough to rep- resent this part of his conduct in such a light to the emperor, that it gave him no offence, and oc- casioned no interruption of the strict confidence which subsisted between them. What the pre- texts were which he employed, in order to give such a bold declaration an innocent appearance, the contemporary historians have not explained. That they imposed upon Charles is certain, for he still continued, not only to prosecute his plan, as well concerning the Interim as the council, with the same ardor, but to place the same confi- dence in Maurice with regard to the execution of both. r c 20 EEIGN OF THE fBooK X. The pope's resolution concerning the council not being yet known at Augsburg, the chief business of the diet was to enforce the observation of the Inte- rim. As the senate of Magdeburg, notwithstanding various endeavors to frighten or to soothe them into compliance, not only persevered obstinately in their opposition to the Interim, but began to strengthen the fortifications of their city, and to levy troops in their o^vn defence, Charles required the diet to assist him in quelling this audacious rebellion against a decree of the empire. Had the members of the diet been left to act agreeably to their own inclina- tion, this demand would have been rejected Avithout hesitation. All the Germans who favored, in any degree, the new opinions in religion, and many who were influenced by no other consideration than jeal- ousy of the emperor s growing power, regarded this eflbrt of the citizens of Magdeburg as a noble stand for the liberties of their country. Even such as had not resolution to exert the same spirit, admired the gallantry of their enterprise, and wished it suc- cess. But the presence of the Spanish troops, to- gether with the dread of the emperor's displeasure, overawed the members of the diet to such a degree, that, without venturing to utter their own senti- ments, they tamely ratified, by their votes, whatever the emperor was pleased to prescribe. The rigor- ous decrees which Charles had issued by his own authority against the Magdeburghers, were con- firmed ; a resolution was taken to raise troops in order to besiege the city in form ; and persons were 1550.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 21 named to fix the contingent in men or money to be furnished by each state. At the same time, the diet petitioned that Maurice might be intrusted with the command of that army ; to Avhich Charles gave his consent with great alacrity, and with high encomi- ums upon the wisdom of the choice which they had made.^ As Maurice conducted all his schemes with profound and impenetrable secrecy, it is proba- ble that he took no step avowedly in order to obtain this charge. The recommendation of his country- men was either purely accidental, or flowed from the opinion generally entertained of his great abili- ties ; and neither the diet had any foresight, nor the emperor any dread, of the consequences which followed upon this nomination. Maurice accepted, without hesitation, the command to which he was recommended, instantly discerning the important advantages which he might derive from having it committed to him. Meanwhile, Julius, in preparing the bull for the convocation of the council, observed all those te- dious forms which the court of Rome can artfully employ to retard any disagreeable measure. At last, however, it was published, and the council was summoned to meet at Trent on the first day of the ensuing month of May. As he knew that many of the Germans rejected or disputed the *iuthority and jurisdiction which the papal see Claims with respect to general councils, he took care, in the preamble of the bull, to assert, in the 9 Sleid. 503, 512. 22 REIGN OF THE [Book X. Strongest terms, his own right, not only to call and preside in that assembly, but to direct its proceed- ings ; nor would he soften these expressions, in any degree, in compliance wdth the repeated solici- tations of the emperor, who foresaw what offence they would give, and what construction might be put on them. They were censured accordingly with great severity by several members of the diet ; but, whatever disgust or suspicion they excited, such complete influence over all theu' deliberations had the emperor acquired, that he procured a re- cess, in which the authority of the council was recognized, and declared to be the proper remedy for the evils w^hich at that time afflicted the Church ; all the princes and states of the empire, such as had made innovations in religion, as well as those who adhered to the system of their fore- fathers, w^ere required to send their representatives to the council ; the emperor engaged to grant a safe-conduct to such as demanded it, and to secure them an impartial hearing in the council; he promised to fix his residence in some city of the empu-e, in the neighborhood of Trent, that he might protect the members of the council by his presence, and take care that, by conducting their deliberations agreeably to Scripture and the doc- trine of the fathers, they might bring them to a desirable issue. In this recess, the observation of the Interim was more strongly enjoined than ever ; and the emperor threatened all who had hitherto neglected or refused to conform to it, with the 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 23 severest elFects of his vengeance, if they persisted in their disobedience.^^ During the meeting of this diet, a new attempt was made in order to procure liberty to the land grave. That prince, nowise reconciled to his situa- tion by time, grew every day more impatient of re- straint. Having often applied to Maurice and the elector of Brandenburg, who took every occasion of soliciting the emperor in his behalf, though without any effect, he now commanded his sons to summon them, with legal formality, to perform what was contained in the bond which they had granted him, by surrendering themselves into their hands to be treated with the same rigor as the em- peror had used him. This furnished them with a fresh pretext for renewing their application to the emperor, together with an additional argument to enforce it. Charles firmly resolved not to grant their request ; though, at the same time, being ex- tremely desirous to be delivered from their inces- sant importunity, he endeavored to prevail on the landgrave to give up the bond which he had re- ceived from the two electors. But that prince re- fusing to part with a security which he deemed essential to his safety, the emperor boldly cut the knot which he could not untie; and, by a public deed, annulled the bond which Maurice and the elector of Brandenburg had granted, absolving them from all their engagements to the landgrave. 10 Sleid. 512. Thuan. lib. vl. 233. Goldasti Constlt. Imperiales, vol. u. 340. C2 24 KEIGN OF THE [Book X. No pretension to a power so pernicious to society as that of abrogating at pleasure the most sacred laws of honor, and most formal obligations of pub- lic faith, had hitherto been formed by any but the Roman pontiffs, who, in consequence of their claim of supreme power on earth, arrogate the right oi dispensing with precepts and duties of every kind. All Germany was filled with astonishment when Charles assumed the same prerogative. The state of subjection to which the empire was reduced ap- peared to be more rigorous, as well as intolerable, than that of the most wretched and enslaved na- tions, if the emperor, by an arbitrary decree, might cancel those solemn contracts which are the foun- dation of that mutual confidence whereby men are held together in social union. The landgrave him* self now gave up all hopes of recovering his liberty by the emperor's consent, and endeavored to pro- cure it by his own address. But the plan which he had formed to deceive his guards being dis- covered, such of his attendants as he had gained to favor his escape were put to death, and he was con- fined in the citadel of Mechlin more closely than ever." Another transaction was carried on during this diet, with respect to an affair more nearly interest- ing to the emperor, and which occasioned likewise a general alarm among the princes of the empire. Charles, though formed with talents which fitted him for conceiving and conducting great designs. 11 Sleid. 504. Thuan lib. vi. 234, 2o5. •551.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 25 was not capable, as has been often observed, of bear- ing extraordinary success. Its operation on his mind was so violent and intoxicating, that it ele- vated him beyond what was moderate or attainable, and turned his whole attention to the pursuit of vast but chimerical objects. Such had been the effect of his victory over the confederates of Smal- kalde. He did not long rest satisfied with the sub- stantial and certain advantages which were the result of that event, but, despising these, as poor or inconside^^able fruits of such great succecs, he aimed at nothing less than at bringing all Geimany to an uniformity in religion, and at renderiiig the imperial power despotic. These were objects ex- tremely splendid indeed, and alluring to an am- bitious mind ; the pursuit of them, however, w^as attended with manifest danger, and the hope of attaining them very uncertain. But the steps which he had already taken towards them having been accompanied with such success, his imagi- nation, warmed with contemplating this alluring object, overlooked or despised all remaining diffi- culties. As he conceived the execution of his plan to be certain, he began to be solicitous how he might render the possession of such an important acquisition perpetual in his family, by transmitting the German empire, together with the kingdoms of Spain, and his dominions in Italy and the liOW Countries, to his son. Having long revolved this flattering idea in his mind, without communicating it even to those ministers whom he most trusted, TOL. Ul. 4 23 REIGN OF THE L^ook X. he had called Philip out of Spain, in hopes that his presence would facilitate the carrying forward the scheme Great obstacles, however, and such as would have deterred any ambition less accustomed to over- come difficulties, were to be surmounted. He had, in the year 1530, imprudently assisted in procuring his brotlier Ferdinand the dignity of king of the Romans, and there was no probability that this prince, who was still in the prime of life, and had a son grown up to the years of manhood, would relinquish, in favor of his nephew, the near pros- pect of the imperial throne, which Charles's in- firmities and declining state of health opened to himself This did not deter the emperor from ven- turing to make the proposition ; and when Ferdi- nand, notwithstanding his profound reverence for his brother, and obsequious submission to his will in other instances, rejected it in a peremptory tone, he was not discouraged by one repulse. He renewed his applications to him by his sister, Mary, queen of Hungary, to whom Ferdinand stood in- debted for the crowns both of Hungary and Bo- hemia, and who, by her great abilities, tempered with extreme gentleness of disposition, had ac- quired an extraordinary influence over both the brothers. She entered warmly into a measure which tended so manifestly to aggrandize the house of Austria ; and, flattering herself that she couid tempt Ferdinand to renounce the reversion- ary possession of the imperial dignity for an iin- 1551. J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 2*7 mediate establishment, she assured him that the emperor, by way of compensation for his giving up his chance of succession, would instantly be- stow upon him territories of very considerable value, and pointed out in particular those of the duke of Wurtemberg, which might be confiscated upon different pretexts. But neither by her ad- dress nor entreaties could she induce Ferdinand to approve of a plan, which would not only have degraded him from the highest rank among the monarchs of Europe to that of a subordinate and dependent prince, but would have involved both him and his posterity in perpetual contests. He was, at the same time, more attached to his chil- dren, than, by a rash concession, to frustrate all the high hopes, in prospect of which they had been educated. Notwithstanding the immovable firmness which Ferdinand discovered, the emperor did not aban- don his scheme. He flattered himself that he might attain the object in view by another channel, and that it was not impossible to prevail on the electors to cancel their former choice of Ferdinand, or, at least, to elect Philip a second king of the Romans, substituting him as next in succession to his uncle. With this view, he took Philip along with him to the diet, that the Germans might have an opportunity to observe and become ac- quainted with the prince, in behalf of whom he courted their interest ; and he himself employed all the arts of address or insinuation to gain the 28 REIGN OF THE [Book X. electors, and to prepare them for listening with a favorable ear to the proposal. But no sooner did he venture upon mentioning it to them, than they at once saw and trembled at the consequences with which it would be attended. They had long felt all the inconveniences of having placed at the head of the empire a prince whose power and dominions were so extensive: if they should now repeat the folly, and continue the imperial crown, like an hereditary dignity, in the same family, they fore- saw that they would give the son an opportunity of carrying on that system of oppression which the father had begun ; and would put it in his power to overturn whatever was yet left entire in the an- cient and venerable fabric of the German consti- tution. The character of the prince, in whose favor this extraordinary proposition was made, rendered it still less agreeable. Philip, though possessed with an insatiable desire of power, was a stranger to all the arts of conciliating good-will. Haughty, reserved, and severe, he, instead of gaining new friends, disgusted the ancient and most devoted partisans of the Austrian interest. He scorned to take the trouble of acquiring the language of the country to the government of which he aspired ; nor would he condescend to pay the Germans the compliment of accommodating himself, during his residence among them, to their manners and cus- toms. He allowed the electors and most illustrious princes in Germany to remain in his presence un- ftsi.] EMPEROK CHARLES THE FIFTn. 29 covered, affecting a stately and distant demeanor, which the greatest of the German emperors, and even Charles himself, amidst the pride of power and victory, had never assumed.^^ On the other hand, Ferdinand, from the time of his arrival in Germany, had studied to render himself acceptable to the people by a conformity to their manners, which seemed to flow from choice ; and his son Maximilian, who was born in Germany, possessed, in an eminent degree, such amiable qualities as ren- dered him the darling of his countrymen, and in- duced them to look forward to his election as a most desirable event. Their esteem and affection for him fortified the resolution which sound policy had suggested, and determined the Germans to pre- fer the popular virtues of Ferdinand and his son, to the stubborn austerity of Philip, which interest could not soften, nor ambition teach him to dis- guise. All the electors, the ecclesiastical as well as secular, concurred in expressing such strong disapprobation of the measure, that Charles, not- withstanding the reluctance with which he gave up any point, was obliged to drop the scheme as impracticable. By his unseasonable perseverance in pushing it, he had not only filled the Germans with new jealousy of his ambitious designs, but laid the foundation of rivalship and discord in the Austrian family, and forced his brother Ferdinand, in self-defence, to court the electors, particularly ^3 Frediraan Andreas Zulicli DIssertatio PoHtico-Historica de Naevis politicis Caroli V. Lips. 1 706, 4to, p. 21. 30 REIGN OF THE [Book » Maurice of Saxony, and to form such connections with them as cut off all prospect of renewing the proposal with success. Philip, soured by his disappointment, was sent back to Spain, to be called thence when any new scheme of ambition should render his presence necessary.'^^ Having relinquished this plan of domestic am- bition, which had long occupied and engrossed him, Charles imagined that he would now have leisure to turn all his attention towards his grand scheme of establishing uniformity of religion in the empire, by forcing all the contending parties to acquiesce in the decisions of the council of Trent. But such was the extent of his dominions, the variety of connections in which this entangled him, and the multiplicity of events to which these gave rise, as seldom allowed him to apply his whole force to any one object. The machine which he had to conduct was so great and complicated, that an unforeseen irregularity or obstruction in one of the inferior wheels often disconcerted the motion of the whole, and prevented his deriving from them all the beneficial effects which he expected. Such an unlooked-for occurrence happened at this juncture, and created new obstacles to the execu- tion of his schemes with regard to religion. Julius HI., though he had confirmed Octavio Farnese in the possession of the duchy of Parma, during the first effusions of his joy and gratitude on his pro- 's Sleid. 505. Thuan. 180, 238. Mem. de Ribier, li, 219, 281, 314. Adiiani, Istor. lib. vili. 507, 520. 1651.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 31 motion to the papal throne, soon began to repent of his own generosity, and to be apprehensive of consequences which either he did not foresee, or had disregarded, while the sense of his obligations to the family of Farnese was recent. The emper- or still retained Placentia in his hands, and had not relinquished his pretensions to Parma as a fief of the empire. Gonzaga, the governor of Milan, having, by the part which he took in the murder of the late duke, Peter Ludovico, offered an in- sult to the family of Farnese, which he knevjr could never be forgiven, had, for that reason^ avowed its destruction, and employed all the in- fluence which his great abilities, as well as long services, gave him with the emperor, in persuad- ing him to seize Parma by force of arms. Charles, in compliance with his solicitations, and that he might gratify his own desire of annexing Parma to the Milanese, listened to the proposal ; and Gonzaga, ready to take encouragement from the slightest appearance of approbation, began to as- semble troops, and to make other preparations for the execution of his scheme. Octavio, who saw the impending danger, found it necessary for his own safety to increase the garri- son of his capital, and to levy soldiers for defend- ing the rest of the country. But as the expense of such an effort far exceeded his scanty revenues, he represented his situation to the pope, and im- plored that protection and assistance which was due to him as a vassal of the Church. The iinpe- 82 KEIGN OF THE [Boox X rial minister, however, had ah'eady preoccupied the pope's ear; and, by discoursing continually concerning the danger of giving offence to the em- peror, as well as the imprudence of supporting Octavio in an usurpation so detrimental to the holy see, had totally alienated him from the family of Farnese. Octavio' s remonstrance and petition met, of consequence, with a cold reception ; and he, despairing of any assistance from Julius, began to look round for protection from some other quar- ter. Henry II. of France was the only prince powerful enough to afford him this protection, and, fortunately, he was now in a situation which allowed him to grant it. He had brought his trans- actions with the two British kingdoms, which had hitherto diverted his attention from the affairs of the continent, to such an issue as he desired. This he had effected partly by the vigor of his arms, partly by his dexterity in taking advantage of the political factions Avhich raged in both kingdoms to such a degree as rendered the councils of the Scots violent and precipitate, and the operations of the English feeble and unsteady. He had pro- cured from the English favorable conditions of peace for his allies the Scots ; he had prevailed on the nobles of Scotland, not only to afhance their young queen to his son, the dauphin, but even to send her into France, that she might be edu- cated under his eye ; and had recovered Boulogne, together with its dependencies, which had been conquered by Henry VIIL 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 3S The French king, having gained points of so much consequence to his crown, and disengaged himself with such honor from the burden of sup- porting the Scots, and maintaining a war against England, was now at full leisure to pursue the measures which his hereditary jealousy of the em- peror's powder naturally suggested. He listened, accordingly, to the first overtures which Octavio Farnese made him; and, embracing eagerly an opportunity of recovering footing in Italy, he in- stantly concluded a treaty, in Avhich he bound himself to espouse his cause, and to furnish him all the assistance which he desired. This trans- action could not long be kept secret from the pope, who, foreseeing the calamities which must follow if war were rekindled so near the ecclesi- astical state, immediately issued monitory letters, requiring Octavio to relinquish his new alliance. Upon his refusal to comply with the requisition, he soon after pronounced his fief to be forfeited, and declared war against him as a disobedient and rebellious vassal. But, as with his own forces alone he could not hope to subdue Octavio while supported by such a powerful ally as the king of France, he had recourse to the emperor, who, being extremely solicitous to prevent the estab- lishment of the French in Parma, ordered Gonzaga to second Julius with all his troops. Thus the French took the field as the allies of Octavio, the imperialists as the protectors of the holy see, and hostilities commenced between them, while Charles VOL. III. 6 34 REIGN OF THE [Book X, and Henry themselves still affected to give out that they would adhere inviolably to the peace of Crespy. The war of Parma was not distinguished by any memorable event. Many small rencoun- ters happened, with alternate success ; the French ravaged part of the ecclesiastical territories ; the imperialists laid waste the Parmesan ; and the lat- ter, after having begun to besiege Parma in form, were obliged to abandon the enterprise with dis- grace.^* But the motions and alarm which this war, or the preparations for it, occasioned in Italy, pre- vented most of the Italian prelates from repairing to Trent on the 1st of May, the day appointed for reassembling the council; and though the papal legates and nuncios resorted thither, they were obliged to adjourn the council to the 1st of September, hoping such a number of prelates might then assemble, that they might with decency begin their deliberations. At that time about sixty pre- lates, mostly from the ecclesiastical state, or from Spain, together with a few Germans, convened.^^ The session was opened with the accustomed for- malities, and the fathers were about to proceed to business, when the abbot of Bellozane appeared, and, presenting letters of credence as ambassador from the king of France, demanded audience. Having obtained it, he protested, in Henry's name, 14 Adrian!, Istor. lib. viii 505, 514, 524. Sleid. 513. Parnfa, p. 220. Lettere del Caro scritte al nome del Card Faruose, ii. p. 11, &c. A5 F. Paul, 268. 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 35 against an assembly called at such an improper juncture, when a war, wantonly kindled by the pope, made it impossible for the deputies from the Galilean Church to resort to Trent in safety, or to deliberate concerning articles of faith and discipline with the requisite tranquillity; he de- clared, that his master did not acknowledge this to be a general or oecumenic council, but must consider, and would treat it as a particular and partial convention.^^ The legate affected to de- spise this protest ; and the prelates proceeded, not- withstanding, to examine and decide the great points in controversy concerning the sacrament of the Lord's supper, penance, and extreme unction. This measure of the French monarch, however, gave a deep wound to the credit of the council, at the very commencement of its deliberations. The Germans could not pay much regard to an assembly, the authority of which the second prince in Christendom had formally disclaimed, or feel any great reverence for the decisions of a few men, who arrogated to themselves all the rights be- longing to the representatives of the Church uni- versal, a title to which they had such poor pre- tensions. The emperor, nevertheless, was straining his au- thority to the utmost, in order to establish the reputation and jurisdiction of the council. He had prevailed on the three ecclesiastical electors, the prelates of greatest power and dignity in the '6 Sleid. 518. Thaan. 282. F. Paul, 301. D2 36 REIGN OF THE [Book X Church next to the pope, to repair thither in per- son. He had obliged several German bishops of inferior rank to go to Trent themselves, or to send their proxies. He granted an imperial safe-conduct to the ambassadors nominated by the elector of Brandenburg, the duke of Wurtemburg, and other Protestants, to attend the council ; and exhorted them to send their divines thither, in order to pro- pound, explain, and defend their doctrine. At the same time, his zeal anticipated the decrees of the council ; and, as if the opinions of the Protestants had already been condemned, he took large steps towards exterminating them. With this intention^ he called together the ministers of Augsburg, and, after interrogating them concerning several contro- verted points, enjoined them to teach nothing with respect to these contrary to the tenets of the Rom- ish Church. Upon their declining to comply with a requisition so contrary to the dictates of their consciences, he commanded them to leave the town in three days, without revealing to any person the cause of their banishment ; he prohibited them to preach for the future in any province of the empire; and obliged them to take an oath that they would punctually obey these injunctions. They were not the only victims to his zeal. The Protestant clergy in most of the cities in the circle of Swabia were ejected wath the same violence; and, in many places, such magistrates as had distinguished themselves by their attachment to the new opinions were dismissed with the most abrupt irregularity, and their offices 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 37 filled, in consequence of the emperor's arbitrary appointment, with the most bigoted of their adver- saries. The reformed worship w^as almost entire- ly suppressed throughout that extensive province. The ancient and fundamental privileges of the free cities were violated. The people were compelled to attend the ministration of priests whom they re- garded with horror as idolaters ; and to submit to the jurisdiction of magistrates whom they detested as usurpers.-^^ The emperor, after this discovery, which was more explicit than any that he had hitherto made, of his intention to subvert the German constitution, as well as to extirpate the Protestant religion, set out for Inspruck in the Tyrol. He fixed his resi- dence in that city, as, by its situation in the neigh- borhood of Trent, and on the confines of Italy, it appeared a commodious station whence he might inspect the operations of the council, and observe the progress of the war in the Parmesan, without losing sight of such occurrences as might happen in Germany.^^ During these transactions, the siege of Magde- burg was carried on with various success. At the time when Charles proscribed the citizens of Mag- deburg, and put them under the ban of the empire, he had exhorted and even enjoined all the neigh- boring states to take arms against them, as rebels and common enemies. Encouraged by his exhorta- tions as well as promises, George of Mecklenburg, a i7 Sleid. 516, .V28 Thuan. 27G. 18 sieid. 329. 38 KEIGN OF THE • [Book X. younger brothei of the reigning duke, an active and ambitious prince, collected a considerable number of those soldiers of fortune who had accompanied Henry of Brunswick in all his wild enterprises ; and, though a zealous Lutheran himself, invaded the territories of the Magdebarghers, hoping that, by the merit of this service, he might procure some part of their domains to be allotted to him as an establishment. The citizens, unaccustomed as yet to endure patiently the calamities of war, could not be restrained from sallying out, in order to save their lands from being laid waste. They attacked the duke of Mecklenburg with more resolution than conduct, and were repulsed with great slaugh- ter. But as they w^ere animated with that uncon- querable spirit which flows from zeal for reUgion, co-operating with the love of civil liberty, far from being disheartened by their misfortune, they pre- pared to defend themselves with vigor. Many of the veteran soldiers who had served in the long wars between the emperor and the king of France crowding to their standards under able and expe- rienced officers, the citizens acquii'ed military skill by degrees, and added all the advantages of that to the efforts of undaunted courage. 'J'he duke of Mecklenburg, notwithstanding the se\ere blow A\hich he hud given the Magdeburghers, not dar- mg to invest a town strongly fortified, and defended by such a garrison, continued to ravage the open country. As the hopes of booty drew many adventurers to 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 39 the camp of this young prince, Maurice of Saxon}" began to be jealous of the power which he possessed by being at the head of such a numerous body, and, marching towards Magdeburg with his own troops, assumed the supreme command of the whole army ; an honor to which his high rank and great abili ties, as well as the nomination of the diet, gave him an indisputable title. With this united force he invested the town, and began the siege in form, claiming great merit with the emperor on that ac- count, as, from his zeal to execute the imperial de- cree, he was exposing himself once more to the censures and maledictions of the party with which he agreed in religious sentiments. But the ap- proaches to the town went on slowly ; the garrison interrupted the besiegers by frequent sallies, in one of which George of Mecklenburg was taken pris- oner, levelled part of their works, and cut off the soldiers in their advanced posts. While the citizens of Magdeburg, animated by the discourses of their pastors, and the soldiers, encouraged by the exam- ple of their officers, endured all the hardships of a siege without murmuring, and defended themselves with the same ardor which they had at first dis- covered, the troops of the besiegers acted with ex- treme remissness, repining at everything that they suffered in a service they disliked. They broke out, more than once, into open mutiny, demanding the arrears of their pay, which, as the members of the Germanic body sent in their contributions towards defraying the expenses of the war spar- 40 REIGN OF THE [Book X ino-ly and with erreat reluctance, amounted to a considerable sum.^^ Maurice, too, had particular motives, though such as he durst not avow at that juncture, which induced him not to push the siege with vigor, and made him choose rather to con- tinue at the head of an army exposed to all the imputations which his dilatory proceedings drew upon him, than to precipitate a conquest that might have brought him some accession of reputation, but would have rendered it necessary to disband his forces. At last, the inhabitants of the town beginning to suffer distress from want of provisions, and Mau- rice, finding it impossible to protract matters any longer without filling the emperor with such suspi- cions as might have disconcerted all his measures, he concluded a treaty of capitulation with the city upon the following conditions : That the Magde- burghers should humbly implore pardon of the emperor ; that they should not for the future take arms, or enter into any alliance, against the house of Austria ; that they should submit to the authori- ty of the imperial chamber ; that they should con- form to the decree of the diet at Augsburg with respect to religion ; that the new fortifications added to the town should be demolished ; that they should pay a fine of fifty thousand crowns, de- liver up twelve pieces of ordnance to the emperor, and set the duke of Mecklenburg, together with their other prisoners, at liberty, without ransom. 19 Thuan. 277. Sleid. 514. 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 41 Next day their garrison marched out, and Maurice took possession of the town with great military pomp. Before the terms of capitulation were settled, Maurice had held many conferences with Albert, Count Mansfeldt, who had the chief command in Magdeburg. He consulted likewise with Count Heideck, an officer who had served with great rep- utation in the army of the league of Smalkalde, whom the emperor had proscribed on account of his zeal for that cause, but whom Maurice had, notwithstanding, secretly engaged in his service, and admitted into the most intimate confidence. To them he communicated a scheme, which he had long revolved in his mind, for procuring liberty to his father-in-law the landgrave, for vindicating the privileges of the Germanic body, and setting bounds to the dangerous encroachments of the imperial power. Having deliberated with them concerning the measures which might be necessary for secur- ing the success of such an arduous enterprise, he gave Mansfeldt secret assurances that the fortifica- tions of Magdeburg should not be destroyed, and that the mhabitants should neither be disturbed in the exercise of their religion, nor be deprived of any of their ancient immunities. In order to en- gage Maurice more thoroughly, from considerations of interest, to fulfil these engagements, the senate of Magdeburg elected him their burgrave, a dig- nity which had formerly belonged to the electoral house of Saxony, and which entitled him to a very VOL. m. 6 42 REIGN OF THE jBooK X ample jurisdiction, not only in the city but in its dependencies.^ Thus the citizens of Magdeburg, after enduring a siege of twelve months, and struggling for their liberties, religious and civil, with an invincible for- titude, worthy of the cause in which it was exerted, had at last the good fortune to conclude a treaty, which left them in a better condition than the rest of their countrymen, whom their timidity, or want of public spirit, had betrayed into such mean sub- missions to the emperor. But while a great part of Germany applauded the gallant conduct of the Magdeburghers, and rejoiced in their having es- caped the destruction with w^hich they had been threatened, all admired Maurice's address in the conduct of his negotiation with them, as w^ell as the dexterity with which he converted every event to his own advantage. They saw with amazement, that, after having afflicted the Magdeburghers dur- ing many months with all the calamities of war, he was at last, by their voluntary election, advanced to the station of highest authority in that city which he had so lately besieged ; that, after having been so long the object of their satirical invectives as an apostate, and an enemy to the religion which he professed, they seemed now to place unbounded confidence in his zeal and good-will.^^ At the same time, the public articles in the treaty of capitula- 20 Sleid. 528. Thuan. 276. Obsidionis Magdeburgicae Descriptio per Sebast Bessclmeierum, ap. Scard. ii. 518. * Amoldi Vita Maurit. apud Menken, ii. 1227. 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 43 tion were so perfectly conformable to those which the emperor had granted to the other Protestant cities, and Maurice took such care to magnify his merit in having reduced a place which had de- fended itself with so much obstinacy, that Charles, far from suspecting anything fraudulent or collu- sive in the terms of accommodation, ratified them without hesitation, and absolved the Magdeburgh- ers from the sentence of ban which had been de- nounced against them. The only point that now remained to embar- rass Maurice was how to keep together the veteran troops which had served under him, as well as those which had been employed in the defence of the town. For this, too, he found an expedient with singular art and felicity. His schemes against the emperor were not yet so fully ripened that he durst venture to disclose them, and proceed openly to carry them into execution. The winter was ap preaching, which made it impossible to take the field immediately. He was afraid that it would give a premature alarm to the emperor, if he should retain such a considerable body in his pay until the season of action returned in the spring. As soon, then, as Magdeburg opened its gates, he sent home his Saxon subjects, whom he could command to take arms and reassemble on the shortest warning ; and, at the same time, paying part of the arrears due to the mercenary troops who had followed his standard, as well as to the soldiers who had served in the garrison, he absolved them from their respeo 44 REIGN OF THE [Book X tive oaths of fidelity, and disbanded them. But the moment he gave them their discharge, George of Mecklenburg, who ^yas now set at liberty, offered to take them into his service, and to become surety for the payment of what was still owing to them. As such adventurers were accustomed often to change masters, they instantly accepted the offer. Thus, these troops were kept united, and ready to march wherever Maurice should call them ; -v^hile the emperor, deceived by this artifice, and imagin- ing that George of Mecklenburg had hired them with an intention to assert his claim to a part of his brother's territories by force of arms, suffered this transaction to pass without observation, as if it had been a matter of no consequence.^ Having ventured to take these steps, which were of so much consequence towards the execution of his schemes, Maurice, that he might divert the em- peror from observing their tendency too narrowly, and prevent the suspicions which that must have excited, saw the necessity of employing some new artifice in order to engage his attention, and to con- firm him in his present security. As he knew that the chief object of the emperor's solicitude at this juncture was how he might prevail with the Prot- estant states of Germany to recognize the author- ity of the council of Trent, and to send thither ambassadors in their own name, as well as deputies from their respective churches, he took hold of this 23 Thuan. 278. Struv. Corp. Hist Germ. 1064. Arnoldi Vita Maiiritii, apud Menken, il 1227. 1551.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 45 predominating passion in order to amuse and to deceive him. He affected a wonderful zeal to gratify Charles in what he desired with regard to this matter; he nominated ambassadors, whom fie empowered to attend the council ; he made choice of Melancthon and some of the most eminent among his brethren to prepare a confession of faith, and to lay it before that assembly. After his ex- ample, and probably in consequence of his soli- citations, the duke of Wurtemberg, the city of Strasburg, and other Protestant states, appointed ambassadors and divines to attend the council. They all applied to the emperor for his safe-con- duct, which they obtained in the most ample form. This was deemed sufficient for the security of the ambassadors ; and they proceeded accordingly on their journey ; but a separate safe-conduct from the council itself was demanded for the Protes- tant divines. The fate of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, whom the council of Constance, in the preceding century, had condemned to the flames without regarding the imperial safe-conduct which had been granted them, rendered this precaution prudent and necessary. But as the pope was no less unwilling that the Protestants should be ad- mitted to a hearing in the council, than the em- peror had been eager in bringing them to demand it, the legate, by promises and threats, prevailed on the fathers of the council to decline issuing a safe- conduct in the same form with that which the council of Basil had granted to the followers of 40 REIGN OF THE [Book X. Huss. The Protestants, on their part, insisted upon the counciFs copying the precise words of that instrument. The imperial ambassadors inter- posed, in order to obtain what would satisfy them. Alterations in the form of the writ were proposed ; expedients were suggested ; protests and counter- protests were taken: the legate, together with his associates, labored to gain their point hy artifice and chicane ; the Protestants adhered to theirs with firmness and obstinacy. An account of everything that passed in Trent was transmitted to the em- peror at Inspruck, who, attempting, from an excess of zeal, or confidence in his own address, to recon- cile the contending parties, was involved in a laby- rinth of inextricable negotiations. By means of this, however, Maurice gained all that he had in view; the emperor's time was wholly engrossed, and his attention diverted ; while he himself had leisure to mature his schemes, to carry on his intrigues, and to finish his preparations, before he threw ofi" the mask, and struck the blow which he had so long meditated.^ But, previous to entering into any further detail concerning Maurice's operations, some account must be given of a new revolution in Hungary, which contributed not a little towards their producmg such extraordinary efi"ects. AVhen Solyman, in the year 1541, by a stratagem, which suited the base and insidious policy of a petty usurper, rather than the magnanimity of a mighty conqueror, deprived « Sleid. 526, 529. F. Paul. 323, 338. Tbuan. 286. I551J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 47 the young king of Hungary of the dominions which his father had left him, he had granted that unfortunate prince the country of Transylva^ nia, a province of his paternal kingdom. The government of this, together with the care of educating the young king, — for he still allowed him to retain that title, though he had rendered it only an empty name, — he committed to the queen and Martinuzzi, bishop of Waradin, whom the late king had appointed joint guardians of his son, and regents of his dominions, at a time when these offices were of greater importance. This co-ordi- nate jurisdiction occasioned the same dissensions in a small principality as it would have excited in a great kingdom ; an ambitious young queen, pos- sessed with a high opinion of her own capacity for governing, and a high-spirited prelate, fond of power, contending Avho should engross the greatest share in the administration. Each had their parti- sans among the nobles ; but as Martinuzzi, by his great talents, began to acquire the ascendant, Isa- bella turned his own arts against him, and courted the protection of the Turks. The neighboring bashas, jealous of the bishop's power as well as abilities, readily promised her the aid which she demanded, and would soon have obliged Martinuzzi to have given up to her the sole direction of affairs, if his ambition, fertile in expedients, had not suggested to him a new meas- ure, and one that tended, not only to preserve, but to enlarge his authority. Having concluded an agree- E2 4:6 EEIGN OF THE [Book X. ment with the queen, by the mediation of some of the nobles who were solicitous to save their coun- try from the calamities of a civil war, he secretly despatched one of his confidants to Vienna, and entered into a negotiation with Ferdinand. As it was no difficult matter to persuade Ferdinand, that the same man whose enmity and intrigues had driven him out of a great part of his Hunga- rian dominions might, upon a reconciliation, be- come equally instrumental in recovering them, he listened eagerly to the first overtures of a union with that prelate. Martinuzzi allured him by such prospects of advantage, and engaged, with so much confidence, that he Avould prevail on the most pow- erful of the Hungarian nobles to take arms in his favor, that Ferdinand, notwithstanding his truce w^ith Solyman, n greed to invade Transylvania. The command of the troops destined for that ser- vice, consisting of veteran Spanish and German soldiers, was given to Castalda, Marquis de Pia- dena, an officer formed by the famous Marquis de Pescara, whom he strongly resembled, both in his enterprising genius for civil business, and in his great knowledge in the art of war. This army, more formidable by the discipline of the soldiers, and the abilities of the general, than by its num- bers, was powerfully seconded by Martinuzzi and his faction among the Hungarians. As the Turk- ish bashas, the sultan himself being at the head of his a^'my on the frontiers of Persia, could not afford the queen such immediate or effectual assistance as 1551.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 49 the exigency of her affairs required, she quickly lost all hopes of being able to retain any longer the authority which she possessed as regent, and oven began to despair of her son's safety. Martinuzzi did not suffer this favorable oppor- tunity of accomplishing his own designs to pass unimproved, and ventured, while she was in this state of dejection, to lay before her a proposal, which, at any other time, she would have rejected with disdain. He represented how impossible it was for her to resist Ferdinand's victorious arms ; that, even if the Turks should enable her to make head against them, she would be far from changing her condition to the better, and could not consider them as deliverers, but as masters, to whose com- mands she must submit ; he conjured her, there- fore, as she regarded her own dignity, the safety of her son, or the security of Christendom, rather to give up Transylvania to Ferdinand, and to make over to him her son's title to the crown of Hun- gary, than to allow both to be usurped by the inveterate enemy of the Christian faith. At the same time he promised her, in Ferdinand's name, a compensation for herself, as well as for her son, suitable to their rank and proportional to the vahie of what they were to sacrifice. Isabella, deserted by some of her adherents, distrusting others, des- titute of friends, and surrounded by Castaldo's and Martinuzzi's troops, subscribed these hard condi- tions, though with a reluctant hand. Upon this, she surrendered such places of strength as v\tjre VOL. m. 7 60 REIGN OF THE [Book X. still in her possession, she gave up all the ensigns of royalty, particularly a crown of gold, which, as the Hungarians believed, had descended from heaven, and conferred on him who wore it an un- doubted right to the throne. As she could not bear to remain a private person, in a country where she had once enjoyed sovereign power, she instantly set out with her son for Silesia, in order to take possession of the principalities of Oppelen and Ra- tibor, the investiture of which Ferdinand had en- gaged to grant her son, and likewise to bestow one of his daughters upon him in marriage. Upon the resignation of the young king, ^larti- nuzzi, and, after his example, the rest of the Tran- sylvanian grandees, swore allegiance to Ferdinand ; who, in order to testify his grateful sense of the zeal as well as success with which that prelate had served him, affected to distinguish him by every possible mark of favor and confidence. He ap- pointed him governor of Transylvania, with almost unlimited authority; he publicly ordered Castaldo to pay the greatest deference to his opinion and commands ; he increased his revenues, which were already very great, by new appointments ; he nom- inated him archbishop of Gran, and prevailed on the pope to raise him to the dignity of a cardinal. All this ostentation of good-^^ill, however, was void of sincerity, and calculated to conceal sentiments the most perfectly its reverse. Ferdinand dreaded Martinuzzi's abilities ; distrusted his fidelity ; and foresaw, that, as his extensive authority enabled 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 51 him to clieck any attempt towards circumscribing or abolishing the extensive privileges which tlie Hungarian nobility possessed, he would stand forth, on every occasion, the guardian of the liberties of liis country, rather than act the part of a viceroy devoted to the will of his sovereign. For this reason, he secretly gave it in charge to Castaldo, to watch his motions, to guard against his designs, and to thwart his measures. But Mar- tinuzzi, either because he did not perceive that Cas- taldo was placed as a spy on his actions, or because he despised Ferdinand's insidious arts, assumed the direction of the war against the Turks with his usual tone of authority, and conducted it vnth great magnanimity, and no less success. He recovered some places of which the infidels had taken posses- sion ; he rendered their attempts to reduce others abortive ; and established Ferdinand's authority, not only in Transylvania, but in the Bannat of Temes- war, and several of the countries adjacent. In car- rying on these operations, he often differed in senti- ments from Castaldo and his officers, and treated the Turkish prisoners with a degree, not only of humanity, but even of generosity, which Castaldo loudly condemned. This was represented at Vien- na as an artful method of courting the friendship of the infidels, that, by securing their protection, he might shake off all dependence upon the sovereign whom he now acknowledged. Though Martinuzzi, \n justification of his own conduct, contended that it was impolitic by unnecessary severities to exas- 52 REIGN OF THE [Book X perate an enemy prone to revenge, Castaldo's accu- sations gained credit with Ferdinand, prepossessed already against Martinuzzi, and jealous of every- thing that could endanger his own authority in Hungary, in proportion as he knew it to be preca- rious and ill-established. These suspicions Castal- do confirmed and strengthened, by the intelligence which he transmitted continually to his confidants at Vienna. By misrepresenting what was innocent, and putting the worst construction on what seemed dubious in Martinuzzi's conduct ; by imputing to him designs which he never formed, and charging him with actions of which he was not guilty, he at last convinced Ferdinand, that, in order to pre- serve his Hungarian crown, he must cut ofi" that ambitious prelate. But Ferdinand, foreseeing that it would be dangerous to proceed in the regular course of law against a subject of such exorbitant power as might enable him to set his sovereign at defiance, determined to employ violence, in order to obtain that satisfaction which the laws were too feeble to afford him. He issued his orders accordingly to Castaldo, who willingly undertook that infamous service. Ha\ing communicated the design to some Italian and Span- ish officers whom he could trust, and concerted with them the plan of executing it, they entered Marti- nuzzi's apartment, early one morning, under pre- tence of presenting to him some despatches which were to be sent off immediately to Vienna ; and while he perused a paper with attention^ one ol I651.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 53 their number struck him with his poniard in the throat. The blow was not mortal. Martinuzzi started up with the intrepidity natural to him, and, grappling the assassin, threw him to the ground. But the other conspirators rushing in, an old man, unarmed and alone, was unable long to sustain such an unequal conflict, and sunk under the wounds which he received from so many hands. The Tran- sylvanians were restrained, by dread of the foreign troops stationed in their country, from rising in arms, in order to take vengeance on the murderers of a prelate who had long been the object of their love as well as veneration. They spoke of the deed, however, with horror and execration ; and exclaimed against Ferdinand, whom neither gratitude for re- cent and important services, nor reverence for a character considered as sacred and inviolable amonsr Christians, could restrain from shedding the blood of a man, whose only crime was attachment to his native country. The nobles, detesting the jealous as well as cruel policy of a court, which, upon un- certain and improbable surmises, had given up a person, no less conspicuous for his merit than his rank, to be butchered by assassins, either retired to their own estates, or, if they continued with the Austrian army, grew cold to the service. The Turks, encouraged by the death of an enemy, whose abilities they knew and dreaded, prepared to renew Hostilities early in the spring ; and, instead of the security which Ferdinand had expected from the removal of Martinuzzi, it was evident that his terri- 54 REIGN OF TITE [Book X. tories in Hungary were about to be attacked with greater vigor, and defended with less zeal, than ever.^^ By this time, Maurice, having almost finished his intrigues and preparations, was on the point of de- claring his intentions openly, and of taking the field against the emperor. His first care, after he came to this resolution, was to disclaim that nar- row and bigoted maxim of the confederates of Smal- kalde, which had led them to shun all connection with foreigners. He had observed how fatal this had been to their cause ; and, instructed by their error, he was as eager to court the protection of Henry II. as they had been solicitous to prevent the interposition of Francis I. Happily for him, he found Henry in a disposition to listen to the first overture on his part, and in a situation which enabled him to bring the whole force of the French monarchy into action. Henry had long observed the progress of the emperor's arms with jealousy, and wished to distinguish himself by entering the lists against the same enemy, whom it had been the glory of his father's reign to oppose. He had laid hold on the first opportunity in his power of thwart- ing the emperor's designs, by taking the duke of Parma under his protection ; and hostilities were already begun, not only in that duchy, but in Pied- mont. Having terminated the war with England '^* Sleid. 535. Tliuan. lib, ix. 300, &c. Tstuanhaffii Hist. Regn. Hunfrarici, lib. xvi. 189, &c. Mem. dw Ribier, ii. 871. Natalis Comi- lis llistorla, lib . iv. 84, &c. 1551.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 55 by a peace no less advantageous to himself than honorable for his allies the Scots, the restless and enterprising courage of his nobles was impatient to display itself on some theatre of action more con- spicuous than the petty operations in Parma oi Piedmont afforded them. John de Fienne, bishop of Bayonne, whom Henry had sent into Germany, under pretence of hiring troops to be employed in Italy, was empowered to conclude a treaty in form with Maurice and his associates. As it would have been very indecent in a king of France to have undertaken the defence of the Protestant Church, the interests of religion, how much soever they might be aifected by the treaty, were not once mentioned in any of the articles. Keligious concerns they pretended to commit entirely to the disposition of Divine Provi- dence ; the only motives assigned for their present confederacy against Charles, were to procure the landgrave liberty, and to prevent the subversion of the ancient constitution and laws of the German empire. In order to accomplish these ends, it was agreed that all the contracting parties should, at the same time, declare war against the emperor; that neither peace nor truce should be made but by common consent, nor without including each of the confederates ; that in order to guard against the inconveniences of anarchy, or of pretensions to joint command, Maurice should be acknowledged as head of the German confederates, with absolute authority in all military aftairs; that Maurice and his asso- 7 F 66 REIGN OF THE [Book X dates should bring into the field seven thousand horse, with a proportional number of infantry ; that towards the subsistence of this army, during the first three months of the war, Henry should con- tribute two hundred and forty thousand crowns, and afterwards sixty thousand crowns a month, as long as they continued in arms ; that Henry should attack the emperor on the side of Lorrain with a powerful army ; that if it were found requisite to elect a new emperor, such a person shall be nomi- nated as shall be agreeable to the king of France.^ This treaty was concluded on the 5 th of October, some time before Magdeburg surrendered, and the preparatory negotiations were concluded with such profound secrecy, that, of all the princes who after- wards acceded to it, Maurice communicated what he was carrying on to two only, John Albert, the reigning duke of Mecklenburg, and William of Hesse, the landgrave's eldest son. The league itself was no less anxiously concealed, and with such fortunate care that no rumor concerning it reached the ears of the emperor or his ministers ; nor do they seem to have conceived the most distant suspicion of such a transaction. At the same time, with a solicitude which was careful to draw some accession of strength from every quarter, Maurice applied to Edward VI. of England, and requested a subsidy of four hundred thousand crowns for the support of a confederacy formed in defence of the Protestant religion. But 85 Recueil des Trait^s, torn. ii. 258. Thuan. lib. viii. 279 1551.] EMPEROH CHARLES THE FIETH. 57 the factions which prevailed in the English court during the minority of that prince, and which de- prived both the councils and arms of the nation of their wonted vigor, left the English ministers nei- ther time nor inclination to attend to foreign affairs, and prevented Maurice's obtaining that aid, which their zeal for the Reformation would have prompt- ed them to grant him.^^ Maurice, however, having secured the protection of such a powerful monarch as Henry II., proceed- ed with great confidence, but with equal caution, to execute his plan. As he judged it necessary to make one effort more, in order to obtain the emper- or's consent that the landgrave should be set at lib- erty, he sent a solemn embassy, in his own name, and in that of the elector of Brandenburg, to In- spruck. After resuming, at great length, all the facts and arguments upon which they founded their claim, and representing, in the strongest terms, the peculiar engagements which bound them to be so assiduous in their solicitations, they renewed the request in behalf of the unfortunate prisoner, which they had so often preferred in vain. The elector palatine, the duke of Wurtemberg, the dukes of Mecklenburg, the duke of Deuxponts, the marquis of Brandenburg Bareith, and the marquis of Baden, by their ambassadors, concurred with them in their suit. Letters were likewise delivered to the same effect from the king of Denmark, the duke of Ba- varia, and the dukes of Lunenburg. Even the 26 Burnet's Hist, of the Reform, vol. ii. Append. 37. voi. III. 8 68 REIGN OF THE |Book X. king of the Romans joined in this application, be- ing moved with compassion towards the landgrave in his wretched situation, or influenced, perhaps, by a secret jealousy of his brother's power and designs, which, since his attempt to alter the order of suc- cession in the empire, he had come to view with other eyes than formerly, and dreaded to a great degree. But Charles, constant to his own system with re- gard to the landgrave, eluded a demand urged by such powerful intercessors ; and having declared that he would communicate his resolution concern- ing the matter to Maurice as soon as he arrived at Inspruck, where he was every day expected, he did not deign to descend into any more particular expli- cation of his intentions.^' This application, though of no benefit to the landgrave, was of great advan- tage to Maurice. It served to justify his subse- quent proceedings, and to demonstrate the necessity of employing arms in order to extort that equitable concession, which his mediation or entreaty could not obtain. It was of use, too, to confirm the em- peror in his security, as both the solemnity of the application, and the solicitude with which so many princes were drawn in to enforce it, led him to con- clude that they placed all their hopes of restoring the landgrave to liberty in gaining his consent to dismiss him. Maurice employed artifices still more refined tc conceal his machinations, to amuse the emperort 27 Sleid. in. Thuau. lib. viii. 280. 652.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 59 and to gain time. He affected to be more solicit* ous than ever to find out some expedient for re- moving the difficulties with regard to the safe-con- duct for the Protestant divines appointed to attend the council, so that they might repair thither with- out any apprehension of danger. His ambassadors at Trent had frequent conferences concerning this matter with the imperial ambassadors in that city, and laid open their sentiments to them with the appearance of the most unreserved confidence. He was willing at last to have it believed that he thought all differences with respect to this prelimi- nary article were on the point of being adjusted ; and, in order to give credit to this opinion, he com- manded Melancthon, together with his brethren, to set out on their journey to Trent. At the same time, he held a close correspondence with the im- perial court at Inspruck, and renewed, on every oc- casion, his professions, not only of fidelity, but of attache ent to the emperor. He talked continually of his 'ntention of going to Inspruck in person ; he gave o 'ders to hire a house for him in that city, and to fit it up with the greatest despatch for his reception.^^ Bu'; profoundly skilled as Maurice was in the arts of deceit, and impenetrable as he thought the veil to be under which he concealed his designs, there were several things in his conduct which alaimed the emperor amidst his security, and tempt- ea him frequently to suspect that he was meditating 38 Arnold! Vita Maurlt. ap. Menkin. ii. 1229. F2 GO REIGN OF THE jBooK X. something extraordinary. As these suspicions took their rise from circumstances inconsiderable in themselves* or of an ambiguous as well as uncer- tain nature, they weve more than counterbalanced by Maurice's address ; and the emperor would not lightly give up his confidence in a man whom he had once trusted and loaded with favors. One par- ticular alone seemed to be of such consequence, that he thought it necessary to demand an explana- tion with regard to it. The troops, which George of Mecklenburg had taken into pay after the capit- ulation of Magdeburg, havmg fixed their quarters in Thuringia, lived at discretion on the lands of the rich ecclesiastics in their neighborhood. Their license and rapaciousness were intolerable. Such as felt or dreaded their exactions complained loudly to the emperor, and represented them as a body of men kept in readiness for some desperate enterprise. But Maurice, partly by extenuating the enormities of which they had been guilty, partly by represent- ing the impossibility of disbanding these troops, or of keeping them to regular discipline, unless the arrears still due to them by the emperor were paid, either removed the apprehensions which this had occasioned, or, as Charles was not in a condition to satisfy the demands of these soldiers, obliged him to be silent with regard to the matter.^ The time of action was now approaching. Mau- rice had privately despatched Albert of Branden- burg to Paris, in order to confirm his league with ^9 Sleid. 549. Thuan. 339- 1 552. J EMPEROR CmVRLES THE FIFTH. 61 Henry, and to hasten the march of the French army. He had taken measures to brmg his own subjects together on the first summons; he had pro- vided for the security of Saxony while he should be absent with the ai'my; and he held the troops in Thuringia, on which he chiefly depended, ready to advance on a moment's warning. All these complicated operations were carried on without be- ing discovered by the court at Inspruck, and the emperor remained there in perfect tranquillity, bus- ied entirely in counteracting the intrigues of the pope's legate at Trent, and in settling the condi tions on which the Protestant divines should be admitted into the council, as if there had not been any transaction of greater moment in agitation. This credulous security in a prince, Avho, by his sagacity in observing the conduct of all around him, was commonly led to an excess of distrust, may seem unaccountable, and has been imputed to in- fatuation. But, besides the exquisite address with which Maurice concealed his intentions, two cir- cumstances contributed to the delusion. The gout had returned upon Charles soon after his arrival at Inspruck, with an increase of violence ; and his constitution being broken by such frequent attacks, he was seldom able to exert his natural visfor of mind, or to consider affairs with his usual vigilance and penetration ; and Granvelle, bishop of Arras, his prime minister, though one of the most subtle statesmen of that or perhaps of any age, was on this occasion the dupe of 'his own craft. He en- 62 REIGN OF THE [Book X tertamed such a high opinion of his own abiHties, and held the political talents of the Germans in such contempt, that he despised all the intimations given him concerning Maurice's secret machina- tions, or the dangerous designs which he was car- rying on. When the duke of Alva, whose dark, suspicious mind harbored many doubts concerning the elector's sincerity, proposed calling him imme- diately to court to answer for his conduct, Gran- velle replied, with great scorn, that these apprehen- sions were groundless, and that a drunken German head was too gross to form any scheme which he could not easily penetrate and baffle. Nor did he assume this peremptory tone merely from con- fidence in his own discernment : he had bribed two of Maurice's ministers, and received from them fre- quent and minute information concerning all their master's motions. But through this very channel, by which he expected to gain access to all Mau- rice's counsels, and even to his thoughts, such in- telligence was conveyed to him as completed his deception. Maurice fortunately discovered the cor- respondence of the two traitors with Granville, but, instead of punishing them for their crime, he dex- terously availed himself of their fraud, and turned his own arts against the bishop. He affected to treat these ministers with greater confidence than ever ; he admitted them to his consultations ; he seemed to lay open his heart to them ; and taking care all the while to let them be acquainted with nothing but what it was his interest should be •552.] EMPEROll CHARLES THE FIFTH. 63 known, they transmitted to Inspruck such accounts as possessed Granvelle with a *iirin belief of his sincerity as well as good intentions.^^ The em- peror himself, in the fulness of security, was so little moved by a memorial, in the name of the ecclesiastical electors, admonishing him to be on his guard against Maurice, that he made light of this intelligence ; and his answer to them abounds with declarations of his entire and confident reli- ance on the fidelity as well as attachment of that prince.^^ At last Maurice's preparations were completed, and he had the satisfaction to find that his in- trigues and designs were still unknown. But, though now ready to take the field, he did not lay aside the arts which he had hitherto employed ; and by one piece of craft more, he deceived his ene- mies a few days longer. He gave out, that he was about to begin that journey to Inspruck of which he hstd so often talked, and he took one of the ministers whom Granvelle had bribed, to attend him thither. After travelling post a few stages, he pretended to be indisposed by the fatigue of the journey, and, despatching the suspected minister to make his apology to the emperor for this delay, and to assure him that he would be at Inspruck within a few days, he mounted on horseback, as soon as this spy on his actions was gone, rode full speed towards Thuringia, joined his army, which amounted to twenty thousand foot and 30 Melvil's Memoirs, fol. edit. p. 12. 3i sieid. 6S5 64 REIGN OF THE [Book X. five thousand horse, and put it immediately in motion.^ At the same time he published a manifesto, con- taining his reasons for taking arms. These were three in number : that he might secure the Prot- estant religion, which was threatened with imme- diate destruction ; that he might maintain the con- stitution and laws of the empire, and save Ger- many from being subjected to the dominion of an absolute monarch ; that he might deliver the land- grave of Hesse from the miseries of a long and unjust imprisonment. By the first, he roused all the favorers of the Reformation, a party formidable by their zeal as well as numbers, and rendered des- perate by oppression. By the second, he interested all the friends of liberty. Catholics no less than Protestants, and made it their interest to unite with him in asserting the rights and privileges common to both. The third, besides the glory which he acquired by his zeal to fulfil his engagements to the unhappy prisoner, was become a cause of gen- eral concern, not only from the compassion which the landgrave's sufterings excited, but from indig- nation at the injustice and rigor of the emperor's proceedings against him. Together with Maurice's manifesto, another appeared in the name of Albert, marquis of Brandenburg Culmbach, who had joined 32 Melv. Mem. p. 13. These circumstances concerning the Saxon ministers whom Granvelle had bribed, are not mentioned by the German historians ; but as Sir James Melvil received his information from the elector palatine, and as they are perfectly agreeable to the rest of Maurice's conduct, they may be considered as authentic. 1552.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 65 him with a body of adventurers whom he had drawn together. The same grievances which Mau- rice had pointed out are mentioned in it, but with an excess of virulence and animosity suitable to the character of the prince in whose name it was published. The king of France added to these a manifesto in his own name ; in which, after taking notice of the ancient alliance between the French and German nations, both descended from the same ancestors, and after mentioning the applications which, in consequence of this, some of the most illustrious among the German princes had made to him for his protection, he declared that he now took arms to re-establish the ancient constitution of the empire, to deliver some of its princes from captivity, and to secure the privileges and indepen- dence of all the members of the Germanic body. In this manifesto, Henry assumed the extraordinary title of protector of the liberties of Germany^ and of its captive princes ; and there was engraved on it a cap, the ancient symbol of freedom, placed be- tween two daggers, in order to intimate to the Ger- mans, that this blessing was to be acquired and secured by force of arms.^ Maurice had now to act a part entirely new, but his flexible genius was capable of accommodating itself to every situation. The moment he took arms, he was as bold and enterprising in the field as he had been cautious and crafty in the cabinet 33 Sleid 549. Thuan. lib. x. 339. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 371. VOL. III. 9 f^3 REIGN OF TIIE [Book X He advanced by rapid marches towards Upper- Ger- many. All the towns in his way opened their gates to him. He reinstated the magistrates whom the emperor had deposed, and gave possession of the churches to the Protestant ministers whom he had ejected. He directed his march to Augsburg, and as the imperial garrison, which was too inconsider- able to think of defending it, retired immediately, he took possession of that great city, and made the same changes there as in the towns through which he had passed.^ No w^ords can express the emperor's astonish- ment and consternation at events so unexpected. He saw a great number of the German princes in arms against him, and the rest either ready to join them or wishing success to their enterprise. He beheld a pow^eiful monarch united with them in close league, seconding their operations in person, at the head of a formidable army, while he, through negligence and credulity, which exposed him no less to scorn than to danger, had neither made, nor was in condition to make, any effectual pro- vision, either for crushing his rebellious subjects, or resisting the invasion of the foreign enemy. Part of his Spanish troops had been ordered into H m- gary against the Turks ; the rest had marched back to Italy, upon occasion of the w^ar in the duchy of Parma. The bands of veteran Germans had been dismissed, because he was not able to pay them, or had entered into Maurice's service 3* Sleid. 555. Thuaa. 342. 1552.^ EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 67 after the siege of Magdeburg ; and he remained at Iiispruck with a body of soldiers hardly strong enough to guard his own person. His treasury was as much exhausted as his army was reduced He had received no remittances for some time from tlie New World. He had forfeited all credit with the merchants of Genoa and Venice, who refused to lend him money, though tempted by the offer of exorbitant interest. Thus Charles, though undoubtedly the most considerable potentate in Christendom, and capable of exerting the greatest strength, his power, notwithstanding the violent attack made upon it, being still unimpaired, found himself in a situation which rendered him unable to make such a sudden and vigorous effort as the juncture required, and was necessary to have saved him from the present danger. In this situation, the emperor placed all his hopes on negotiating; the only resource of such as are conscious of their own weakness. But thinking it inconsistent with his dignity to make the first advances to subjects who were in arms against him, he avoided that indecorum by em- ploying the mediation of his brother Ferdinand. Maurice, confiding in his own talents to conduct any negotiation in such a manner as to derive advantage from it, and hoping that, by the appear- ance of facility in hearkening to the first overture of accommodation, he might amuse the emperor, and tempt him to slacken the activity with which he was now preparing to defend himself, readily f>S KEIGN OF THE [Book X agreed to an interview with Ferdinand, iii the to^Mi of Lmtz in Austria; and, having left his army to proceed on its march under the command of the duke of Mecklenburg, he repaired thither. Meanwhile, the king of France punctually ful- filled his engagements to his allies. He took the field early, with a numerous and well-appointed army, and, marching directly into Lorrain, Toul and Yerdun opened their gates at his approach. His forces appeared next before Metz, and that city, by a fraudulent stratagem of the Constable Montmorency, who, having obtained permission to pass through it with a small guard, introduced as many troops as were sufficient to overpower the garrison, w^as likewise seized without bloodshed. Henry made his entry into all these towns with great pomp ; he obliged the inhabitants to swear allegiance to him, and annexed those important conquests to the French monarchy. He left a strong garrison in Metz. From thence he ad- vanced towards Alsace, in order to attempt new conquests, to which the success that had hitherto attended his arms invited him.^ The conference at Lintz did not produce any ac- commodation. Maurice, when he consented to it, seems to have had nothing in view but to amuse the emperor; for he made such demands, both in behalf of his confederates and their ally, the French king, as he knew would not be accepted by a prince too haughty to submit, at once, to » Thuan. 349. 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 69 conditions dictated by an enemy. But, however firmly Maurice adhered during the negotiation to the interests of his associates, or how steadily so- ever he kept in view the objects which had in- duced him to take arms, he often professed a strong inclination to terminate the differences with the emperor in. an amicable manner. Encouraged by this appearance of a pacific disposition, Ferdinand proposed a second interview at Passau on the 26th of May, and that a truce should commence on that day, and continue to the 10th of June, in order to give them leisure for adjusting all the points in dispute. Upon this, Maurice rejoined his army on the 9th of May, which had noAv advanced to Gundel- fingen. He put his troops in motion next morn- ing; and as sixteen days yet remained for action before the commencement of the truce, he resolved, during that period, to venture upon an enterprise, the success of which would be so decisive as to render the negotiations at Passau extremely short, and entitle him to treat upon his own terms. He foresaw that the prospect of a cessation of arms, which was to take place so soon, together with the opinion of his earnestness to re-establish peace, with which he had artfully amused Ferdi- nand, could hardly fail of inspiring the emperoi with such false hopes, that he would naturally become remiss, and relapse into some degree of that security which had already been so fatal to him. Eelying on this conjecture, he marched di- 70 HEIGN OF THE [Book X. rectly at the head of his army towards Inspruck, and advanced with the most rapid motion that could be given to so great a body of troops. On the 18th he arrived at Fiessen, a post of great consequence, at the entrance into the Ty- rolese. There he found a body of eight hundred men, whom the emperor had assembled, strongly intrenched, in order to oppose his progress. He attacked them instantly, with such violence and impetuosity, that they abandoned their lines pre- cipitately, and, falling back on a second body posted near Ruten, communicated the panic terror with which they themselves had been seized, to those troops ; so that they likewise took to flight, after a feeble resistance. Elated with this success, which exceeded his most sanguine hopes, Maurice pressed forward to Ehrenberg, a castle situated on a high and steep precipice, which commanded the only pass through the mountains. As this fort had been surrendered to the Protestants at the beginning of the Smal- kaldic war, because the garrison was then too weak to defend it, the emperor, sensible of its importance, had taken care, at this juncture, to throw into it a body of troops sufficient to maintain it against the greatest army. But a shepherd, in pursuing a goat which had strayed from his flock, having discovered an unknown path by which it was possible to ascend to the top of the rock, came with this seasonable piece of intelligence to Mau- rice. A small band of chosen soldiers, under the 1552.: EMPEROE CHARLES THE FIFTH. 11 command of George of Mecklenburg, was instanily ordered to follow this guide. They set out in the evening, and, clambering up the rugged track with infinite fatigue as well as danger, they reached the summit unperceived; and at an hour which had been agreed on, when Maurice began the assault on the one side of the castle, they ap- peared on the other, ready to scale the walls, which were feeble in that place, because it had been hitherto deemed inaccessible. The garrison, struck with terror at the sight of an enemy on a quarter where they had thought themselves per- fectly secure, immediately threw down their arms. Maurice, almost without bloodshed, and, which was of greater consequence to him, without loss of time, took possession of a place, the reduction of which might have retarded him long, and have required the utmost efforts of his valor and skill.^^ Maurice was now only two days' march from In- spruck ; and, without losing a moment, he or dered his infantry to advance thither, having left his cavalry, which was unserviceable in that moun- tainous country, at Fiessen, to guard the mouth of the pass. He proposed to advance with such rapidity as to anticipate any accounts of the loss of Ehrenberg, and to surprise the emperor, together with his attendants, in an open town incapable of defence. But just as his troops began to move, a battalion of mercenaries mutinied, declaring that they would not stir until they had received the 36 Arnold! Vita Maurit. 123. G2 72 REIGN OF THE [Book X gratuity, which, according to the custom of that age, they claimed as the recompense due to them for havmg taken a place by assault. It was with great difficulty, as w^ell as danger, and not w^ith- out some considerable loss of time, that Maurice quieted this insurrection, and prevailed on the soldiers to follow him to a place where he prom- ised them such rich booty as would be an ample reward for all their services. To the delay occasioned by this unforeseen ac- cident, the emperor owed his safety. He was informed of the approaching danger late in the evening, and, knowing that nothing could save him but a speedy flight, he instantly left Inspruck, without regarding the darkness of the night, or the violence of the rain which happened to fall at that time ; and, notwithstanding the debility occasioned by the gout, which rendered him unable to bear any motion but that of a litter, he travelled by the light of torches, taking his way over the Alps by roads almost impassable. His courtiers and attendants followed him with equal precipita- tion, some of them on such horses as they could hastily procure, many of them on foot, and all in the utmost confusion. In this miserable plight, very unlike the pomp with which Chailes had appeared during the five preceding years as the conqueror of Germany, he arrived at length with his dejected train at Villach in Carinthia, and scarcely thought himself secure even in that re- mote, inaccessible corner. 1652.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 73 Maurice entered Inspruck a few hours after the emperor and his attendants had left it ; and enraged that the prey should escape out of his hands when he was just ready to seize it, he pursued them some miles ; but finding it impossible to overtake persons to whom their fear gave speed, he returned to the town, and abandoned all the emperor's baggage, to- gether with that of his ministers, to be plundered by the soldiers ; while he preserved untouched every- thing belonging to the king of the Romans, either because he had formed some friendly connection with that prince, or because he wished to have it helieved that such a connection subsisted between them. As there now remained only three days to the commencement of the truce, (with such nicety had Maurice calculated his operations,) he set out for Passau, that he might meet Ferdinand on the day appointed. Before Charles left Inspruck, he Avithdrew the guards placed on the degraded elector of Saxony, whom, during five years, he had carried about with him as a prisoner ; and set him entirely at liberty, either with an intention to embarrass Maurice by letting loose a rival who might dispute his title to his dominions and dignity, or from a sense of the indecency of detaining him a prisoner, while he himself ran the risk of being deprived of his own liberty. But that prince, seeing no other way of escaping than that which the emperor took, and abhorring the thoughts of falling into the hands of a kinsman whom he justly considered as the author VOL. m. 10 74 REIGN OF THE [Book X. of all his misfortunes, chose rather to accompany Charles in. his flight, and to expect the final de- cision of his fate from the treaty which was now approaching. These were not the only effects which Maurice's operations produced. It was no sooner known at Trent that he had taken arms, than a general con- sternation seized the fathers of the council. The German prelates immediately returned home, that they might provide for the safety of their respective territories. The rest were extremely impatient to be gone ; and the legate, who had hitherto disap- pointed all the endeavors of the imperial ambassa- dors to procure an audience in the council for the Protestant divines, laid hold with joy on such a plausible pretext for dismissing an assembly which he had found it so difficult to govern. In a con- gregation held on the 28th of April, a decree was issued proroguing the council during two years, and appointing it to meet at the expiration of that time, if peace were then re-established in Europe.^^ This prorogation, however, continued no less than ten years ; and the proceedings of the council, when reassembled in the year 1562, fall not within the period prescribed to this history. The convocation of this assembly had been pas- sionately desired by all the states and princes in Christendom, who, from the wisdom as well as piety of prelates representing the whole body of the faithful, expected some charitable and effica- 37 F. Paul, 353. 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 75 cious endeavors towards composing the dissensions which unhappily had arisen in the Church. Bur the several popes by whose authority it was called had other objects in view. They exerted all their power or policy to attain these ; and by the abili- ties as well as address of their legates, by the igno- rance of many of the prelates, and by the servility of the indigent Italian bishops, acquired such influ- ence in the council, that they dictated all its de- crees, and framed them, not with an intention to restore unity and concord to the Church, but to establish their own dominion, or to confirm those tenets upon which they imagined that dominion to be founded. Doctrines, which had hitherto been admitted upon the credit of tradition alone, and re- ceived with some latitude of interpretation, were defined with a scrupulous nicety, and confirmed by the sanction of authority. Elites, which had for- merly been observed only in deference to custom supposed to be ancient, were established by the decrees of the Church, and declared to be essentiell parts of its worship. The breach, instead of be- ing closed, was widened, and made irreparable. In place of any attempt to reconcile the contending parties, a line was drawn with such studied accu- racy as ascertained and marked out the distinction between them. This still serves to keep them at a distance, and, without some signal interposition of Divine Providence, must render the separation per- petual. Our knowledge of the proceedings of this assem 76 REIGN OF THE [Book X. 61y is derived from three different authors. Father Paul, of Venice, wrote his history of the Council of Trent while the memory of what had passed there was recent, and some who had been members of it were still alive. He has exposed the intrigues and artifices by which it was conducted with a freedom and severity which have given a deep wound to the credit of the council. He has described its delib- erations and explained its decrees with such per- spicuity and depth of thought, with such various erudition, and such force of reason, as have justly entitled his work to be placed among the most ad- mired historical compositions. About half a cen- tury thereafter, the Jesuit Pallavicini published his history of the council, in opposition to that of Father Paul, and, by employing all the force of an acute and refining genius to invalidate the credit or to confute the reasonings of his antagonist, he labors to prove, by artful apologies for the proceed- ings of the council, and subtile interpretations of its decrees, that it deliberated with impartiality, and decided with judgment as well as candor. Vargas, a Spanish doctor of laws, who was ap- pointed to attend the imperial ambassadors at Trent, sent the bishop of Arras a regular account of the transactions there, explainhig all the arts which the legate employed to influence or overawe the council. His letters have been published, in which he inveighs against the papal court with that asperity of censure which was natural to a man whose situation enabled him to observe its 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 77 intrigues thoroughly, and who was obliged to exert all his attention and talents in order to disappoint them. But whichsoever of these authors an intelli- gent person takes for his guide, in forming a judg- ment concerning the spirit of the council, he mast discover so much ambition as well as artifice among some of the members, so much ignorance and cor- ruption among others ; he must observe such a large infusion of human policy and passions, min- gled with such a scanty portion of that simplicity of heart, sanctity of manners, and love of truth, which alone qualify men to determine what doc- trines are worthy of God, and what worship is acceptable to him ; that he will find it no easy matter to believe that any extraordinary influence of the Holy Ghost hovered over this assembly, and dictated its decrees. While Maurice was employed in negotiating with the king of the Romans at Lintz, or in making war on the emperor in the Tyrol, the French king had advanced into Alsace as far as Strasburg ; and having demanded leave of the senate to march through the city, he hoped that, by repeating the same fraud which he had prac- tised at Metz, he might render himself mastei of the place, and by that means secure a passage over the Hhine into the heart of Germany. But tbe Strasburghers, instructed and put on their guard by the credulity and misfortune of their neighbors, shut their gates ; and, having assembled a garrison of five thousand soldiers, repaired their fortifica- «jf3 REIGN OF TIIE [Book X tions, razed the houses in their suburbs, and deter- mined to defend themselves to the utmost. At the same time they sent a deputation of their most respectable citizens to the king, in order to divert him from making any hostile attempt upon them. The electors of Treves and Cologne, the duke of Cleves, and other princes in the neighborhood, interposed in their behalf; beseeching Henry that he would not forget so soon the title which he had generously assumed ; and, instead of being the de- liverer of Germany, become its oppressor. The Swiss cantons seconded them with zeal, soliciting Henry to spare a city which had long been connect- ed with their community in friendship and alliance. Powerful as this united intercession was, it would not have prevailed on Henry to forego a prize of so much value, if he had been in a condition to have seized it. But, in that age, the method of subsist- ing numerous armies at a distance from the frontiers of their own country, was imperfectly understood, and neither the revenues of princes, nor their ex- perience in the art of war, were equal to the great and complicated efforts which such an undertaking required. The French, though not far removed from their own frontier, began already to suffer from scarcity of provisions, and had no sufficient magazines collected to support them during a siege which must necessarily have been of great length.^ At the same time, the queen of Hungary, governess of the Low Countries, had assembled a considerable 33 Thuan. 351, 352. i552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 7S body of troops, which, under the command of Mar tin de Rossem, laid waste Champagne, and threat- ened the adjacent provinces of France. These concurring circumstances obliged the king, though with reluctance, to abandon the enterprise. But being willing to acquire some merit with his allies by this retreat, which he could not avoid, he pretend- ed to the Swiss that he had taken the resolution merely in compliance with their request ; ^^ and then, after giving orders that all the horses in his army should be led to drink in the Rhine, as a proof of his having pushed his conquest so far, he marched back towards Champagne. While the French king and the main army of the confederates were thus employed, Albert of Brandenburg was intrusted with the command of a separate body of eight thousand men, consisting chiefly of mercenaries who had resorted to his standard, rather from the hope of plunder than the expectation of regular pay. That prince, seeing himself at the head of such a number of desperate adventurers, ready to follow wherever he should lead them, soon began to disdain a state of subor- dination, and to form such extravagant schemes of aggrandizing himself as seldom occur, even to am- bitious minds, unless when civil war or violent fac- tions roused them to bold exertions, by alluring them with immediate hopes of success. Full of these aspiring thoughts, Albert made war in a man- ner very different from the other confederates. He 39 Sleid 557. Brantome, torn. vii. 39. 80 REIGN OF THE [Book X. endeavored to spread the terror of his arms hy the rapidity of his motions, as well as the extent and rigor of his devastations ; he exacted contributions wherever he came, in order to amass such a sum of money as would put it in his power to keep his army together; he labored to get possession of Nuremburg, Ulm, or some other of the free cities in Upper Germany, in which, as a capital, he might ^x the seat of his power. But finding these cities on their guard, and in a condition to resist his attacks, he turned all his rage against the popish ecclesiastics, whose territories he plundered with such wanton and merciless barbarity, as gave them a very unfavorable impression of the spirit of that reformation in religion, with zeal for which he pre- tended to be animated. The bishops of Bamberg and Wurzburg, by their situation, lay particularly exposed to his ravages: he obliged the former to transfer to him, in perpetuity, almost one half of his extensive diocese ; and compelled the latter to advance a great sum of money, in order to save his territories from ruin and desolation. During all those wild sallies, Albert paid no regard either to Maurice's orders, whose commands as generalissimo of the league he had engaged to obey, or to the remonstrances of the other confederates ; and man- ifestly discovered that he attended only to his own private emolument, without any solicitude about the common cause, or the general objects which had induced them to take arms.^ ^ Sleld. 561. Thuan. 357. i 1652] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. gl Maurice having ordered his army to march back into Bavaria, and having published a proclamation enjoining the Lutheran clergy and instructors of youth to resume the exercise of their functions in all the cities, schools, and universities from which they had been ejected, met Ferdinand at Passau on the 26th day of May. As matters of the greatest consequence to the future peace and independence of the empire were to be settled in this congress, the eyes of all Germany were fixed upon it. Be- sides Ferdinand and the imperial ambassadors, the duke of Bavaria, the bishops of Saltzburg and Aichstadt, the ministers of all the electors, together with deputies from most of the considerable princes and free cities, resorted to Passau. Maurice, in the name of his associates, and the king of the Romans as the emperor s representative, opened the negotia- tion. The princes who were present, together with the deputies of such as were absent, acted as inter- cessors or mediators between them. Maurice, in a long discourse, explained the mo- tives of his own conduct. After having enumerated all the unconstitutional and oppressive acts of the emperor's administration, he, agreeably to the mani- festo which he had published Avhen he took arms against him, limited his demands to three articles: that the landgrave of Hesse should be immediately set at liberty ; that the grievances in the civil gov- ernment of the empire should be redressed ; and that the Protestants should be allowed the public exercise of their religion without molestation. Fer- VOL. III. 11 QJ REIGN OF THE [Book X. dinand and the imperial ambassadors discovering their unwillingness to gratify him with regard to all these points, the mediators wrote a joint letter to the emperor, beseeching him to deliver Germany from the calamities of a civil war, by giving such satisfaction to Maurice and his party as might in- duce them to lay down their arms; and, at the same time, they prevailed upon Maurice to grant a prolongation of the truce for a short time, during which they undertook to procure the emperor's final answer to his demands. This request was presented to the emperor in the name of all the princes of the empire. Popish as well as Protestant, in the name of such as had lent a helping hand to forward his ambitious schemes, as well as of those who had viewed the progress of his power with jealousy and dread. The uncommon and cordial unanimity with which they concurred at this junc- ture in enforcing Maurice's demands, and in recom- mending peace, flowed from different causes. Such as were most attached to the Roman Catholic Church could not help observing that the Protes- tant confedemtes were at the head of a numerous army, while the emperor w^as but just beginning to provide for his o^^n defence. They foresaw that great efforts would be required of them, and would be necessary on their part, in order to cope with en- emies who had been allowed to get the start so far, and to attain such formidable power. Experience had taught them, that the fruit of all these efforts would be reaped by the emperor alone, and the 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 83 more complete any victory proved which thev should gain, the faster would they bind their own fetters, and render them the more intolerable. These reflections made them cautious how they contributed a second time, by their indiscreet zeal, to put the emperor in possession of power which would be fatal to the liberties of their country. Notwithstanding the intolerant spirit of bigotry in that age, they chose rather that the Protestants should acquire that security for their religion which they demanded, than, by assisting Charles to oppress them, to give such additional force to the imperial prerogative as would overturn the constitution of the empire. To all these consid- erations, the dread of seeing Germany laid waste by a civil war added new force. Many states of the empire already felt the destructive rage of Al- bert's arms ; others dreaded it, and all wished for an accommodation between the emperor and Mau- rice, which they hoped would save them from that cruel scourge. Such were the reasons that induced so many princes, notwithstanding the variety of their politi- cal interests, and the opposition in their religious sentiments, to unite in recommending to the em- peror an accommodation with Maurice, not only as a salutary, but as a necessary measure. The mo- tives which prompted Charles to desire it were not fewer or of less weight. He was perfectly sensible of the superiority which the confederates had ac- quired through his own negligence; and he now H2 84 REIGN OF THE [Book X felt the insufficiency of his own resources to oppose them. His Spanish subjects, disgusted at his long absence, and weary of endless wars which Avere of little benefit to their country, refused to furnish him any considerable supply either of men or money; and although by his address or importu- nity he might have hoped to draw from them at last more effectual aid, that, he knew, was too dis- tant to be of any service in the present exigency of his affairs. His treasury was drained ; his veteran forces were dispersed or disbanded, and he could not depend much either on the fidelity or courage of the new-levied soldiers whom he was collecting. There was no hope of repeating with success the same artifices which had Aveakened and ruined the Smalkaldic league. As the end at which he aimed was now known, he could no longer employ the specious pretexts which had formerly concealed his ambitious designs. Every prince in Germany w^as alarmed and on his guard ; and it was vain to think of binding them a second time to such a degree, as to make one part of them instruments to enslave the other. The spirit of a confederacy whereof Maurice was the head, experience had taught him to be very. different from that of the league of Smalkalde ; and from what he had already felt, he had no reason to flatter himself that its coun- sels would be as irresolute, or its efforts as timid and feeble. If he should resolve on continuing the war, he might be assured that the most con- siderable states in Germany would take part against 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. gg lum ; and a dubious neutrality was the utmost lie could expect from the rest. While the confed- erates found full employment for his arms in one quarter, the king of France would seize the favor- able opportunity, and push on his operations in another, with almost certain success. That mon- arch had already made conquests in the empire, which Charles was no less eager to recover, than impatient to be revenged on him for aiding his malecontent subjects. Though Henry had now retired from the banks of the Rhine, he had only varied the scene of hostilities, having invaded the Low Countries with all his forces. The Turks, roused by the solicitations of the French king, as well as stimulated by resentment against Ferdi- nand for having violated the truce in Hungary, had prepared a powerful fleet to ravage the coasts of Naples and Sicily, which he had left almost de- fenceless, by calling thence the greatest part of the regular troops to join the army which he was now assembling. Ferdinand, who w^ent in person to Villach, in order to lay before the emperor the result of the conferences at Passau, had likewise reasons pe- culiar to himself for desiring an accommodation. These prompted him to second, with the greatest earnestness, the arguments which the princes as- sembled there had employed in recommending it. He had observed, not without secret satisfaction, the fatal blow that had been given to the des- potic power which his brother had usurped in the 86 REIGN OF THE [Book X- empire. He was extremely solicitous to prevent ('haiies from recovering his former superiority, as he foresaw that ambitious prince Avould imme- diately resume, with increased eagerness, and with a better chance of success, his favorite scheme of transmitting that powder to his son, by excluding his brother from the right of succession to the imperial throne. On this account he was willing to contribute towards circumscribing the imperial authority, in order to render his own possession of it certain. Besides, Solyman, exasperated at the loss of Transylvania, and still more at the fraud- ulent arts by which it had been seized, had or- dered into the field an army of a hundred thousand men, which, baving defeated a great body of Fer- dinand's troops, and taken several places of impor- tance, threatened, not only to complete the conquest of the province, but to drive them out of that part of Hungary w^hich was still subject to his jurisdic- tion. He was unable to resist such a mighty en- emy; the emperor, while engaged in a domestic w^ar, could afford him no aid ; and he could not even hope to draw from Germany the contingent, either of troops or money, usually furnished to repel the invasions of the infidels. Maurice, hav- ing observed Ferdinand's perplexity with regard to this last point, had offered, if peace were re- established on a secure foundation, that he would march in person with his troops into Hungary against the Turks. Such was the effect of this well-timed proposal, that Ferdinand, destitute of 1552.] E:MPER0R CHARLES THE FIFTH. 87 every other prospect of relief, became the met zeal- ous advocate whom the confederates could have employed to urge their claims, and there was hard- ly anything that they could have demanded which he would not have chosen to grant, rather than have retarded a pacification, to which he trusted as the only means of saving his Hungarian crown. When so many causes conspired in rendering an accommodation eligible, it might have been expected that it would have taken place imme- diately. But the inflexibility of the emperor s tem- per, together with his unwillingness at once to re- linquish objects which he had long pursued with such earnestness and assiduity, counterbalanced, for some time, the force of all the motives which disposed him to peace, and not only put that event at a distance, but seemed to render it uncertain. When Maurice's demands, together with the letter of the mediators at Passau, were presented to him, he peremptorily refused to redress the grievances which were pointed out, nor would he agree to any stipulation for the immediate security of the Protestant religion, but proposed referring both these to the determination of a future diet. On his part, he required that instant reparation should be made to all who, during the present war, had suff'ered either by the licentiousness of the confeder- ate troops, or the exactions of their leaders. Maurice, who was well acquainted with the em peror's arts, immediately concluded that he had nothing in view by these overtures but to amuse 88 REIGN OF THE [Book X, and deceive ; and therefore, without listening to Ferdinand's entreaties, he left Passau abruptly, and joining his troops, which were encamped at Mer- gentheim, a city in Franconia, belonging to the knights of the Teutonic order, he put them in mo- tion, and renewed hostilities. As three thousand men in the emperor's pay had thrown themselves into Frankfort on the Maine, and might from thence invest the neighboring country of Hesse, he marched towards that city, and laid siege to it in form. The briskness of this enterprise, and the vigor with which Maurice carried on his approaches against the town, gave such an alarm to the emper- or, as disposed him to lend a more favorable ear to Ferdinand's arguments in behalf of an accom- modation. Fii*m and haughty as his nature was, he found it necessary to bend, and signified his will- ingness to make concessions on his part, if Mau- rice, in return, would abate somewhat of the rigor of his demands. Ferdinand, as soon as he per- ceived that his brother began to yield, did not desist from his importunities, until he prevailed upon him to declare what was the utmost that he would grant for the security of the confeder- ates. Having gained this difficult point, he in- stantly despatched a messenger to Maurice's camp, and, imparting to him the emperor's final resolu- tion, conjured him not to frustrate his endeavors for the re-establishment of peace ; or, by an un- seasonable obstinacy on his side, to disappoint the wishes of all Germany for that salutary event. 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. S9 Maurice, notwithstanding the prosperous situa- tion of his affairs, was strongly inclined to listen to this advice. The emperor, though overreachi^d and surprised, had now begun to assemble troops, and, however slow his motions might be while the first effects of his consternation remained, he was sensible that Charles must at last act with vigor proportional to the extent of his power and terri- tories, and lead into Germany an army formidable by its numbers, and still more by the terror of his name, as well as the remembrance of his past vic- tories. He could scarcely hope that a confederacy composed of so many members would continue to operate with union and perseverance sufficient to resist the consistent and well-directed efforts of an army at the absolute disposal of a leader accus- tomed to command and to conquer. He felt al- ready, although he had not hitherto experienced the shock of any adverse event, that he himself was the head of a disjointed body. He saw, from the example of Albert of Brandenburg, how diffi- cult it would be, with all his address and credit, to prevent any particular member from detaching himself from the whole, and how impossible to recall him to his proper rank and subordination. This filled him with apprehensions for the common cause. Another consideration gave him no less dis- quiet with regard to his own particular interests. By setting at liberty the degraded elector, and by repealing the act by which that prince was deprived of his hereditary honors and dominions, the emper- VOL. III. 12 90 KEIGN OF THE [Book X or had it in his power to wound him in the most tender part. The efforts of a prince beloved of his ancient subjects, and revered by all the Protestant party, in order to recover what had been unjustly taken from him, could hardly have failed of excit- ing commotions in Saxony, which would endanger all that he had acquired at the expense of so much dissimulation and artifice. It was no less in the emperor's power to render vain all the solicita- tions of the confederates in behalf of the land- grave. He had only to add one act of violence more to the injustice and rigor with which he had already treated him ; and he had accordingly threatened the sons of that unfortunate prince, that, if they persisted in their present enterprise, instead of seeing their father restored to liberty, they should hear of his having suffered the pun- ishment which his rebellion had merited.*^ Having deliberated upon all these points wdth his associates, Maurice thought it more prudent to accept of the conditions offered, though less advantageous than those which he had proposed, than again to commit all to the doubtful issue of war.*^ He repaired forthwith to Passau, and signed the treaty of peace ; of which the chief articles were, that, before the 12th day of Au- gust, the confederates shall lay down tUeir arms, and disband their forces; that, on or before that day, the landgrave shall be set at liberty, and con- veyed in safety to his castle of Eheinfels ; that a 41 Sleid. 571. 42 sieid. Ilist. 563, &c. Thuan. lib. x. 359, &o 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES IHE EIFTH. 91 diet shall be held within six months, in order to deliberate concerning the most proper and eiFectual method of preventing for the future all disputes and dissensions about religion ; that, in the mean time, neither the emperor nor any other princo shall, upon any pretext whatever, offer any injury or violence to such as adhered to the Confession of Augsburg, but allow them to enjoy the free and imdisturbed exercise of their religion ; that, in re- turn, the Protestants shall not molest the Cath- olics, either in the exercise of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or in performing their religious cere- monies ; that the imperial chamber shall admin- ister justice impartially to persons of both parties, and Protestants to be admitted indiscriminately with the Catholics to sit as judges in that court ; that if the next diet should not be able to termi- nate the disputes with regard to religion, the stipu- lations in the present treaty in behalf of the Prot- estants shall continue for ever in full force and vigor ; that none of the confederates shall be liable to any action on account of what had happened during the course of the war ; that the consider- ation of those encroachments which had been made, as Maurice pretended, upon the constitution and liberties of the empire, shall be remitted to the approaching diet ; that Albert of Brandenburg shall be comprehended in the treaty, provided he shall accede to it, and disband his forces before the 12th of August.'^ <3 Recueil des Traites, ii. 261. 92 REIGN OF THE [Book X. Such was the memorable treaty of Passau, that overturned the vast fabric, in erecting which Charles had employed so many years, and had exerted the utmost efforts of his power and policy ; that an- nulled all his regulations with regard to religion, defeated all his hopes of rendering the imperial authority absolute and hereditary in his family, and established the Protestant Church, which had hitherto subsisted precariously in Germany, through connivance, or by expedients, upon a firm and se- cure basis. Maurice reaped all the glory of having concerted and completed this unexpected revolution. It is a singular circumstance, that the Peformation should be indebted, for its security and full estab- lishment in Germany, to the same hand which had brought it to the brink of destruction, and that both events should have been accomplished by the same arts of dissimulation. The ends, however, which Maurice had in view at those difierent junc- tures, seem to have been more attended to than the means by which he attained them ; and he was now as universally extolled for his zeal and public spirit, as he had lately been condemned for his in- difibrence and interested policy. It is no less wor- thy of observation, that the French king, a monarch zealous for the Catholic faith, should employ his power in order to protect and maintain the Eefor- mation in the empire, at the very time when he was persecuting his own Protestant subjects with all the fierceness of bigotry, and that the league for this purpose, which proved so fatal to the Eom- 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTn. 93 ish Church, should be negotiated and signed by a Roman Catholic bishop. So wonderfully doth the wisdom of God superintend and regulate the ca- price of human passions, and render them subser- vient towards the accomplishment of his own pur- poses. Little attention was paid to the interests of the French king during the negotiations at Passau. Maurice and his associates, having gained what they had in view, discovered no great solicitude about an ally, whom, perhaps, they reckoned to be overpaid for the assistance which he had given them, by his acquisitions in Lorrain. A short clause which they procured to be inserted in the treaty, importing that the king of France might communicate to the confederates his particular pre- tensions or causes of hostility, which they would lay before the emperor, was the only sign that they gave of their remembering how much they had been indebted to him for their success. Henry ex- perienced the same treatment which every prince who lends his aid to the authors of a civil war may expect. As soon as the rage of faction began to subside, and any prospect of accommodation to open, his services were forgotten, and his asso- ciates made a merit with their sovereign of the ingratitude with which they abandoned their pro- tector. But how much soever Henry might be enraged at the perfidy of his allies, or at the im- patience with which they hastened to make their peace with the emperor, at his expense, he was 94 REIGN OF THE EMrEKOR CHARLES V. [Rook X. perfectly sensible that it was more his interest to keep well with the Germanic body, than to resent the indignities offered him by any particular mem- bers of it. For that reason he dismissed the host- ages which he had received from Maurice and his associates, and affected to talk in the same strain as formerly, concerning his zeal for maintaining the ancient constitution and liberties of the empire. BOOK XI. Maurice marches against the Turks. — The Lanrlirrave and the EleetCM recover their Liberty. — The Emperor makes War upon France. — The Siege of Metz. — Losses of the Emperor in Italy. — Descent of the Turks upon the Kingdom of Naples. — Confederacy under the Lead of Maurice against Albert of Brandenburg. — Maurice is slain in Battle, but Albert is defeated, and afterwards driven out of Ger- many. — Success of the Emperor In the Netherlands. — His Losses in Hungary and Italy. — The Family Troubles of Solyraan. — The Am- bition of his Mistress Roxalana, and the Fate of his Son Mustapha. — Marriage of Philip with Mary of England. — Efforts of Mary to overthrow Protestantism. — Henry conducts a vigorous Campaign against the Emperor. — Cosmo de' Medici's Schemes. — The French under Strozzi defeated. — Siege of Siena. — Retreat of the Duke of Alva from Piedmont. — Conspiracy to betray Metz discovered. — Diet at Augsburg. — Death of Pope Julius. — Charles endeavors anew to acquire the Imperial Crown for his Son Philip. — The Peace of Religion established. — Pope Marcellus II. — Pope Paul IV., and the ambitious Schemes of his Nephews. — The Emperor abdicates In favor of his Son Philip. — Peace between France and Spain. — The Pope attempts to rekindle War. — The Duke of Alva takes the Field against him. — A Truce between the Pope and Philip. As soon as the treaty of Passau was signed, Maurice, in consequence of his engagements with Ferdinand, marched into Hungary at the head of twenty thousand men. But the great superiority 12 96 REIGN OF THE |BookXI of the Turkish armies, the frequent mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, occasioned by their want of pay, together with the dissensions be- tween Maurice and Castaldo, who was piqued at being obliged to resign the chief command to him, prevented his performing anything in that country suitable to his former fame, or of great benefit to the king of the Romans.^ When Maurice set out for Hungary, the prince of Hesse parted from him with the forces under his command, and marched back into his own country, that he might be ready to receive his father upon his return, and give up to him the reins of government which he had held during his absence. But fortune was not yet weary of perse- cuting the landgrave. A battalion of mercenary troops, w^hich had been in the pay of Hesse, being seduced by Eeifenberg, their colonel, a soldier of fortune, ready to engage in any enterprise, secretly withdrew from the young prince as he was march- ing homewards, and joined Albert of Brandenburg, who still continued in arms against the emperor, refusing to be included in the treaty of Passau. Unhappily for the landgrave, an account of this reached the Netherlands just as he was dismissed from the citadel of Mechlin, where he had been confined, but before he had got beyond the fron- tiers of that country. The queen of Hungary, who governed there in her brother s name, incensed at such an open violation of the treaty to which he 1 Istuanhaffii Hist Hungar. 288. Thuan. li^. x. 371 156S.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 97 owed his liberty, issued orders to arrest him, and committed him again into the custody of the same Spanish captain who had guarded him for five years with the most severe vigilance. Philip beheld all the horrors of his imprisonment renewed; and his spirits subsiding in the same proportion as they had risen during the short interval in which he had enjoyed liberty, he sunk into despair, and be- lieved himself to be doomed to perpetual captivity. But the matter being so explained to the emperor, as fully satisfied him that the revolt of Reifenberg's mercenaries could be imputed neither to the land- grave nor to his son, he gave orders for his release ; and Philip at last obtained the liberty for which he had so long languished.^ But though he recov- ered his freedom, and was reinstated in his domin- ions, his sufferings seem to have broken the vigor, and to have extinguished the activity, of his mind. From being the boldest as well as most enterpris- ing prince in the empire, he became the most timid and cautious, and passed the remainder of his days in a pacific indolence. The degraded elector of Saxony likewise procured his liberty in consequence of the treaty of Passau. The emperor, having been obliged to relinquish all his schemes for extirpating the Protestant religion, had no longer any motive for detaining him a pris- oner; and being extremely solicitous at that junc- ture to recover the confidence and good-will of the Germans, whose assistance was essential to the suc- ''i Sleid. 573. Belcarii Comment. 834. VOL III. 13 98 REIGN OF THE [Book XI cess of the enterprise which he meditated against the king of France, he, among other expedients for that purpose, thought of releasing from im- prisonment a prince whose merit entitled him no less to esteem, than his sufferings rendered him the object of compassion. John Frederick took possession, accordingly, of that part of his terri- tories which had been reserved for him when Maurice was invested with the electoral dignity. As in this situation he continued to display the same virtuous magnanimity for which he had been conspicuous in a more prosperous and splendid state, and which he had retained amidst all his sufferings, he maintained during the remainder of his life that high reputation to which he had so just a title. The loss of Metz, Toul, and Verdun had made a deep impression on the emperor. Accustomed to terminate all his operations against France with advantage to himself, he thought that it nearly concerned his honor not to allow Henry the supe- riority in this war, or to suffer his o\^ti admin- istration to be stained with the infamy of having permitted territories of such consequence to be dismembered from the empire. This was no less a point of interest than of honor. As the fron- tier of Champagne was more naked, and lay more exposed, than that of any province in France, Charles had frequently, during his wars with that kingdom, made inroads upon that quarter with great success and effect; but if Henry T\en al- 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. 99 lowed to retain his late conquests, France would gain such a formidable barrier on that side, as to be altogether secure, where formerly she had been weakest. On the other hand, the emperor had now lost as much, in point of security, as France had acquired ; and, being stripped of the defence which those cities afforded it, lay open to be in- vaded on a quarter, where all the towns, having been hitherto considered as interior, and remote from an enemy, were but slightly fortified. These considerations determined Charles to attempt re- covering the three towns of which Henry had made himself master; and the preparations which he had made against Maurice and his associates enabled him to carry his resolution into immediate execution. As soon, then, as the peace was concluded at Passau, he left his inglorious retreat at Villach, and advanced to Augsburg, at the head of a consider- able body of Germans which he had levied, to- gether with all the troops which he had drawn out of Italy and Spain. To these he added several battalions, which, having been in the pay of the confederates, entered into his service when dis- missed by them ; and he prevailed likewise on some princes of the empire to join him with their vassals. In order to conceal the destination of this formidable army, and to guard against alarm- ing the French king, so as to put him on pre- paring for the defence of his late conquests, he gave out that he was to march forthwith into 100 REIGN OF THE [Book XL Hupgary, in order to second Maurice in his operas tions against the infidels. When he began to ad- vance towards the Rhine, and could no longer employ that pretext, he tried a new artifice, and spread a report, that he took this route in order to chastise Albert of Brandenburg, whose cruel exactions in that part of the empire called loudly for his interposition to check them. But the French having grown acquainted, at last, with arts by which they had been so often deceived, viewed all Charles's motions with dis- trust. Henry immediately discerned the true ob- ject of his vast preparations, and resolved to defend the important conquests which he had gained with vigor equal to that with which they were about to be attacked. As he foresaw that the whole weight of the war would be turned against Metz, by whose fate that of Toul and Verdun would be determined, he nominated Francis of Lorrain, duke of Guise, to take the command in that city during the siege, the issue of which would equally affect the honor and interest of his country. His choice could not have fallen upon any person more worthy of that trust. The duke of Guise possessed, in a high degree, all the talents of cour- age, sagacity, and presence of mind, which render men eminent in military command. He was largely endowed with that magnanimity of soul which de- lights in bold enterprises, and aspires to fam*^ by splendid and extraordinary actions. He repaired with joy to the dangerous station assigned him, 1552.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. IQI as to a theatre on which he might display his great qualities under the immediate eye of his country- men, all ready to applaud him. The martial gen ius of the French nobility in that age, which considered it as the greatest reproach to remain inactive when there was any opportunity of signal- izing their courage, prompted great numbers to follow a leader who was the darling as well as the pattern of every one that courted military fame. Several princes of the blood, many noble- men of the highest rank, and all the young officers who could obtain the king's permission, entered Metz as volunteers. By their presence they added spirit to the garrison, and enabled the duke of Guise to employ, on every emergency, persons eager to distinguish themselves, and fit to con- duct any service. But with whatever alacrity the duke of Guise undertook the defence of Metz, he found every- thing, upon his arrival there, in such a situation as might have induced any person of less intrepid courage to despair of defending it with success The city was of great extent, with large suburbs ; the walls were in many places feeble and with- out ramparts ; the ditch narrow ; and the old towers, which projected instead of bastions, were at too great distance from each other to defend the space between them. For all these defects he endeavored to provide the best remedy which the time would permit. He ordered the suburbs, Irithout sparing the monasteries or churches, not 102 REIGN OF THE [Book XL even that of St. Arnulph, in which several kings of France had been buried, to be levelled with the ground; but, in order to guard against the imputation of impiety, to which such a violation of so many sacred edifices, as well as of the ashes of the dead, might expose him, he executed this "vvith much religious ceremony. Having ordered all the holy vestments and utensils, together with the bones of the kings, and other persons depos- ited in these churches, to be removed, they were carried in solemn procession to a church within the walls, he himself walking before them bare- headed, with a torch in his hand. He then pidled down such houses as stood near the walls, cleared and enlarged the ditch, repaired the ruinous fortifi- cations, and erected new ones. As it was neces- sary that all these works should be finished with the utmost expedition, he labored at them with his own hands ; the officers and volunteers imi- tated his example ; and the soldiers submitted with cheerfulness to the most severe and fatiguing ser- vice, when they saw that their superiors did not decline to bear a part in it. At the same time, he compelled all useless persons to leave the place ; he filled the magazines with provisions and mili- tary stores; he burnt the mills, and destroyed the com and forage for several miles round the town. Such w^ere his popular talents, as well as his arts of acquiring an ascendant over the minds of men, that the citizens seconded him with no less ardor than the soldiers ; and every other pas- • I 1552.1 EMPEROll CHARLES THE FIFTH. I(j3 Bion being swallowed up in the zeal to repulse the enemy with which he inspired them, they beheld the ruin of their estates, together with the havoc which he made among their public and private buildings, without any emotion of resentment.^ Meantime, the emperor, having collected all his forces, continued his march towards Metz. As he passed through the cities on the Rhine, he saw the dismal effects of that licentious and wasteful war which Albert had carried on in these parts. Upon his approach, that prince, though at the head ot twenty thousand men, withdrew into Lorrain, as if he had intended to join the French king, whose arms he had quartered with his own in all his standards and ensigns. Albert was not in a con- dition to cope with the imperial troops,* which amounted, at least, to sixty thousand men, forming one of the most numerous and best-appointed armies which had been brought into the field dur- ing that age, in any of the wars among Christian princes. The chief command, under the emperor, was committed to the duke of Alva, assisted by the Marquis de Marignano, together with the most ex- perienced of the Italian and Spanish generals. As it was now towards the end of October, these intel- ligent officers represented the great danger of begin- ning, at such an advanced season, a siege which could not fail to prove very tedious. But Charles adhered to his own opinion with his usual ob- 3 Thuan. xi. 387. 4 Natal. Comitis Hist 127. K 104 KEIGN OF THE [Book XL Btinacy, and, being confident that he had made such preparations and taken such precautions as would insure success, he ordered the city to be invested. As soon as the duke of Alva appeared, a large body of the French sallied out and attacked his vanguard with great vigor, put it in confusion, and killed or took prisoners a considerable number of men. By this early specimen w^hich they gave of the conduct of their officers, as well as the valor of their troops, they showed the imperialists what an enemy they had to encounter, and how dear every advantage must cost them. The place, however, was com- pletely invested, the trenches were opened, and the other works begun. The attention both of the besiegers and besieged was turned for some time towards Albert of Bran- denburg, and they strove with emulation which should gain that prince, who still hovered in the neighborhood, fluctuating in all the uncertainty of irresolution, natural to a man who, being swayed by no principle, was allured different ways by con- trary views of interest. The French tempted him with offers extremely beneficial; the imperialists scrupled at no promise which they thought might allure him. After much hesitation, he was gained by the emperor, from whom he expected to receive advantages which were both more immediate and more permanent. As the French king, who began to suspect his intentions, had appointed a body of troops, under the duke of Aumale, brother to the duke of Guise, to watch his motions, Albert fell 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 105 upon them unexpectedly with such vigor, that he routed them entirely, killed many of the officers, wounded Aumale himself, and took him prisoner. Immediately after this victory, he marched in tri- umph to Metz, and joined his army to that of the emperor. Charles, in reward for this service, and the great accession of strength which he brought him, granted Albert a formal pardon of all past offences, and confirmed him in the possession of the territories which he had violently usurped during the war.^ The duke of Guise, though deeply affected with his brother's misfortune, did not remit in any de- gree the vigor with which he defended the town. He harassed the besiegers by frequent sallies, in which his officers were so eager to distinguish themselves, that, his authority being hardly suffi- cient to restrain the impetuosity of their courage, he was obliged at different times to shut the gates, and to conceal the keys, in order to prevent the princes of the blood, and noblemen of the first rank, from exposing themselves to danger in every sally. He repaired in the night what the enemy's artillery had beat down during the day, or erected behind the ruined works new fortifications of al- most equal strength. The imperialists, on their part, pushed on the attack with great spirit, and carried forward at once approaches against different parts of the town. But the art of attacking forti- fied places was not then arrived at that degree of s Sleid. 575. Thuan. lib. xi. 389. 3.9^ VOL. IIT. 14 106 EEIGN OF THE [Book XL peifection to which it was carried towards the close of the sixteenth century, during the long war in the Netherlands. The besiegers, after the unwea- ried labor of many weeks, found that they had made but little progress ; and although their batteries had made breaches in different places, they saw, to their astonishment, works suddenly appear, in de- molishing which their fatigues and dangers would be renewed. The emperor, enraged at the obstinate resistance w^hich his army met with, left Thionville, where he had been confined by a violent fit of the gout ; and though still so infirm that he was obliged to be carried in a litter, he repaired to the camp, that, by his presence, he might animate the sol- diers, and urge on the attack with greater spirit. Upon his arrival, new batteries were erected, and new efforts were made with redoubled ardor. But, by this time, winter had set in with great rigor; the camp was alternately deluged with rain or covered with snow ; at the same time provisions were become extremely scarce, as a body of French cavalry, which hovered in the neighborhood, often interrupted the convoys, or rendered their arrival difficult and uncertain. Diseases began to spread among the soldiers, especially among the Italians and Spaniards, unaccustomed to such inclement weather; great numbers were disabled from serv- ing, and many died. At length, such breaches were made as seemed practicable, and Charles re- solved to hazard a general assault, in spite of all the remonstrances of his generals ajijainst the im 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 107 prudence of attacking a numerous garrison, con- ducted and animated by the most gallant of the French nobility, with an army weakened by diseases, and disheartened with ill success. The duke of Guise, suspecting the emperor's intentions from the extraordinary movements which he observed in the enemy's camp, ordered all his troops to their re- spective posts. They appeared immediately on the walls, and behind the breaches, with such a deter- mined countenance, so eager for the combat, and so well prepared to give the assailants a warm recep- tion, that the imperialists, instead of advancing to the charge when the word of command w^as given, stood motionless in a timid, dejected silence. The emperor, perceiving that he could not trust troops whose spirits were so much broken, retired abrupt- ly to his quarters, complaining that he was now deserted by his soldiers, who deserved no longer the name of men.^ Deeply as this behavior of his troops mortified and affected Charles, he would not hear of abandon- ing the siege, though he saw the necessity of chan- ging the method of attack. He suspended the fury of his batteries, and proposed to proceed by the more secure but tedious method of sapping. But as it still continued to rain or to snow almost inces- santly, such as were employed in this service en- dured incredible hardships ; and the duke of Guise, whose industry was not inferior to his valor, dis- covering all their mines, counterworked them, and 6 Thuan. 397. K2 108 REIGN OF THE [Book XI prevented their effect. At last, Charles finding it impossible to contend any longer with the severity of the season, and with enemies whom he conld neither overpower by force nor subdue by art, w^hile at the same time a contagious distemper raged among his troops, and cut off daily great numbers of the officers as well as soldiers, yielded to the solicitations of his generals, who conjured him to save the remains of his army by a timely retreat. " Fortune," says he, " I now perceive, re- sembles other females, and chooses to confer her favors on young men, while she turns her back on those who are advanced in years." Upon this, he gave orders immediately to raise the siege, and submitted to the disgrace of aban- doning the enterprise, after having continued fifty- six days before the town, during which time he had lost upwards of thirty thousand men, w^ho died of diseases or were killed by the enemy. The duke of Guise, as soon as he perceived the mtention of the imperialists, sent out several bodies, both of cavalry and mfantry, to infest their rear, to pick up stragglers, and to seize every opportunity of attacking them with advantage. Such was the confusion with which they made their retreat, that the French might have har- assed them in the most cruel manner. But when they sallied out, a spectacle presented itself to their view which extinguished at once all hostile rage, and melted them into tenderness and com- passion. The imperial camp was filled with tW 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 109 sick and wounded, with the dead and the dying. In all the different roads by which the army re- tired, numbers were found, who, having made an effort to escape beyond their strength, Avere left, when tbey could go no further, to perish without assistance. This they received from their enemies, and were indebted to them for all the kind offices which their friends had not the power to perform. The duke of Guise immediately ordered proper refreshments for such as were dying of hunger; he appointed surgeons to attend the sick and wounded; he removed such as could bear it into the adjacent villages ; and those who would have suffered by being carried so far, he admitted into the hospitals which he had fitted up in the cily for his own soldiers. As soon as they recovered, he sent them home under an escort of soldiers, and with money to bear their charges. By these acts of humanity, which Avere uncommon in that age, when war was carried on with greater rancor and ferocity than at present, the duke of Guise com- pleted the fame which he had acquired by his gal- lant and successful defence of Metz, and engaged those whom he had vanquished to vie with his own countrymen in extolling his name.^ To these calamities in Germany were added such unfortunate events in Italy, as rendered .his '' Sleid. 575. Thuan. lib. xi. 389, &c. Pere Daniel, Hist, de France, torn. iii. 392. Pere Daniel's account of this siege is taken from the journal of the Sieur de Salignac, who was present. NataL Comit. Hist. 129. 110 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. the most disastrous year in the emperor's life. During his residence at Villach, Charles had ap- plied to Cosmo de' Medici for the loan of two hundred thousand crowns. But his credit at that time was so low, that, in order to obtain this incon- siderable sum, he w^as obliged to put him in pos- session of the principality of Piombino, and, by giving up that, he lost the footing which he had hitherto maintained in Tuscany, and enabled Cos- mo to assume, for the future, the tone and deport- ment of a prince altogether independent. Much about the time that his indigence constrained him to part with this valuable territory, he lost Siena, which w^as of still greater consequence, through the ill conduct of Don Diego de Mendoza.^ • Siena, like most of the great cities in Italy, had long enjoyed a republican government, under the protection of the empire ; but, being torn in pieces by the dissensions between the nobility and the people, which divided all the Italian common- wealths, the faction of the people, which gained the ascendant, besought the emperor to become the guardian of the administration which they had established, and admitted into their city a small body of Spanish soldiers, whom he had sent to countenance the execution of the laws, and to preserve tranquillity among them. The command of these troops w^as given to Mendoza, at that time ambassador for the emperor at Rome, who persuaded the credulous multitude, that it was 8 Thuan. lib. xi. 376. 1562.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. HI necessary, for their security against any future at- tempt of the nobles, to allow him to build a cita- del in Siena ; and as he flattered himself that, by means of this fortress, he might render the em- peror master of the city, he pushed on the works with all possible despatch. But he threw off the mask too soon. Before the fortifications were com- pleted, he began to indulge his natural haughtiness and severity of temper, and to treat the citizens with great insolence. At the same time the sol- diers in garrison, being paid as irregularly as the emperor's troops usually were, lived almost at dis- cretion upon the inhabitants, and were guilty of many acts of license and oppression. These injuries awakened the Sienese to a sense of their danger. As they saw the necessity of ex- erting themselves, while the unfinished fortifica- tions of the citadel left them any hopes of success, they applied to the French ambassador at Rome, who readily promised them his master's protection and assistance. At the same time, forgetting their domestic animosities when such a mortal blow was aimed at the liberty and existence of the republic, they sent agents to the exiled nobles, and invited them to concur with them in saving their country from the servitude with which it was threatened. As there was not a moment to lose, measures were concerted speedily, but with great prudence ; and were executed with equal vigor. The citizens rose suddenly in arms ; the exiles flocked into the town from different parts with all their partisans, and 112 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. what troops they could draw together ; and several bodies of mercenaries in the pay of France ap- peared to support them. The Spaniards, though surprised and much inferior in number, defended themselves with great courage ; but seeing no pros- pect of relief, and having no hopes of maintaining their station long in a half-finished fortress, they soon gave it up. The Sienese, with the utmost alacrity, levelled it with the ground, that no monu- ment might remain of that odious structure which had been raised in order to enslave them. At the same time, renouncing all connection with the em- peror, they sent ambassadors to thank the king of France as the restorer of their liberty, and to en- treat that he would secure to them the perpetual enjoyment of that blessing, by continuing his pro- tection to their republic.^ To these misfortunes, one still more fatal had almost succeeded. The severe administration of Don Pedro de Toledo, viceroy of Naples, having filled that kingdom with murmuring and disaifec- tion, the prince of Salerno, the head of the male- contents, had iled to the court of France, where all who bore ill-will to the emperor or his ministers were sure of finding protection and assistance. That nobl-eman, in the usual style of exiles, boast- ing much of the number and power of his parti- sans, and of his great influence with them, pre- vailed on Henry to think of invading Naples, 9 Pecci, Memoire de Siena, vol. iii. pp. 230, 261. Thuan. 375, S7i', fcc Paruta, Hist. Venet. 267. Mem. de Kibier, 424, &c. 1552.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 113 from an expectation of being joined by all those with whom the prince of Salerno held correspond- ence, or who were dissatisfied with Toledo's gov- ernment. But though the first hint of this enter- prise was suggested by the prince of Salerno, Henry did not choose that its success should entirely de- pend upon his being able to fulfil the promises which he had made. He applied for aid to Soly- man, whom he courted, after his father's example, as his most vigorous auxiliary against the emper- or, and solicited him to second his operations, by sending a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean. It was not difficult to obtain what he requested of the sultan, who, at this time, was highly incensed against the house of Austria, on account of the proceedings in Hungary. He ordered a hundred and fifty ships to be equipped, that they might sail towards the coast of Naples, at whatever time Henry should name, and might co-operate with the French troops in their attempts upon that king- dom. The command of this fleet was given to the corsair Dragut, an officer trained up under Barba- rossa, and scarcely inferior to his master in courage, in talents, or in good fortune. He appeared on the coast of Calabria at a time which had been agreed on, landed at several places, plundered and burnt sevei*al villages ; and, at last, casting anchor in the Bay of Naples, filled that city with consternation. But as the French fleet, detained by some accident, which the contemporary historians have not ex- plained, did not join the Turks according to con- \0L. III. 15 114 REIGN OF TUB JBook XT. cert, ihej, after waiting twenty €rceiving that it was his own interest to co-operate with her, readily promised his assistance towards aggrandizing that branch of the royal line to which he was now so nearly allied. As soon as Roxalana had concerted her measures with this able confidant, she began to affect a won- derful zeal for the Mahometan religion, to which Solyman was superstitiously attached, and proposed to found and endow a royal mosque, a work of great expense, but deemed by the Turks meritori- ous in the highest degree. The mufti, whom she consulted, approved much of her pious intention ; but, having been gained and instructed by Eustan, told her, that she, being a slave, could derive no benefit herself from that holy deed, for all the merit of it would accrue to Solyman, the master, whose property she was. Upon this she seemed to be overwhelmed with sorrow, and to sink into the deepest melancholy, as if she had been disgusted with life and all its enjoyments. Solyman, who was absent with the army, being informed of this dejection of mind, and of the cause from which it proceeded, discovered all the solicitude of a lover to remove it, and, by a writing under his hand, de- clared her a free woman. Roxalana, having gained this point, proceeded to build the mosque, and re- assumed her usual gayety of spirit. But when Solyman, on his return to Constantinople, sent a eunuch, according to the custom of the seraglio, tc 7 M 1 28 REIGN OF THE [Book XI, bring her to partake of his bed, she, seemingly with deep regret, but in the most peremptory manner, decHned to follow the eunuch, declaring that what had been an honor to her while a slave became a crime as she was now a free Avoman, and that she would not involve either the sultan or herself in the guilt that must be contracted by such an open violation of the law of their prophet. Solyman, whose passion this difficulty, as well as the affected delicacy which gave rise to it, heightened and in- flamed, had recourse immediately to the mufti for his direction. He replied, agreeably to the Koran, that Koxalana's scruples were well founded ; but added artfully, in words which E-ustan had taught him to use, that it w^as in the sultan's power to re- move these difficulties, by esj)ousing her as his law- ful wife. The amorous monarch closed eagerly with the proposal, and solemnly married her, according to the form of the Mahometan ritual; though, by so doing, he disregarded a maxim of policy which the pride of the Ottoman blood had taught all the sultans since Bajazet I. to consider as inviolable. From his time none of the Turkish monarchs had married, because, when he was van- quished and taken prisoner by Tamerlane, his wife had been abused with barbarous insolence by the Tartars. That no similar calamity might again subject the Ottoman family to the same disgrace, the sultans admitted none to their beds but slaves, whose dishonor could not bring any such staiii up- on their house. 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 129 But the more uncommon the step was, the more it convinced Roxalana of the unbounded influence which she had acquired over the sultan's heart ; and emboldened her to prosecute, with greater hope of success, the scheme that she had formed in order to destroy Mustapha. This young prince, having been intrusted by his father, according to the practice of the sultans in that age, with the government of several different provinces, was at that time invested with the administration in Diar- bequir, the ancient Mesopotamia, which Solyman had wrested from the Persians, and added to his empire. In all these different commands, Musta- pha had conducted himself with such cautious pru- dence as could give no offence to his father, though, at the same time, he governed with so much moder- ation as well as justice, and displayed such valor and generosity, as rendered him equally the favor- ite of the people and the darling of the soldiery. There was no room to lay any folly or vice to his charge, that could impair the high opinion which his father entertained of him. E-oxalana's malevo- lence was more refined ; she turned his virtues against him, and made use of these as engines for his destruction. She often mentioned, in Solyman's presence, the splendid qualities of his son ; she celebrated his courage, his liberality, his popular arts, with malicious and exaggerated praise. As soon as she perceived that the sultan heard these encomiums, which w^ere often repeated, with un- easiness ; that suspicion of his son began to mingle VOL. III. 17 130 REIGN OF THE IBook XL itself with his former esteem ; and that by degrees he came to view him with jealousy and fear ; she in- troduced, as by accident, some discourse concerning the rebellion of his father, Selim, against Bajazet, his grandfather : she took notice of the bravery of the veteran troops under Mustapha's command, and of the neighborhood of Diarbequir to the terri- tories of the Persian sophi, Solyman's mortal ene- my. By these arts, whatever remained of paternal tenderness was gradually extinguished, and such passions were kindled in the breast of the sultan as gave all Roxalana's malignant suggestions the color not only of probability but of truth. His- suspicions and fear of Mustapha settled into deep- rooted hatred. He appointed spies to observe and report all his words and actions ; he watched and stood on his guard against him, as his most danger- ous enemy. Having thus alienated the sultan's heart from Mustapha, Roxalana ventured upon another step. She entreated Solyman to allow her own sons the liberty of appearing at court, hoping that, by gaining access to their father, they might, by their good qualities and dutiful deportment, insinuate themselves into that place in his affections which Mustapha had formerly held; and though what she demanded was contrary to the practice of the Ottoman family in that age, the uxorious monarch granted her request. To all these female intrigues, Rustan added an artifice still more subtle, which completed the sultan's delusion, and heightened hisi 1553.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 1^1 jealousy and fear. He wrote to the bashas of the provmces adjacent to Diarbequir, instructing them to send him regular intelligence of Mustapha's proceedings in his government, and to each of them he gave a private hint, flowing in appear- ance from his zeal for their interest, that nothhi^ would be more acceptable to the sultan than to re- ceive favorable accounts of a son whom he destined to sustain the glory of the Ottoman name. The bashas, ignorant of his fraudulent intention, and eager to pay court to their sovereign at such an easy price, filled their letters with studied but fatal panegyrics of Mustapha, representing him as a prince worthy to succeed such an illustrious father, and as endowed with talents which mio^ht enable him to emulate, perhaps to equal, his fame. These letters were industriously shown to Solyman, at the seasons when it was known that they would make the deepest impression. Every expression in recommendation of his son wounded him to the heart; he suspected his principal officers of being ready to favor the most desperate attempts of a prince whom they were so fond of praising ; and fancying that he saw them already assaulting his throne with rebellious arms, he determined, while it was yet in his power, to anticipate the blow, and to secure his own safety by his son's death. For this purpose, though under pretence of re- newing the war against Persia, he ordered K-ustan :o march towards Diarbequir at the head of a nu- merous army, and to rid him of a son whose life M2 132 REIGN OF THE [Book XL he deemed inconsistent with his own safety. But that crafty minister did not choose to be loaded with the odium of having executed this cruel order. As soon as he arrived in Syria he wrote to Solyman, that the danger was so imminent as called for his immediate presence; that the camp was full of Mustapha's emissaries ; that many of the soldiers were corrupted ; that the affections of all leaned towards him ; that he had discovered a negotiation which had been carried on with the sophi of Persia, in order to marry Mustapha with one of his daughters ; that he already felt his own talents as well as authority to be inadequate to the exigencies of such an arduous conjuncture; that the sultan alone had sagacity to discern what reso- lution should be taken in those circumstances, and power to carry that resolution into execution. This charge of courting the friendship of the sophi, Roxalana and E,ustan had reserved as the last and most envenomed of all their calumnies. It operated with the violence which they expected from Solyman's inveterate abhorrence of the Per- sians, and threw him into the wildest transports of rage. He set out instantly for Syria, and hastened thither with all the precipitation and impatience of fear and revenge. As soon as he joined his army near Aleppo, and had concerted measures with Rustan, he sent a chiaus, or mes- senger of the court, to his son, requiring him to repair immediately to his presence. Mustapha, though no stranger to his step-mother's machiii^- •553.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 133 tions, or to Rustan's malice, or to his father's violent temper, yet, relying on his own innocence, and hoping to discredit the accusations of his enemies by the promptitude of his obedience, followed the messengers without delay to Aleppo. The moment he arrived in the camp, he was in- troduced into the sultan's tent. As he entered it, he observed nothing that could give him any alarm ; no additional crowd of attendants, no body of armed guards, but the same order and silence which always reign in the sultan's apartments. In a few minutes, however, several mutes appeared, at the sight of whom Mustapha, knowing what was his doom, cried with a loud voice, " Lo, my death ! " and attempted to ily. The mutes rushed forward to seize him ; he resisted and struggled, demanding with the utmost earnestness to see the sultan ; and despair, together with the hope of finding protection from the soldiers, if he could escape out of the tent, animated him with such extraordinary strength, that, for some time, he baffled all the efforts of the executioners. Soly- man was within hearing of his son's cries, as well as of the noise which the struggle occasioned. Impatient of this delay of his revenge, and struck with terror at the thoughts of Mustapha's escaping, he drew aside the curtain which divided the tent, and, thrusting in his head, darted a fierce look towards the mutes, and, with wild and threatening gestures, seemed to condemn their sloth and timid- ity At sight of his father's furious and unre- 134 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. lentiiig countenance, Mustapha's strength failed, and his courage forsook him; the mutes fastened the bowstring about his neck, and in a moment put an end to his life. The dead body was exposed before the sultan's tent. The soldiers gathered round it, and, con- templating that mournfrl object with astonish- ment, and sorrow, and indignation, were ready, if a leader had not been wanting, to have broke out into the wildest excesses of rage. After giving vent to the first expressions of their grief, they re- tired each man to his tent, and, shutting them- selves up, bewailed in secret the cruel fate of their favorite; nor was there one of them who tasted food, or even water, during the remainder of that day. Next morning the same solitude and silence reigned in the camp ; and Solyman, being afraid that some dreadful storm would follow this sullen calm, in order to appease the enraged soldiers, de- prived Rustan of the seals, ordered him to leave the camp, and raised Achmet, a gallant officer, much beloved in the army, to the dignity of vizier. This change, however, was made in concert with Rustan himself; that crafty minister suggesting it as the only expedient which could save himself or his master. But within a few months, when the resentment of the soldiers began to subside, and the name of Musts pha to be forgotten, Achmet was strangled by the sultan's command, and Eus- tan reinstated in the office of vizier. Together with his former power, he reassumed the plan 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FH^^TH. 135 for exterminating the race of Mustapha n^hich he had concerted with Roxalana ; and as they wert afraid that an only son whom Mustapha had left might grow up to avenge his death, they re- doubled their activity, and, by employing the same arts against him which they had practised against his father, they inspired Solyman with the same fears, and prevailed on him to issue orders for putting to death that young, innocent prince. These orders w^ere executed with barbarous zeal by a eunuch, who was despatched to Burso, the place where the prince resided ; and no rival was left to dispute the Ottoman throne with the sons of Roxalana.^^ Such tragical scenes, productive of so deep dis- tress, seldom occur but in the history of the great monarchies of the East, w^here the warmth of the climate seems to give every motion of the heart its greatest force, and the absolute power of sovereigns accustoms and enables them to grati- fy all their passions without control. While this interesting transaction in the court of Solyman en- gaged his whole attention, Charles was pursuing, with the utmost ardor, a new scheme for aggran- dizing his family. About this time, Edward VI. of England, after a short reign, in which he dis- played such virtues as filled his subjects with sanguine hopes of being happy under his govern- 19 Augerii GLslenii Busbequli Legationis Turcicae Epistolae iv. Franc 1615, p. 37. Tliuan. lib xii. p. 432. Mem. de Hibier, ii. 457. Man- roceni, Histor. Veneta, lib. vii. p. 60. 136 REIGN OF THE [Book XL ment, and made them bear with patience all that they suffered from the weakness, the dissensions, and the ambition of the ministers who assumed the administration during his minority, was seized with a lingering distemper, which threatened his life. The emperor no sooner received an account of this, than his ambition, always attentive to seize every opportunity of acquiring an increase of power, or of territories, to his son, suggested the thought of adding England to his other king- doms, by the marriage of Philip with the Princess Mary, the heir of Edward's crown. Being appre- hensive, however, that his son, who was then in Spain, might decline a match with a princess in her thirty-eighth year, and eleven years older than himself,^^ Charles determined, notwithstanding his own age and infirmities, to make offer of himself as a husband to his cousin. But though Mary was so far advanced in years, and destitute of every charm either of person or manners that could win affection or command es- teem, Philip, without hesitation, gave his consent to the proposed match by his father, and was will- ing, according to the usual maxim of princes, to sacrifice his inclmation to his ambition. In order to insure the success of his scheme, the emperor, even before Edward's death, began to take such steps as might flicilitate it. Upon Edward's demise, Mary mounted the throne of England ; the preten- sions of the Lady Jane Gray proving as unfortunute 20 Pallav. Hist Concil. Trid. v. ii. c. 13, p. 150. 1553.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 137 as they were ill-founded.^^ Charles sent immedi- ately a pompous embassy to London to congratulate Mary on her accession to the throne, and to prt>- pose the alliance with his son. The queen, dazzled with the prospect of marrying the heir of the great- est monarch in Europe ; fond of uniting more close- ly with her mother's family, to which she had been always warmly attached ; and eager to secure the powerful aid which she knew would be necessary towards carrying on her favorite scheme of re-estab- lishing the Romish religion in England, listened in the most favorable manner to the proposal. Among her subjects it met with a very different reception. Philip, it was well known, contended for all the tenets of the Church of Rome with a sanguinary zeal which exceeded the measure even of Spanish bigotry; this alarmed all the numer- ous partisans of the Eeformation. The Castilian haughtiness and reserve were far from being ac- ceptable to the English, who, having several times feen their throne occupied by persons who were born subjects, had become accustomed to an un- ceremonious and familiar intercourse with their sovereigns. They could not think, without the utmost uneasiness, of admitting a foreign prince to that influence in their councils which the hus- band of their queen would naturally possess. They dreaded, both from Philip's overbearing temper, and from the maxims of the Spanish monarchy which he had imbibed, that he would infuse ideas 91 Carte's Hist of England, iii. 287. VOL. UI. 18 138 REIGN OF THE [Book XL into fhe queen's mind dangerous to the liberties of the nation, and would introduce foreign troops and money into the kingdom, to assist her in any at- tempt against them. Full of these apprehensions, the House of Com- mons, though in that age extremely obsequious to the will of their monarchs, presented a warm ad- dress against the Spanish match ; many pamphlets were published, representing the dangerous conse- quences of the alliance with Spain, and describing Philip's bigotry and arrogance in the most odious colors. But Mary, inflexible in all her resolutions, paid no regard to the remonstrances of her com- mons, or to the sentiments of the people. The em- peror having secured, by various arts, the ministers whom she trusted most, they approved warmly of the match, and large sums were remitted by him in order to gain the rest of the council. Cardinal Pole, whom the pope, immediately upon Mary's ac- cession, had despatched as his legate into England, in order to reconcile his native country to the see of Rome, was detained, by the emperor's command, at Dillinghen, in Germany, lest by his presence he should thwart Philip's pretensions, and employ his interest in favor of his kmsman, Courtnay, earl of Devonshire, whom the English ardently wished their sovereign to choose for a husband. ^^ As the negotiation did not admit of delay, it was carried forward with the greatest rapidity, the em- peror agreeing, without hesitation, to every article 22 Carte, iii. 288. 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 139 in favor of England, which Mary's ministers either represented as necessary to soothe the people and reconcile them to the match, or that was suggested by their own fears and jealousy of a foreign master. The chief articles were, that Philip, during his marriage with the queen, should bear the title of king of England, but the entire administration of affairs, as well as the sole disposal of all revenues, offices, and benefices, should remain with the queen ; that the heirs of the marriage should, together with the crown of England, inherit the duchy of Burgundy and the Low Countries ; that if Prince Charles, Philip's only son by a former marriage, should die without issue, his children by the queen, whether male or female, should succeed to the crown of Spain, and all the emperor's hereditary dominions ; that, before the consummation of the marriage, Philip should swear solemnly, that he would retain no domestic who was not a subject of the queen, and would bring no foreigners into the kingdom that he might give umbrage to the Eng- lish ; that he would make no alteration in the con- stitution or laws of England ; that he would not carry the queen, or any of the children born of this marriage, out of the kingdom ; that if the queen should die before him without issue, he would im- mediately leave the crown to the lawful heir, with- out claiming any right of administration whatever ; that, in consequence of this marriage, England should not be engaged in any war subsisting be- tween France and Spain ; and that the alliance 140 REIGN OF THE [Boox XI. between France and England should remain in full force.^ But this treaty, though both the emperor and Mary's ministers employed their utmost address in framing it so as to please the English, was far from quieting their fears and jealousies. They saw that words and promises were a feeble security against the encroachments of an ambitious prince, who, as soon as he got possession of the power and advan- tages which the queen's husband must necessarily enjoy, could easily evade any of the articles which either limited his authority or obstructed his schemes. They were convinced, that, the more favorable the conditions of the present treaty were to England, the more Philip would be tempted to violate them. They dreaded that England, like Naples, ^lilan, and the other countries annexed to Spain, would soon feel the dominion of that crown to be intolerably oppressive, and be constrained, as they had been, to waste its wealth and vigor in wars wherein it had no interest, and from which it could derive no advantage. These sentiments pre- vailed- so generally, that every part of the kingdom was filled with discontent at the match, and with indignation against the advisers of it. Sir Thomas Wyat, a gentleman of some note, and of good in- tentions towards the public, took advantage of this, and roused the inhabitants of Kent to arms, in order to save their country from a foreign yoke^ Great numbers resorted, in a short time, to his 23 Rymer's Foed. vol. xv. 377, 393. Mem. de RibJer, ii. 498. 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 141 standard ; he marched to London with such rapid* ity, and the queen was so utterly unprovided fox defence, that the aspect of affairs was extremely threatening ; and if any nobleman of distinction had joined the malecontents, or had Wyat possessed talents equal in any degree to the boldness of his enterprise, the insurrection must have proved fatal to Mary's power. But all Wyat's measures were concerted with so little prudence, and executed with such irresolution, that many of his followers forsook him ; the rest were dispersed by a handful of soldiers, and he himself was taken prisoner, without having made any effort worthy of the cause that he had undertaken, or suitable to the ardor with which he engaged in it. He suffered the punishment due to his rashness and rebellion. The queen's authority was confirmed and increased by her success in defeating this inconsiderate attempt to abridge it. The Lady Jane Gray, whose title the ambition of her relations had set up in opposi- tion to that of the queen, was, notwithstanding her youth and innocence, brought to the scaffold. The Lady Elizabeth, the queen's sister, was observed with the most jealous attention. The treaty of marriage was ratified by the parliament. Philip landed in England with a magnificent ret- inue, celebrated his nuptials with great solemnity; and, though he could not lay aside his natural severity and pride, or assume gracious and popular manners, he endeavored to conciliate the favor of thf^ English nobility by his extraordinary liberality. 142 KEIGN OF THE iBooK XL Lest that should fail of acquiring him such influ- ence in the government of the kingdom as he aimed at obtaining, the emperor kept a body of twelve thousand men on the coast of Flanders, in readiness to embark for England, and to support his son in all his enterprises. Emboldened by all these favorable circumstances, Mary pursued the scheme of extirpating the Prot^ estant religion out of her dominions, with the most precipitant zeal. The laws of Edw^ard VI. in favor of the Reformation were repealed; the Protestant clergy ejected; all the forms and rites of the popish worship were re-established; the nation was solemn- ly absolved from the guilt which it had contracted during the period of its apostasy, and was publicly reconciled to the Church of Home by Cardinal Pole, who, immediately after the queen's marriage, was permitted to continue his journey to England, and to exercise his legatine functions with the most ample power. Not satisfied with having over- turned the Protestant Church, and re-establishing the ancient system on its ruins, Mary insisted that all her subjects should conform to the same mode of worship which she preferred ; should profess their faith in the same creed which she had ap- proved; and abjure every practice or opinion that was deemed repugnant to either of them. Powei^ altogether unknown in the English constitution were vested in certain persons appointed to take cognizance of heresy, and they proceeded to exer- cise them with more than inquisitorial severity. 1554.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 14,'5 The prospect of danger, however, did not intimi- date the principal teachers of the Protestant doc- trines, who believed that they were contending for truths of the utmost consequence to the happiness of mankind. They boldly avowed their sentiments, and were condemned to that cruel death which the Church of Rome reserved for its enemies. This shocking punishment was inflicted with that bar- barity which the rancor of false zeal alone can inspire. The English, who are inferior in hu- manity to no people in Europe, and remarkable for the mildness of their public executions, beheld with astonishment and horror persons who had filled the most respectable stations in the Church, and who were venerable on account of their aae, their piety, and their literature, condemned to en- dure torments to which their laws did not subject even the most atrocious criminals. This extreme rigor did not accomplish the end at which Mary aimed. The patience and fortitude with which these martyrs for the Reformation sub- mitted to their sufferings, the heroic contempt of death expressed by persons of every rank, and age, and sex, confirmed many more in the Protestant faith than the threats of their enraged prosecutors could frighten into apostasy. The business of such as were intrusted with trying heretics multiplied continually, and appeared to be as endless as it was odious. The queen's ablest ministers became sensi*- ble how impolitic, as well as dangerous, it was to irritate the people by the frequent spectacle of pub- N2 144 EEIGN OF THE fBooK XL lie executions, which they detested as no less unjust than cruel. Even Philip was so thoroughly con- vinced of her having run to an excess of rigor, that, on this occasion, he assumed a part to which he was little accustomed, becoming an advocate for moderation and lenity.^ But notwithstanding this attempt to ingratiate himself with the English, they discovered a con- stant jealousy and distrust of all his intentions ; and when some members, who had been gained by the court, ventured to move in the House of Com- mons that the nation ought to assist the emperor, the queen's father-in-law, in his war against France, the proposal was rejected with general dissatisfac- tion. A motion which was made, that the parlia- ment should give its consent that Philip might be publicly crowned as the queen's husband, met with such a cold reception that it was instantly with- drawn.^^ The king of France had observed the progress of the emperor's negotiation in England with much uneasiness. The great accession of territories as well as reputation which his enemy would acquire by the marriage of his son with the queen of such a powerful kingdom, was obvious and formidable. He easily foresaw that the English, notwithstand- ing all their fears and precautions, would soon be drawn in to take part in the quarrels on the Conti- 94 Godwin's Annals of Q. Mary, ap. Kennet, ii. p. 329. Bumet*9 Hist, of Reform, ii. 298, 305. 25 Carte's Hist, of Endand, iii. 314. 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE EIETH. 145 nent, and be compelled to act in subserviency to the emperor's ambitious schemes. For this reason, Henry had given it in charge to his ambassador at the court of London to employ all his address in or- der to defeat or retard the treaty of marriage ; and as there was not, at that time, any prince of the blood in France whom he could propose to the queen as a husband, he instructed him to co-operate with such of the English as wished their sovereign to marry one of her own subjects. But the queen's ardor and precipitation, in closing with the first overtures in favor of Philip, having rendered all his endeavors ineffectual, Henry was so far from thinking it prudent to give any aid to the English nialecontents, though earnestly solicited by Wyat and their other leaders, who tempted him to take bim under his protection, by offers of great advan- tage to France, that he commanded his ambassador to congratulate the queen in the warmest terms upon the suppression of the insurrection. Notwithstanding these external professions, Hen- ry dreaded so much the consequence of this alli- ance, which more than compensated for all the em- peror had lost in Germany, that he determined to carry on his military operations, both in the Low Countries and in Italy, with extraordinary vigor, in order that he might compel Charles to accept of an equitable peace, before his daugh- ter-in-law could surmount the aversion of her subjects to a war on the Continent, and pre- vail on them to assist the emperor either with VOL. III. 19 146 REIGN OF THE [Book XL money or troops. For this purpose, he exerted himself to the utmost, in order to have a numer- ous army each assembled on the frontiers of the Netherlands, and, while one part of it laid waste the open country of Artois, the main body, under the Constable Montmorency, advanced towards the provinces of Liege and Hainault by the forest of Ardennes. The campaign was opened with the siege of Mariemburg, a town which the queen of Hun- gary, the governess of the Low Countries, had fortified at great expense; but being destitute of a sufficient garrison, it surrendered in six days. Henry, elated with this success, put himself at the head of his army, and, investing Bouvines, took it by assault, after a short resistance. With equal facility he became master of Dinant ; and then, turning to the left, bent his march towards the province of Artois. The large sums which the emperor had remitted into England had so ex- hausted his treasury, as to render his preparations at this juncture slower and more dilatory than usual. He had no body of troops to make head agamst the French at their first entrance into his territories ; and though he drew together all tlie forces in the country in the utmost hurry, and gave the command of them to Emanuel Philibert of Sa- voy, they were in no condition to face an enerny so far superior in number. The prince of Savoy, how- ever, by his activity and good conduct, made up for his want of troops. By watching all the motions of I554.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE EIFTH 147 the French at a distance, and by choosing his own posts with skill, he put it out of their power either to form any siege of consequence, or to attack him. Want of subsistence soon obliged them to fall back towards their own frontiers, after having burnt all the open towns, and having plundered the country through which they marched with a cruelty and license more becoming a body of light troops than a royal army led by a great monarch. But Henry, that he might not dismiss his army without attempting some conquest adequate to the great preparations, as well as sanguine hopes, with which he had opened the campaign, invested Renti, a placed deemed in that age of great importance, as, by its situation on the confines of Artois and the Boulonnois, it covered the former province, and pro- tected the parties which made incursions into the latter. The town, which was strongly fortified, and provided with a numerous garrison, made a gallant defence ; but being warmly pressed by a powerful army, it must soon have yielded. The emperor, who at that time e'ajoyed a short interval of ease from the gout, was so solicitous to save it, that, although he could bear no other motion but that of a litter, he instantly put himself at the head of his army, which, having received several reinforce- ments, was now strong enough to approach the ene- my. The French were eager to decide the fate of Renti by a battle, and expected it from the emper- or's arrival in his camp ; but Charles avoided a gen- eral action with great industry, and, as he had noth- 148 REIGN OF THE [Book XL ing in view but to save the town, he hoped to ao comphsh that, without exposing himself to the con- sequences of such a dangerous and doubtful event. Notwithstanding all his precautions, a dispute about a post which both armies endeavored to seize, brought on an engagement which proved almost general. The duke of Guise, who com- manded the wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat, displayed valor and conduct worthy of the defender of Metz; the imperialists, after an obstinate struggle, were repulsed ; the French remained masters of the post in dispute; and if the constable, either from his natural cau- tion and slowness, or from unwillingness to sup- port a rival whom he hated, had not delayed bringing up the main body to second the im- pression which Guise had made, the rout of the enemy must have been complete. The emperor, notwithstanding the loss which he had sustained, continued in the same camp ; and the French, bemg straightened for provisions, and finding it impossible to carry on the seige in the face of a hostile army, quitted their intrenchments. They retired openly, courting the enemy to approach, rather than shunning an engagement. But' Charles, having gained his end, suffeied them to march off unmolested. As soon as his troops entered their own country, Henry threw garrisons into the frontier towns, and dismissed the rest of the army. This encouraged th^ im- perialists to push forward with a considerable 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 149 body of troops into Picardy, and, by laying waste the country with tire and sword, they endeavored to revenge themselves for the ravages which the French had committed in Hainault and Artois.^^ But as they were not able to re- duce any place of importance, they gained nothing more than the enemy had done by this cruel and inglorious method of carrying on the war. The arms of France were still more unsuccess- ful in Italy. The footing which the French had acquired in Siena occasioned much uneasiness to Cosmo de' Medici, the most sagacious and enter- prising of all the Italian princes. He dreaded the neighborhood of a powerful people, to whom all who favored the ancient republican govern- ment in Florence would have recourse, as to their natural protectors, against that absolute authority which the emperor had enabled him to usurp; he knew how odious he was to the French, on ac- count of his attachment to the imperial party, and he foresaw that, if they were permitted to gather strength in Siena, Tuscany would soon feel the effects of their resentment. For these reasons, he wished, with the utmost solicitude, for the ex- pulsion of the French out of the Sienese, before they had time to establish themselves thoroughly in the country, or to receive such reinforcements from France as would render it dangerous to attack them. As this, howeA^er, was properly the emperor's business, who was called by his interest 26 Thuan. 160, &c Haraei Ann. Brab. 674. 150 KETGN OF THE [Book XI as well as honor to dislodge those formidable intruders into the heart of his dominions, Cosmo labored to throw the whole burden of the enter- prise on him ; and, on that account, had given no assistance, during the former campaign, but by advancing some small sums of money towards the payment of the imperial troops. But as the defence of the Netherlands engrossed all the emperor's attention, and his remittances into Eno^land had drained his treasurv, it was obvious that his operations in Italy w^ould be extremely feeble ; and Cosmo plainly perceived, that if he himself did not take part openly in the war, and act with vigor, the French would scarcely meet with any annoyance. As his sit- uation rendered this resolution necessary and unavoidable, his next care w^as to execute it in ,5uch a manner, that he might derive from it some other advantage besides that of driving the French out of his neighborhood. With this \dew, he despatched an envoy to Charles, offering to de- clare war against France, and to reduce Siena at his own charges, on condition that he should be repaid whatever he might expend in the enterprise, and be permitted to retain all his conquests until his demands were fully satisfied. Charles, to whom, at this juncture, the war against Siena was an intolerable burden, and who had neither expedient nor resource that could enable him to carry it on with proper vigor, closed gladly with this overture; and Cosmo, well acquainted with 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. 151 the low state of the imperial finances, flattered himself that the emperor, finding it impossible to reimburse him, would sufi"er him to keep quie' possession of whatever places he should conquer.^ Full of these hopes, he made great preparations for war, and, as the French king had. turned the strength of his arms against the Netherlands, he did not despair of assembling such a body of men as would prove more than a sufficient match foi any force which Henry could bring into the field in Italy. He endeavored, by giving one of his daughters to the Pope's nephew, to obtain assist- ance from the holy see, or at least to secure his remaining neutral. He attempted to detach the duke of Orsini, whose family had been long at- tached to the French party, from his ancient con- federates, by bestowing on him another of his daughters ; and, what was of greater consequence than either of these, he engaged John James Medecino, marquis of Marignano, to take the command of his army.^^ This ofiicer, from a very low condition in life, had raised himself, through all the ranks of service, to high command, and had displayed talents, and acquired reputation in war, which entitled him to be placed on a level with the greatest generals in that martial age. Having attained a station of eminence so dispro- portionate to his birth, he labored, with a fond solicitude, to conceal his original obscurity, by 2^ Adriani, Istoria de' suoi Tempi, vol. i p. 662. ^^ (bid. p. 663. 152 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. giving out that he was descended of the family of Medici, to which honor the casual resemblance of his name was his only pretension. Cosmo, happy that he could gratify him at such an easy rate, flattered his vanity in this point, acknowl- edged him as a relation, and permitted him to assume the arms of his family. Medecino, eager to serve the head of that family of which he now considered himself as a branch, applied with wonderful zeal and assiduity to raise troops ; and as, during his long service, he had acquired great credit with the leaders of those mercenary bands which formed the strength of Italian armies, he engaged the most eminent of them to follow Cosmo's standard. To oppose this able general, and the formidable army which he had assembled, the king of France made choice of Peter Strozzi, a Florentine noble- man, who had resided long in France as an exile, and who had risen by his merit to high reputation as well as command in the army. Fie was the son of Philip Strozzi, who, in the year 1537, had concurred with such ardor in the at- tempt to expel the family of Medici out of Flo- rence, in order to re-establish the ancient repub- lican form of government, and who had perished in the undertaking. The son inherited the im- placable aversion to the Medici, as well as the same enthusiastic zeal for the liberty of Florence, which had animated his father, whose dea^h he was impatient to revenge. Henry flattered hiio.- 155^4.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 153 self that his army would make rapid progress under a general whose zeal to promote his inter- est was roused and seconded by such powerful passions ; especially as he had allotted him, for the scene of action, his native country, in which he had many powerful partisans, ready to facili- tate all his operations. But how specious soever the motives might ap- pear which induced Henry to make this choice, it proved fatal to the interests of France in Italy. Cosmo, as soon as he heard that the mortal enemy of his family was appointed to take the command in Tuscany, concluded that the king of France aimed at something more than the protection of the Sienese, and saw the necessity of making ex- traordinary efforts, not merely to reduce Siena, but to save himself from destruction.^® At the same time, the cardinal of Ferrara, who had the entire direction of the French affairs in Italy, considered Strozzi as a formidable rival in power, and, in order to prevent his acquiring any increase of authority from success, he was extremely remiss in supplying him either with money to pay his troops, or with provisions to support them. Strozzi himself, blinded by his resentment against the Medici, pushed on his operations with the impetuosity of revenge, rather than with the caution and prudence becoming a great general. At first, however, he attacked several towns in the territory of Florence with such vigor as obliged 29 Pecci, Memorle di Siena, vol. iv. p. 103, &c. v*OL. lU. 20 154 REIGN OF THE [Book XI, Medeciuo, in order to check his progress, to with- draw the greater part of his army from Siena, which he had invested before Strozzi's arrival in Italy. As Cosmo sustained the whole burden of military operations, the expense of which must soon have exhausted his revenues ; as neither the viceroy of Naples nor governor of Milan was in condition to afford him any effectual aid ; and as the troops which Medecino had left in the camp before Siena could attempt nothing against it during his ab- sence, it w^as Strozzi's business to have protracted the war, and to have transferred the seat of it into the territories of Florence ; but the hope of ruining his enemy by one decisive blow precipitated him into a general engagement, not far from Marciano. The armies were nearly equal in number ; but a body of Italian cavalry, in which Strozzi placed great confidence, having fled without making any resist- ance, either through the treachery or cowardice of the officers who commanded it, his infantry re- mained exposed to the attacks of all Medecino's troops. Encouraged, however, by Strozzi's pres- ence and example, who, after receiving a danger- ous wound in endeavormg to rally the cavalry, placed himself at the head of the infantry, and manifested an admirable presence of mind, as well as extraordinary valor, they stood their ground with great firmness, and repulsed such of the enemy as ventured to approach them. But those gallant troops being surrounded at last on every side, and torn in pieces by a battery of cannon which Mede- 1554.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 155 cino brought to bear upon them, the Florentine cavah-y broke in on their flanks, and a general rout ensued. Strozzi, faint with the loss of blood, and deeply affected with the fatal consequences of his own rashness, found the utmost difficulty in mak- ing his escape with a handful of men.^ .Medecino returned immediately to the siege of Siena with his victorious forces, and, as Strozzi could not, after the greatest efl'orts of activity, col- lect as many men as to form the appearance of a regular army, he had leisure to carry on his ap- proaches against the town without molestation. But the Sienese, instead of sinking into despair upon this cruel disappointment of their only hope of obtaining relief, prepared to defend themselves to the utmost extremity, with that undaunted for- titude which the love of liberty alone can inspire. This generous resolution was warmly seconded by Monluc, who commanded the French garrison in the town. The active and enterprising courage which he had displayed on many occasions, had procured him this command; and as he had am- bition which aspired at the highest military dig- nities, without any pretensions to attain them but what he could derive from merit, he determined to distinguish his defence of Siena by extraordinary efforts of valor and perseverance. For this pur- pose, he repaired and strengthened the fortifica- tions with unwearied industry ; he trained the citizens to tlie use of arms, and accustomed them 30 Pecci, Memorie di Siena, vol. iv. p. 157. 02 156 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. to go through the fatigues and dangers of service in common with the soldiers; and as the enemy were extremely strict in guarding all the avenues to the city, he husbanded the provisions in the magazines with the most parsimonious economy, and prevailed on the soldiers, as well as the citi^- zens, to restrict themselves to a very moderate daily allowance for their subsistence. Medecino, though his army was not numerous enough to storm the town by open force, ventured twice to assault it by surprise ; but he was received each time with so much spirit, and repulsed with such loss, as discouraged him from repeating the at- tempt, and left him no hopes of reducing the town but by famine. With this view, he fortified his own camp with great care, occupied all the posts of strength round the place, and having entirely cut off the besieged from any communication with the adjacent country, he waited patiently until necessity should compel them to open their gates. But their enthusiastic zeal for liberty made the citizens despise the dis- tresses occasioned by the scarcity of provisions, and supported them long under all the miseries of fam- ine. Monluc, by his example and exhortations, taught his soldiers to vie with them in patience and abstinence ; and it w^as not until they had withstood a siege of ten months, until they had eaten up all the horses, dogs, and other animals in the place, and were reduced almost to their last morsel of b^-^ad, that they proposed a capitulation. 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES TIIE FIFTH. 1 5*7 Even then they demanded honorable terms ; and as Cosmo, though no stranger to the extremity of their condition, was afraid that despair might prompt them to venture upon some wild enter- prise, he immediately granted them conditions more favorable than they could have expected. The capitulation was made in the emperor's name, who engaged to take the republic of Siena under the protection of the empire ; he promised to maintain the ancient liberties of the city, to allow the magistrates the full exercise of their former authority, to secure the citizens in the un- disturbed possession of their privileges and prop- erty; he granted an ample and unlimited pardon to all who had borne arms against him ; he re- served to himself the right of placing a garrison in the town, but engaged not to rebuild the citadel without the consent of the citizens. Monluc and his French garrison were allowed to march out with all the honors of war. Medecino observed the articles of capitulation, as far as depended on him, with great exactness. No violence or insult whatever was offered to the in- habitants, and the French garrison was treated with -all the respect due to their spirit and bravery. But many of the citizens, suspecting, from the extraor- dinary facility with which they had obtained such favorable conditions, that the emperor, as well as Cosmo, would take the first opportunity of violat- ing them, and disdaining to possess a precarious liberty, which depended on the will of another, 158 KElGIs OF THE [Book XL abandoned the place of their nativity, and accom- panied the French to Monte- Alcino, Porto Ercole, and other small towns in the territory of the re- public. They established in Monte- Alcino the same model of government to which they had been accus- tomed at Siena, and, appointing magistrates with the same titles and jurisdiction, solaced themselves with this image of their ancient liberty. The fears of the Sienese concerning the fate of their country were not imaginary, or their suspicion of the emperor and Cosmo ill founded ; for no soon- er had the imperial troops taken possession of the town, than Cosmo, without regarding the articles of capitulation, not only displaced the magistrates who were in office, and nominated new ones de- voted to his own interest, but commanded all the citizens to deliver up their arms to persons whom he appointed to receive them. They submitted to the former from necessity, though with all the re- luctance and regret w^hich men accustomed to lib- erty feel in obeying the first commands of a mas- ter. They did not yield the same tame obedience to the latter ; and many persons of distinction, rather than degrade themselves from the rank of freemen to the condition of slaves, by surrender-^ ing their arms, fled to their countrymen at Monte- Alcino, and chose to endure all the hardships, and encounter all the dangers, ^vhich they had reason to expect in that new station, where they had fixed the seat of their republic. Cosmo, not reckonins: himself secure while such 1555.) EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 159 numbers of implacable and desperate enemies were settled in his neighborhood, and retained any de- gree of power, solicited Medecino to attack them in their different places of retreat, before they had time to recruit their strength and spirits, after the many calamities which they had suffered. He pre- vailed on him, though his army was much weak- ened by hard duty during the siege of Siena, to invest Porto Ercole ; and, the fortifications being both slight and incomplete, the besieged were soon compelled to open their gates. An unexpected order, which Medecino received from the emperor, to detach the greater part of his troops into Pied- mont, prevented further operations, and permitted the Sienese exiles to reside for some time undis- turbed in Monte-Alcino. But their unhappy coun- trymen who remained at Siena were not yet at the end of their sufferings ; for the emperor, instead of adhering to the articles of capitulation, granted his son Philip the investiture of that city and all its dependencies ; and Francis de Toledo, in the name of their new master, proceeded to settle the civil and military government, treated them like a conquered people, and subjected them to the Spanish yoke, without paying any regard what- ever to their privileges or ancient form of gov- ernment.^^ The imperial army in Piedmont had been so 31 Sleid. 617. Thuan. lib. xv. 526, 537. Joan. Camerarli Adnot. Rer. pra-cipuarum ab anno 1550 ad 1561, ap. Freherum, vol. iii. p. 004. Pecci, Memorie di Siena, iv. 64, &c. 160 REIGN OF THE [Book XL feeble for some time, and its commander so inactive, that tlie emperor, in order to give vigor to his oper- ations in that quarter, found it necessary, not only to recall Medecino's troops from Tuscany while in the career of conquest, but to employ in Piedmont a general of such reputation and abilities, as might counterbalance the great military talents of the Marechal Brissac, who was at the head of the French forces in that country. He pitched on the duke of Alva for that pur- pose ; but that choice was as much the effect of a court intrigue, as of his opinion with respect to the duke's merit. Alva had long made court to Philip with the utmost assiduity, and had endeavored to work himself into his confidence by all the insin- uating arts of which his haughty and inflexible nature was capable. As he nearly resembled that prince in many features of his character, he began to gain much of his good-will. Puy Gomez de Silva, Philip's favorite, w^io dreaded the progress which this formidable rival made in his master's affections, had the address to prevail with the em- peror to name Alva to this command. The duke, though sensible that he owed this distinction to the malicious arts of an enemy, who had no other aim than to remove him at a distance from court, was of such punctilious honor that he would not de- cline a command that appeared dangerous and difficult, but, at the same time, was so haughty that he would not accept of it but on his own terms, insisting on being appointed the emperor's 1555.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 161 yicar-general in Italy, with the supreme military command in all the imperial and Spanish territories in that country. Charles granted all his demands ; and he took possession of his new dignity with almost unlimited authority. His first operations, however, were neither pro- portioned to his former reputation and the exten- sive powers with which he was invested, nor did they come up to the emperor s expectations. Bris- sac had under his command an army which, though inferior in number to the imperialists, was com- posed of chosen troops, which, having grown old in service in that country, where every town was fortified, and every castle capable of being defended, were perfectly acquainted with the manner of car- rying on war there. By their valor, and his own good conduct, Brissac not only defeated all the attempts of the imperialists, but added new con- quests to the territories of which he Avas formerly master. Alva, after having boasted, with his usual arrogance, that he would drive the French out of Piedmont in a few weeks, was obliged to retire into winter-quarters, with the mortification of be- ing unable to preserve entire that part of the coun- try of which the emperor had hitherto kept posses-* sion.^^ As the operations of this campaign in Piedmont were indecisive, those in the Netherlands were inconsiderable, neither the emperor nor king of France being able to bring into the field an army ^ Thuan. lib. xv. 529. Guichenon, Hist, de Savoie, torn. i. 670 VOL. III. 21 162 REIGN OF THE [Book XL iitrong enough to undertake any enterprise of mo- laent. But what Charles wanted in force, he en- deavored to supply by a bold stratagem, the sue- cess of which would have been equal to that of the most vigorous campaign. During the siege of Metz, Leonard, father guardian of a convent of Franciscans in that city, had insinuated himself far into the esteem and favor of the duke of Guise, by his attachment to the French. Being a man of an active and intriguing spirit, he had been extremely useful both in animating the inhabitants to sustain with patience all the hardships of the siege, and in procuring intelligence of the enemy's designs and motions. The merit of those important services, together with the warm recommendations of the duke of Guise, secured him such high confidence with Vielleville, who was appointed governor of Metz when Guise left the town, that he was per- mitted to converse or correspond with whatever persons he thought fit, and nothing that he did created any suspicion. This monk, from the levity natural to bold and projecting adventurers ; or from resentment against the French, who had not be- stowed on him such rewards as he thought due to his own merit ; or tempted, by the unlimited confidence which was placed in him, to imagine that he might carry on and accomplish any scheme with perfect security, formed a design of betraying Metz to the imperialists. He communicated his intentions to the queen- dowager of Hungary, who governed the IjOW 1555.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 163 Countries in the name of her brother. She, ap- proving, without any scruple, any act of treachery from which the emperor might derive such signal advantage, assisted the father guardian in con- certing the most proper plan for insuring its suc- cess. They agreed that the father guardian should endeavor to gain his monks to concur in promoting the design ; that he should introduce into the con- vent a certain number of chosen soldiers, disguised in the habit of friars ; that, when everything was ripe for execution, the governor of Thionville should march towards Metz in the night with a consider- able body of troops, and attempt to scale the ram- parts ; that while the garrison was employed in resisting the assailants, the monks should set fire to the town in different places ; that the soldiers who lay concealed should sally out of the convent, and attack those who defended the ramparts in the rear. Amidst the universal terror and con- fusion which events so unexpected would occasion, it was not doubted but that the imperialists might become masters of the town. As a recompense for this service, the father guardian stipulated that he should be appointed bishop of Metz, and ample rewards were promised to such of his monks as should be most active in co-operating with him. The father guardian accomplished what he had undertaken to perform with great secrecy and de- spatch. By his authority and arguments, as well as by the prospect of wealth and honors which he set before his monks, he prevailed on all of [64 REIGN OF THE [Book XL them to enter into the conspu'acy. He introduced into the convent, without being suspected, as many soldiers as were thought sufficient. The governoi* of Thionville, apprised in due time of the de- sign, had assembled a proper number of troops for executing it; and the moment approached which probably would have wrested from Henry the most important of all his conquests. But, happily for France, on the very day that was fixed for striking the blow, Vielleville, an able and vigilant officer, received information from a spy whom he entertained at Thionville, that cer- tain Franciscan friars resorted frequently thither, and were admitted to many private conferences with the governor, who was carrying on prepa- rations for some military enterprise with great de- spatch, but with a most mysterious secrecy. This was sufficient to awaken Vielleville's suspicions. Without communicating these to any person, he instantly visited the convent of Franciscans, de .tected the soldiers who were concealed there, and forced them to discover as much as they knew concerning the nature of the enterprise. The fa- ther guardian, who had gone to Thionville that he might put the last hand to his machinations, w^as seized at the gate as he returned ; and he, in order to save himself from the rack, revealed all the circumstances of the conspiracy. Vielleville, not satisfied with having seized the traitors, and having frustrated their schemes, was solicitous to take advantage of the discoveries 1555 J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 155 which he had made, so as to be revenged on the imperialists. For this purpose he marched out with the best troops in his garrison, and, placing these in ambush near the road by which the father guardian had informed him that the gov- ernor of Thionville would approach Metz, he fell upon the imperialists with great fury, as they ad- vanced in perfect security, without suspecting any danger to be near. Confounded at this sudden attack by an enemy whom they expected to sur- prise, they made little resistance ; and a great part of the troops employed in this service, among whom were many persons of distinction, was killed or taken prisoners. Before next morning, Vielle- ville returned to Metz in triumph. No resolution was taken for some time con- cerning the fate of the father guardian and his monks, the framers and conductors of this danger- ous conspiracy. Regard for the honor of a body so numerous and respectable as the Franciscans, and unwillingness to afford a subject of triumph to the enemies of the Romish Church by their disgrace, seem to have occasioned this delay. But, at length, the necessity of inflicting exemplary punishment upon them, in order to deter others from venturing to commit the same crime, be- came so evident, that orders were issued to pro ceed to their trial. The guilt was made apparent by the clearest evidence, and sentence of death was passed upon the father guardian, together with t\^enty monks. On the evening previous to 166 REIGN OF THE [Book XI the day fixed for their execution, the jailer took them out of the dungeons in which they had hitherto been confined separately, and shut them all up in one great room, that they might con- fess their sins one to another, and join together in preparing for a future state. But as soon as they were left alone, instead of employing them- selves in the religious exercises suitable to their condition, they began to reproach the father guar- dian, and four of the senior monks who had been most active in seducing them, for their inordi nate ambition, which had brought such misery on them, and such disgrace upon their order. From reproaches they proceeded to curses and execrations, and at last, in a frenzy of rage and despair, they fell upon them with such violence that they murdered the father guardian on the spot, and so disabled the other four that it be- came necessary to carry them next morning in a cart, together with the dead body of the father guardian, to the place of execution. Six of the youngest were pardoned ; the rest suffered the pun- ishment which their crime merited.^ Though both parties, exhausted by the length of the war, carried it on in this languishing man- ner, neither of them showed any disposition to listen to overtures of peace. Cardinal Pole, in- deed, labored with all the zeal becoming his piety 83 Thuan. lib. xv. p. 522. Belcar. Com. Rer. Gal. 866. Memoire* du Mardch Vielleville, par M. Charloix, torn. iii. p. 249, &c. p- 34 T, Pai. 1757. 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 1.61 and liumanity, to re-establish concord among the princes of Christendom. He had not only per- suaded his mistress, the queen of England, to enter warmly into his sentiments, and to offer her media- tion to the contending powers, but had prevailed both on the emperor and king of France to send their plenipotentiaries to a village between Grave- lines and Ardres. He himself, together with Gar- diner, bishop of Winchester, repaired thither, in order to preside as mediators in the conferences which were to be held for adjusting all the points in difference. But though each of the monarchs committed this negotiation to some of their minis- ters in whom they placed the greatest confidence, it was soon evident that they came together with no sincere desire of accommodation. Each pro posed articles so extravagant, that they could have no hopes of their being acce^^ted. Pole, after ex- erting in vain all his zeal and address in order to persuade them to relinquish such extravagant de- mands, and to consent to the substitution of more equal conditions, became sensible of the folly of wasting time in attempting to re-establish concord between those whom their obstinacy rendered irrec- oncilable, broke off the conference, and returned to England.^* During these transactions in other parts of Eu- rope, Germany enjoyed such profound tranquillity m afforded the diet full leisure to deliberate, and to establish proper regulations concerning a point 3* Thuan. lib. xv. p. 523. Mem. de Ribier, torn. ii. p. 613. P2 168 REIGN OF THE [Book XI of the greatest consequence to the internal peace of the empire. By the treaty of Passau, in 1552, it had been referred to the next diet of the em- pire to confirm and perfect the plan of religious pacification which was there agreed upon. The terror and the confusion with which the violent commotions excited by Albert of Brandenburg had filled Germany, as well as the constant at- tention which Ferdinand was obliged to give to the afiairs of Hungary, had hitherto prevented the holding a diet, though it had been summoned, soon after the conclusion of the treaty, to meet at Augsburg. But as a diet was now necessary on many ac- counts, Ferdinand, about the beginning of this year, had repaired to Augsburg. Though few of the princes were present, either in person or by their deputies, he opened the assembly by a speech, in which he proposed a termination of the dissen- sions to which the new tenets and controversies with regard to religion had given rise, not only as the first and great business of the diet, but as the point which both the emperor and he had most at heart. He represented the innumerable obstacles which the emperor had to surmount before he could procure the convocation of a general coun- cil, as well as the fatal accidents which had for some time retarded, and had at last suspended, the consultations of that assembly. He observed, that experience had already taught them how vain it was to expect any remedy for evils, which demanded 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 1()9 immediate redress, from a general council, the as- sembling of which would either be prevented, or its deliberations be interrupted, by the dissensions and hostilities of the princes of Christendom ; that a national council in Germany, which, as some im- agined, might be called with greater ease, and de- liberate with more perfect security, was an assem- bly of an unprecedented nature, the jurisdiction of which was uncertain in its extent, and the form of its proceedings undefined ; that, in his opinion, there remained but one method for composing their unhappy differences, which, though it had been often tried without success, might yet prove effectual if it were attempted with a better and more pacific spirit than had appeared on former occasions, and that was to choose a few men of learning, abilities, and moderation, who, by dis- cussing the disputed articles in an amicable con- ference, might explain them in such a manner as to bring the contending parties either to unite in sentiment, or to differ with charity. This speech, being printed in common form, and dispersed over the empire, revived the fears and jealousies of the Protestants. Ferdinand, they ob- served with much surprise, had not once men- ticmed, in his address to the diet, the treaty of Passau, the stipulations in which they considered as the great security of their religious liberty. The suspicions to which this gave rise were con- firmed by the accounts which they daily received of the extreme severity with which Ferdinand VOL. nr. 22 no REIGN OF THE "Book XL treated their Protestant brethren in his hereditary dominions ; and as it was natural to consider his actions as the surest indication of his intentions, this diminished their confidence in those pompous professions of moderation and of zeal for the re- establishment of concord, to which his practice seemed to be so repugnant. The arrival of the Cardinal Morone, whom the pope had appointed to attend the diet as his nun- cio, completed their conviction, and left them no room to doubt that some dangerous machination was forming against the peace or safety of the Protestant Church. Julius, elated with the unex- pected return of the English nation from apostasy, began to flatter himself that, the spirit of mutiny and revolt having now spent its force, the happy period was come when the Church might resume its ancient authority, and be obeyed by the people with the same tame submission as formerly. Full of these hopes, he had sent Morone to Augsburg, with instructions to employ his eloquence to ex- cite the Germans to imitate the laudable example of the English, and his political address in order to prevent any decree of the diet to the detriment of the Catholic faith. As Morone inherited from his father, the chancellor of Milan, uncommon talents for negotiation and intrigue, he could hardly have failed of embarrassing the measures of the Protestants in the diet, or of defeating w^iatever they aimed at obtaining in it for their further security. 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 171 But an unforeseen event delivered them from all the danger which they had reason to apprehend from Morone's presence. Julius, by abandoning himself to pleasures and amusements no less un- becoming his age than his character, having con- tracted such habits of dissipation, that any serious occupation, especially if attended with difficulty, became an intolerable burden to him, had long re- sisted the solicitations of his nephew to hold a consistory, because he expected there a violent op- position to his schemes in favor of that young man. But when all the pretexts which he could invent for eluding this request were exhausted, and, at the same time, his indolent aversion to business continued to grow upon him, he feigned indisposition rather than yield to his nephew's importunity ; and that he might give the deceit a greater color of probability, he not only confined himself to his apartment, but changed his usual diet and manner of life. By persisting too long in acting this ridiculous part, he contracted a real disease, of which he died in a few days, leaving his infamous minion, the Cardinal di Monte, to bear his name, and to disgrace the dignity which he had conferred upon him.^ As soon as Morone heard of his death, he set out abruptly from Augsburg, where he had resided only a few days, that he might be present at the election of a new pontiff. One cause of their suspicions and fears being • 35 Onuphr. Panvinius de Vitis Pontificum, p. 320. Thuan. lib. x\n V 517. 3 72 REIGN OF THE [Book XL thus removed, the Protestants soon became sensible that their conjectures concerning Ferdinand's inten- tions, however specious, were ill founded, and that he had no thoughts of violating the articles favor- able to them in the treaty of Passau. Charles, from the time that Maurice had defeated all his schemes in the empire, and overturned the great scheme of religious and civil despotism which he had almost established there, gave little attention to the internal government of Germany, and per- mitted his brother to pursue whatever measures he judged most salutary and expedient. Ferdinand, less ambitious and enterprising than the emperor, instead of resuming a plan w^iich he, with power and resources so far superior, had failed of accom- plishing, endeavored to attach the princes of the empire to his family, by an administration uniformly moderate and equitable. To this he gave, at pres- ent, particular attention, because his situation at this juncture rendered it necessary to court their favor and support with more than usual assiduity. Charles had again resumed his favorite project of acquiring the imperial crow^n for his son Philip, the prosecution of which, the reception it had met with when first proposed had obliged him to sus- pend, but had not induced him to relinquish. This led him warmly to renew his request to his brother that he would accept of some compensation for his prior right of succession, and sacrifice that to the grandeur of the house of Austria. Ferdinand, who was as little disposed as formerly to give such 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. £73 an extraordinary proof of self denial, being sensible that, in order to defeat this scheme, not only the most inflexible firmness on his part, but a vigorous declaration from the princes of the empire in behalf of his title, was requisite, was willing to purchase their favor by gratifying them in every point that they deemed interesting or essential. At the same time he stood in need of immediate and extraordinary aid from the Germanic body, as the Turks, after having wrested from him great part of his Hungarian territories, were ready to attack the provinces still subject to his authority with a formidable army, against which he could bring no equal force into the field. For this aid from Germany he could not hope, if the internal peace of the empire were not established on a foun- dation solid in itself, and which should appear even to the Protestants so secure and so permanent, as might not only allow them to engage in a distant war with safety, but might encourage them to act in it with vigor. A step taken by the Protestants themselves, a short time after the opening of the diet, rendered him still more cautious of giving them any new cause of ofi"ence. As soon as the publication of Ferdinand's speech awakened the fears and suspicions which have been mentioned, the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, together with the landgrave of Hesse, met at Naum burg, and, confirming the ancient treaty of confra- ternity which had long united their families, they 174 REIGN OF THE [Book XI added to it a new article, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to adhere to the Confes- sion of Augsburg, and to maintain the doctrine which it contained in their respective dominions.^ Ferdinand, influenced by all these considerations, employed his utmost address in conducting the de- liberations of the diet, so as not to excite the jeal- ousy of a party on whose friendship he depended, and whose enmity, as they had not only taken the alarm, but had begun to prepare for their defence, he had so much reason to dread. The members of the diet readily agreed to Ferdinand's proposal of taking the state of religion into consideration, pre- vious to any other business. But as soon as they entered upon it, both parties discovered all the zeal and animosity which a subject so interesting natu- rally engenders, and which the rancor of contro- versy, together with the violence of civil war, had inflamed to the highest pitch. The Protestants contended, that the security which they claimed, in consequence of the treaty of Passau, should extend, without limitation, to all who had hitherto embraced the doctrine of Luther, or who should hereafter embrace it. The Catholics, having first of all asserted the pope's right as the supreme and final judge with respect to all articles of faith, declared, that though, on ac- count of the present situation of the empire, and for the sake of peace, they were willing to confirm the toleration granted by the treaty of Passau to 36 Chytraei Saxonia, 480. 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE EIFTH. 175 Buch as had already adopted the new opinions, they must insist that this indulgence should not be ex- tended either to those cities which had conformed to the Interim, or to such ecclesiastics as should for the future apostatize from the Church of Eome. It was no easy matter to reconcile such opposite pretensions, which were supported, on each side, by the most elaborate arguments, and the greatest acrimony of expression, that the abilities or zeal of theologians long exercised in disputation could sug- gest. Ferdinand, however, by his address and per- severance, by softening some things on each side, by putting a favorable meaning upon others, by representing incessantly the necessity as well as the advantages of concord, and by threatening, on some occasions, when all other considerations were disre- garded, to dissolve the diet, brought them at length to a conclusion in which they all agreed. Conformably to this, a recess was framed, ap- proved of, and published with the usual formalities. The following are the chief articles which it con- tained : that such princes and cities as have de- clared their approbation of the Confession of Augs- burg shall be permitted to profess the doctrine and exercise the worship which it authorizes, without interruption or molestation from the emperor, the king of the Romans, or any power or person what- soever; that the Protestants, on their part, shall give no disquiet to the princes and states who ad- here to the tenets and rites of the Church of Rome ; that, for the future, no attempt shall be made to- 7 Q 176 REIGN OF THE [Book XL wards terminating religious diiFerences, but by the gentle and pacific methods of persuasion and con- ference ; that the popish ecclesiastics shall claim no spiritual jurisdiction in such states as receive the Confession of Augsburg; that such as had seized the benefices or revenues of the Church, previous to the treaty of Passau, shall retain possession of them, and be liable to no prosecution in the impe- rial chamber on that account ; that the supreme civil power in every state shall have right to es- tablish what form of doctrine and worship it shall deem proper, and, if any of its subjects refuse to conform to these, shall permit them to remove, with all their effects, whithersoever they shall please ; that if any prelate or ecclesiastic shall hereafter abandon the Romish religion, he shall instantly re- linquish his diocese or benefice, and it shall be lawful for those in whom the right of nomination is vested to proceed immediately to an election, as if the office were vacant by death or translation, and to appoint a successor of undoubted attach- ment to the ancient system.^" Such are the capital articles in this famous re- cess, which is the basis of religious peace in Ger- many, and the bond of union among its various states, the sentiments of which are so extremely difierent with respect to points the most interesting as well as important. In our age and nation, to which the idea of toleration is familiar, and. its beneficial effects well known, it may seem strange 37 Sleid. 620. F. Paul, 368. Pallav. P. ii. 161. 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 177 that a method of terminating their dissensions, so suitable to the mild and charitable spirit of the Christian religion, did not sooner occur to the con tending parties. But this expedient, however salu- tary, was so repugnant to the sentiments and prac tice of Christians during many ages, that it did not lie obvious to. discovery. Among the ancient heathens, all whose deities were local and tutelary, diversity of sentiment concerning the object or rites of religious worship seems to have been no source of animosity, because the acknowledging veneration to be due to any one god did not imply denial of the existence or the power of any other god ; nor were the modes and rites of worship established in one country incompatible with those w^hich other nations approved of and observed. Thus the errors in their system of theology were of such a nature as to be productive of concord ; and, notwithstand- ing the amazing number of their deities, as well as the infinite variety of their ceremonies, a sociable and tolerating spirit subsisted almost universally in the pagan world. But when the Christian revelation declared one Supreme Being to be the sole object of religious veneration, and prescribed the form of worship most acceptable to him, whoever admitted the truth of it held, of consequence, every other system of re- ligion, as a deviation from what was established by divine autliorit]^ to be false and impious. Hence arose the zeal of the first converts to the Christian faith in propagating its doctrines, and the ardor VOL. III. 23 178 REIGN OF THE [Book XL with which they labored to overturn every other form of worship. They employed, however, for this purpose, no methods but such as suited the nature of religion. By the force of powerful argu ments, they convinced the understandings of men ; by the charms of superior virtue, they allured and captivated their hearts. At length the civil power declared in favor of Christianity ; and, though numbers, imitating the example of their superiors, crowded into the Church, many still adhered to their ancient superstitions. Enraged at their ob- stinacy, the ministers of religion, whose zeal was still unabated, though their sanctity and virtue were much diminished, forgot so far the nature of their own mission, and of the arguments which they ought to have employed, that they armed the imperial power against these unhappy men, and, as they could not persuade, they tried to compel them to believe. At the same time, controversies concerning arti- cles of faith multiplied, from various causes, among Christians themselves, and the same unhallowed weapons which had first been used against the en- emies of their religion were turned against each other. Every zealous disputant endeavored to in- terest the civil magistrate in his cause, and each in his turn employed the secular arm to crush or to exterminate his opponents. Not long after, the bishops of Rome put in their claim to infallibility in explaining articles of faith, and deciding points in controversy; and, bold as the pretension Avas, 1555.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. ^9 they, by their artifices and jDerseverance, imposed on the credulity of mankind, and brought them to recognize it. To doubt or to deny any doctrine to which these unerring instructors had given the sanction of their approbation, was held to be not only a resisting of truth, but an act of rebellion against their sacred authority ; and the secular power, of which by various arts they had acquired the absolute direction, was instantly employed to avenge both. Thus Europe had been accustomed, during many centuries, to see speculative opinions propagated or defended by force ; the charity and mutual forbear- ance which Christianity recommends with so much warmth, were forgotten ; the sacred rights of con- science and of private judgment were unheard of; and not only the idea of toleration, but even the word itself, in the sense now affixed to it, was un- known. A right to extirpate error by force was universally allowed to be the prerogative of such as possessed the knowledge of truth ; and as each party of Christians believed that they had got pos- session of this valuable attainment, they all (daiuKBd and exercised, as far as they were able, the rights which it was supposed to convey. The Koman Catholics, as their system rested on the decisions of an infallible judge, never doubted that truth was on their side, and openly called on the civil power to repel the impious and heretical innovators who had risen up against it. The Protestants, no less confident that their doctrine was well founded, re- Q2 ] 80 REIGN OF THE [Book XL quired, with equal ardor, the princes of their party to check such as presumed to impugn it. Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, the founders of the Re- fonned Church in their respective countries, as far as they had power and opportunity, inflicted the same punishments upon such as called in question any article in their creeds, which were denounced against their own disciples by the Church of Rome. To their followers, and perhaps to their opponents, it would have appeared a symptom of diffidence in the goodness of their cause, or an acknowledgment that it was not well founded, if they had not em- ployed in its defence all those means which it was supposed truth had a right to employ. It was towards the close of the seventeenth cen- tury, before toleration, under its present form, was admitted first into the republic of the United Prov- inces, and from thence introduced into England. Long experience of the calamities flowing from mutual persecution, the influence of free govern- ment, the light and humanity acquired by the pro- gress of science, together with the prudence and authority of the civil magistrate, were all requisite in order to establish a regulation, so repugnant to the ideas which all the different sects had adopted, from mistaken conceptions concerning the nature of religion and the rights of truth, or which all of them had derived from the erroneous maxims estab- lished by the Church of Rome. The recess of Augsburg, it is evident, was found* ed on no such liberal and enlarged sentiments con 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. IgJ cerning freedom of religious inquiry, or the nature of toleration. It was nothing more than a scheme of pacification, which political considerations alone had suggested to the contending parties, and regard for their mutual tranquillity and safety had ren- dered necessary. Of this there can be no stronger ]3roof than an article in the recess itself, by which the benefits of the pacification are declared to ex- tend only to the Catholics on the one side, and to such as adhered to the Confession of Augsburg on the other. The followers of Zuinglius and Calvin remained, in consequence of that exclusion, without any protection from the rigor of the laws denounced against heretics. Nor did they obtain any legal security, until the treaty of Westphalia, near a century after this period, provided that they should be admitted to enjoy, in as ample a manner as the Lutherans, all the advantages and protection which the recess of Augsburg affords. But if the followers of Luther were highly pleased with the security which they acquired by this re- cess, such as adhered to the ancient system had no less reason to be satisfied with that article in it, which preserved entire to the Roman CathoUc Church the benefices of such ecclesiastics as should hereafter renounce its doctrines. This article, known in Germany by the name of the Ecclesi- astical Reservation^ was apparently so conformable to the idea and to the rights of an established church, and it seemed so equitable to prevent rev- enues, which had been originally appropriated for 182 KETGN OF THE [Book XI the maintenance of persons attached to a certain system, from bemg alienated to any other purpose, that the Protestants, though they foresaw its con- sequences, were obliged to relinquish their opposi- tion to it. As the Roman Catholic princes of the empire have taken care to see this article exactly observed in every case where there was an oppor- tunity of putting it in execution, it has proved the great barrier of the Romish Church in Germany against the Reformation ; and as, from this period, the same temptation of interest did not allure ecclesiastics to relinquish the established system, there have been few of that order who have loved truth with such disinterested and ardent affection as, for its sake, to abandon the rich benefices which they had in possession. During the sitting of the diet, Marcellus Cer\ino, Cardmal di Santo Croce, was elected pope in room of Julius. He, in imitation of Adrian, did not change his name on being exalted to the papal chair. As he equalled that pontifi" in purity of intention, while he excelled him much m the arts of government, and still more in knowledge of the state and genius of the papal court ; as he had ca- pacity to discern what reformation it needed, as well as what it could bear ; such regulations were expected from his virtue and wisdom, as would have removed many of its grossest and most fla- grant corruptions, and have contributed towards reconcilmg to the Church such as, from indignation at these enormities, had abandoned its communion. 1555.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 1^)3 But this excellent pontiff was only shown to the Church, and immediately snatched away. The confinement in the conclave had impaired his health, and the fatigue of tedious ceremonies upon his accession, together with too intense and anxious application of mind to the schemes of improvement which he meditated, exhausted so entirely the vigor of his feeble constitution, that he sickened on the twelfth, and died on the twentieth day after his election.^^ All the refinements in artifice and intrigue, pe- culiar to conclaves, were displayed in that which was held for electing a successor to Marcellus; the cardinals of the imperial and French factions laboring, with equal ardor, to gain the necessary number of suffrages for one of their own party. But, after a struggle of no long duration, though conducted with all the warmth and eagerness nat- ural to men contending for so great an object, they united in choosing John Peter Caraffa, the eldest member of the sacred college, and the son of Count Montorio, a nobleman of an illustrious fam- ily in the kingdom of Naples. The address and influence of Cardinal Farnese, who favored his pre- tensions, Caraffa's own merit, and perhaps his great age, which soothed all the disappointed candidates with the near prospect of a new vacancy, concurred in bringing about this speedy union of suffrages. In order to testify his respect for the memory of Paul III., by whom he had been created cardinal, 38 Thuan. 520. F. Paul, 365. Ouuph. Panvin. 321, &c. 184 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. as well as his gratitude to the family of Farnese, he assumed the name of Paul IV. The choice of a prelate of such a singular char- acter, and who had long held a course extremely different from that which usually led to the dignity now conferred upon him, filled the Italians, who had nearest access to observe his manners and de- portment, with astonishment, and kept them in suspense and solicitude with regard to his future conduct. Paul, though born in a rank of life which, without any other merit, might have se- cured to him the highest ecclesiastical preferments, had, from his early years, applied to study w^ith all the assiduity of a man who had nothing but his personal attainments to render him conspicuous. By means of this, he not only acquired profound skill in scholastic theology, but added to that a considerable knowledge of the learned languages and of polite literature, the study of which had been lately revived in Italy, and was pursued at this time with great ardor. His mind, however, natu- rally gloomy and severe, was more formed to imbibe the sour spirit of the former, than to receive any tincture of elegance or liberality of sentiment from the latter ; so that he acquired rather the qualities and passions of a recluse ecclesiastic, than the tal- ents necessary for the conduct of great affairs. Ac- cordingly, when he entered into orders, although several rich benefices were bestowed upon him, and he was early employed as a nuncio in different courts, he soon became disgusted with that c(>urse 1555.] ElVIPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 1^5 of life, and languished to be in a situation more suited to his taste and temper. With this view, he resigned at once all his ecclesiastical preferments, and having instituted an order of regular priests, whom he denominated Theatines, from the name of the archbishopric which he had held, he associated himself as a member of their fraternity, conformed to all the rigorous rules to which he had subjected them, and preferred the solitude of a monastic life, with the honor of being the founder of a new order, to all the great objects which the court of E-ome presented to his ambition. In this retreat he remained for many years, until Paul III., induced by the fame of his sanctity and knowledge, called him to Home, in order to consult with him concerning the measures which might be most proper and effectual for suppressing heresy, and re-establishing the ancient authority of the Church. Having thus allured him from his soli- tude, the pope, partly by his entreaties, and partly by his authority, prevailed on him to accept of a cardinal's hat, to resume the benefices which he had resigned, and to return again into the usual path of ecclesiastical ambition, which he seemed to have relinquished. But during two successive pontificates, under the first of which the court of Rome was the most artful and interested, and under the second the most dissolute, of any in Europe, Caraffa retained his monastic austerity. He was an avow^ed and bitter enemy, not only of all innovatioi in opinion, but of every irregularity in practice ; he VOL. III. 24 186 EEIGN OF THE [Book XL was the chief instrument in establishing the for- midable and odious tribunal of the Inquisition in the papal territories ; he appeared a violent advo- cate on all occasions for the jurisdiction ^nd dis- cipline of the Church, and a severe censurer of every measure which seemed to flow from motives of policy or interest, rather than from zeal for the honor of the ecclesiastical order, and the dignity of the holy see. Under a prelate of such a character, the Roman courtiers expected a severe and violent pontificate, during w^hich the principles of sound policy would be sacrificed to the narrow prejudices of priestly zeal ; w^hile the people of Rome w^ere apprehensive of seeing the sordid and forbidding rigor of monastic manners substituted in place of the magnificence to which they had long been ac- customed in the papal court. These apprehensions Paul was extremely solicitous to remove. At his first entrance upon the administration, he laid aside that austerity which had hitherto distinguished his person and family; and when the master of his household inijuired in what manner he would choose to live, he haughtily replied, " As becomes a great prince." He ordered the ceremony of his coronation to be conducted with more than usual pomp ; and endeavored to render himself popular by several acts of liberality and indulgence towards the inhabitants of Rome.^ His natural severity of temper, how^ever, would have soon returned upon him, and would have jus- 39 Platina, p. 327. Castaldo, Vita di Paolo IV., Rom. 1615, p. 70. 1565.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 187 tified the conjectures of the courtiers, as well as the fears of the people, if he had not, immediately after his election, called to Rome two of his nephews, the sons of his brother, the count of Montorio. The eldest he promoted to be governor of Eome: the youngest, who had hitherto served as a soldier of fortune in the armies of Spain and France, and whose disposition as well as manners were still more foreign from the clerical character than his profession, he created a cardinal, and appointed him legate of Bologna, the second office in power and dignity which a pope can bestow. These marks of favor, no less sudden than extravagant, he accompanied with the most unbounded confi- dence and attachment ; and, forgetting all his for- mer severe maxims, he seemed to have no other object than the aggrandizing of his nephews. Their ambition, unfortunately for Paul, was too aspiring to be satisfied with any moderate acquisi- tion. They had seen the family of Medici raised by the interest of the popes of that house to su- preme power in Tuscany ; Paul III. had, by his abilities and address, secured the duchies of Parma and Placentia to the family of Farnese. They aimed at some establishment for themselves, no less considerable and independent; and as they could not expect that the pope would carry his indul- gence towards them so far as to secularize any part of the patrimony of the Church, they had no pros- pect of attaining what they wished, but by dismem- bering the imperial dominions in Italy, in hopes of 188 EEIGN OF THE [Book XL seizing some portion of them. This alone they would have deemed a sufficient reason for sowing the seeds of discord between their uncle and the emperor. But Cardinal CarafFa had, besides, private reasons which filled him with hatred and enmity to the em- peror. While he served in the Spanish troops, he had not received such marks of honor and distinc- tion as he thought due to his birth and merit. Disgusted with this ill-usage, he had abruptly quit- ted the imperial service ; and entering into that of France, he had not only met with such a reception as soothed his vanity, and attached him to the French interest, but by contracting an intimate friendship with Strozzi, who commanded the French army in Tuscany, he had imbibed a mortal antipa- thy to the emperor, as the great enemy to the lib- erty and independence of the Italian states. Nor was the pope himself indisposed to receive impres- sions unfavorable to the emperor. The opposition given to his election by the cardinals of the impe- rial faction left in his mind deep resentment, which was heightened by the remembrance of ancient in- juries from Charles or his ministers. Of this his nephews took advantage, and em- ployed various devices, in order to exasperate him beyond a possibility of reconciliation. They aggra- vated every circumstance which could be deemed any indication of the emperor s dissatisfaction with his promotion ; they read to him an intercepted letter, in which Charles taxed the cardinals of his 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE EIFTH. 1^9 party with negligence or incapacity in not having defeated Paul's election ; they pretended, at one time, to have discovered a conspiracy formed by the imperial minister and Cosmo de' Medici against the pope's life ; they alarmed him, at another, with accounts of a plot for assassinating themselves. By these artifices, they kept his mind, which wag naturally violent, and become suspicious from old age, in such perpetual agitation, as precipitated him into measures which otherwise he would have been the first person to condemn.^^ He seized some of the cardinals who were most attached to the emperor, and confined them in the castle of St. Angelo; he persecuted the Colonnas and other Roman barons, the ancient retainers to the im- perial faction, with the utmost severity ; and, dis- covering on all occasions his distrust, fear, or hatred of the emperor, he began at last to court the friend- ship of the French king, and seemed willing to throw himself absolutely upon him for support and protection. This was the very point to which his nephews wished to bring him, as most favorable to their ambitious schemes ; and as the accomplishment of these depended on their uncle's life, whose advanced age did not admit of losing a moment unnecessarily in negotiations, instead of treating at second hand with the French ambassador at Rome, they pre- vailed on the pope to despatch a person of confi- *> Rlpamontii Hist. Patrige, lib. iii. 1146, ap, Graev. Thes. vol. u. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 615. Adriaiii, Istor. i. 906. 190 REIGN OF THE pBooK XI dence directly to the court of France, ^vith such overtures on his part as they hoped would not he rejected He proposed an alliance offensive and defensive hetween Henry and the pope ; that they should attack the duchy of Tuscany and the kingdom of Naples with their united forces; and if their arms should prove successful, that the ancient repuhlican form of government should be re-established in the former, and the investi- ture of the latter should be granted to one of the French king s sons, after reserving a certain territory which should be annexed to the patri- mony of the Church, together with an independent and princely establishment for each of the pope's nephews. The king, allured by these specious projects, gave a most favorable audience to the envoy. But when the matter was proposed in council, the Constable Montmorency, whose natural caution and aversion to daring enterprises increased with age and expe- rience, remonstrated with great vehemence against the alliance. He put Henry in mind how fatal to France every expedition into Italy had been during three successive reigns ; and if such an enterprise had proved too great for the nation, even when its strength and finances were entire, there was no reason to hope for success, if it should be attempt- ed now, when both were exhausted by extraordi- nary efforts during wars which had lasted, with little interruption, almost half a century. He rep resented the manifest imprudence of entering into I5W.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 191 engagements with a pope of fourscore, as any sys- tem which rested on no better foundation than his life must be extremely precarious ; and upon the event of his death, which could not be distant, the face of things, together with the inclination of the Italian states, must instantly change, and the whole weight of the war be left upon the king alone. To these considerations he added the near prospect which they now had of a final accommodation with the emperor, who, having taken the resolution of retiring from the world, wished to transmit his kingdoms in peace to his son ; and he concluded with representing the absolute certainty of draw- ing the arms of England upon France, if it should appear that the re-establishment of tranquillity in Europe was prevented by the ambition of its mon- arch. These arguments, weighty in themselves, and urged by a minister of great authority, would prob- ably have determined the king to decline any con- nection with the pope. But the duke of Guise, and his brother, the cardinal of Lorrain, who de- lighted no less in bold and dangerous undertakings than Montmorency shunned them, declared warmly for an alliance with the pope. The cardinal ex- pected to be intrusted with the conduct of the negotiations in the court of Rome to which this alliance would give rise ; the duke hoped to obtain the command of the army which would be appoint- ed to invade Naples ; and considering themselves as already in these stations, vast projects opened to R2 192 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. their aspiring and unbounded ambition. Their credit, together ^yith the influence of the king's mistress, the famous Diana of Poitiers, who was, at that time, entirely devoted to the interest of the family of Guise, more than counterbalanced all Montmorency's prudent remonstrances, and pre- vailed on an inconsiderate prince to listen to the overtures of the pope's envoy. The cardinal of Lorrain, as he had expected, was immediately sent to Rome, with full powers to con- clude the treaty, and to concert measures for car- rying it into execution. Before he could reach that city, the pope, either from^ reflecting on the danger and uncertain issue of all military opera- tions, or through the address of the imperial am- bassador, who had been at great pains to soothe him, had not only begun to lose much of the ardor with which he had commenced the negotiation with France, but even discovered great unwill- ingness to continue it. In order to rouse him from this fit of despondency, and to rekindle his former rage, his nephews had recourse to the arts which they had already practised with so much success. They alarmed him with new represen- tations of the emperor's hostile intentions, with fresh accounts which they had received of threats uttered against him by the imperial ministers, and with new discoveries which they pretended to have made of conspiracies formed, and just ready to take effect, against his life. But these artifices, having been formerly tried, 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 193 would not have operated a second time with the same force, nor have made the impression which they wished, if Paul had not been excited by an offence of that kind which he was least able to bear. He received advice of the recess of the diet of Augsburg, and of the toleration which was thereby granted to the Protestants ; and this threw him at once into such transports of passion against the emperor and king of the Eomans, as carried him headlong into all the violent measures of his nephews. Full of high ideas with respect to the papal prerogative, and animated with the fiercest zeal against heresy, he considered the liberty of deciding concerning religious matters, which had been assumed by an assembly composed chiefly of laymen, as a presumptuous and unpardonable encroachment on that jurisdiction which belonged to him alone ; and regarded the indulgence which had been given to the Protestants as an impious act of that power which the diet had usurped. He complained loudly of both to the imperial am- bassador. He insisted that the recess of the diet should immediately be declared illegal and void. He threatened the emperor and king of the Eo- mans, in case they should either refuse or delay to gratify him in this particular, with the severest effects of his vengeance. He talked in a tone of authority and command which might have suited a pontiff of the twelfth century, when a papal decree was sufficient to have shaken, or to have overturned, the throne of the greatest monarch in VOL. III. 25 194 REIGN OF THE [Book XI Europe ; but which was altogether improper in that age. especially when addressed to the minister of a prince w^ho had so often made pontiffs more formidable than Paul feel the weight of his power. The ambassador, however, heard all his extrava- gant propositions and menaces with much patience, and endeavored to soothe him by putting him in mind of the extreme distress to which the emperor had been reduced at Inspruck, of the engagements which he had come under to the Protestants, in order to extricate himself, of the necessity of ful- filling these, and of accommodating his conduct to tlie situation of his affairs. But weighty as these considerations were, they made no impression on the mind of the haughty and bigoted pontiff, who instantly replied, that he Avould absolve him by his apostolic authority from those impious engage- ments, and even command him not to perform them ; that, in carrying on the cause of God and of the Church, no regard ought to be had to the maxims of worldly prudence and policy ; and that the ill success of the emperor's schemes in Ger- many might justly be deemed a mark of the Divine displeasure against him, on account of his having paid little attention to the former, while he regu- lated his conduct entirely by the latter. Having said this, he turned from the ambassador abruptly, without waiting for a reply. His nephews took care to applaud and cherish these sentiments, and easily w^r ought up his arro- gant mind, fraught with all the monkish ideas con- I555.J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 195 cerning the extent of the papal supremacy, to such a pitch of resentment against the house of Austria, and to such a high opinion of his own power, that he talked continually of his being the successor of those who had deposed kings and emperors ; that he was exalted as head over them all, and would trample such as opposed him under his feet. In this disposition the cardinal of Lorrain found the pope, and easily persuaded him to sign a treaty, which had for its object the ruin of a prince, against whom he was so highly exasperated. Tlie stipulations in the treaty were much the same as had been proposed by the pope's envoy at Paris, and it was agreed to keep the whole transaction secret, until their united forces should be ready to take the field.^^ During the negotiation of this treaty at Rome and Paris, an event happened which seemed to render the fears that had given rise to it vain, and the operations which were to follow upon it unnecessary. This was the emperor's resigna- tion of his hereditary dominions to his son Philip ; together with his resolution to w^ithdraw entirely from any concern in business or the affairs of this world, in order that he might spend the remainder of his days in retirement and solitude. Though it requires neither deep reflection nor extraordinary discernment to discover that the state of royalty is not exempt from cares and disappoint- *• Pallav. lib. xiii. p. 163. F. Paul, 365. Thuan. lib. xv. 525, lih ^.. 540. Mem. de liibier. ii. 609, kc. 196 REIG^ OF THE [Book XI ment ; though most of those who are exalted to a throne find solicitude, and satiety, and disgust, to be their perpetual attendants in that envied pre- eminence ; yet to descend voluntarily from the su- preme to a subordinate station, and to relinquish the possession of power in order to attain the enjoyment of happiness, seems to be an effort too great for the human mind. Several instances, in- deed, occur in history, of monarchs who have quitted a throne, and have ended their days in retirement. But they were either weak princes, who took this resolution rashly, and repented of it as soon as it was taken, or unfortunate princes, from whose hands some stronger rival had wrested their sceptre, and compelled them to descend with reluctance into a private station. Diocletian is, perhaps, the only prince capable of holding the reins of government, who ever resigned them from deliberate choice, and who continued during many years to enjoy the tranquillity of retirement with- out fetching one penitent sigh, or casting back one look of desire, towards the power or dignity which he had abandoned. No wonder, then, that Charles's resignation should fill all Europe with astonishment, and give rise, both among his contemporaries and among the historians of that period, to various conjectures concerning the motives which determined a prince whose ruling passion had been uniformly the love of power, at the age of fifty-six, when objects of ambition continue to operate Avith full force on the 1555.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 197 mind, and are pursued with the greatest ardor, to take a resolution so singular and unexpected. But while many authors have imputed it to motives so frivolous and fantastical as can "hardly be supposed to influence any reasonable mind ; while others have imagined it to be the result of some profound scheme of policy ; historians more intelligent, and better in- formed, neither ascribe it to caprice, nor search for mysterious secrets of state, where simple and obvi- ous causes will fully account for the emperor s con- duct. Charles had been attacked early in life with the gout, and, notwithstanding all the precautions of the most skilful physicians, the violence of the distemper increased as he advanced in age, and the fits became every year more frequent, as well as more severe. Not only was the vigor of his con- stitution broken, but the faculties of his mind were impaired by the excruciating torments which he endured. During the continuance of the fits, he was altogether incapable of applying to business, and even when they began to abate, as it was only at intervals that he could attend to what was seri- ous, he gave up a great part of his time to trifling and even childish occupations, Avhich served to re- lieve or to amuse his mind, enfeebled and worn out with excess of pain. Under these circumstances, the conduct of such affairs as occurred of course in governing so many kingdoms, was a burden moi'e than sufficient ; but to push forward and complete the vast schemes which the ambition of his more 198 REIGN OF THE [Book XT active years had formed, or to keep in view and carry on the same great system of policy, extending to every nation in Europe, and connected with the operations of every different court, were functions which so far exceeded his strength, that they op- pressed and overwhelmed his mind. As he had been long accustomed to view the business of every department, whether civil, or military, or ecclesias- tical, with his own eyes, and to decide concerning it according to his own ideas, it gave him the ut- most pain when he felt his infirmities increase so fast upon him, that he was obliged to commit the conduct of all affairs to his ministers. He imputed every misfortune which befell him, and every mis- carriage that happened, even when the former was unavoidable, or the latter accidental, to his inabil- ity to take the inspection of business himself He complained of his hard fortune in being opposed, in his declining years, to a rival who was in the full vigor of life ; and that, while Henry could take and execute all his resolutions in person, he should now be reduced, both in council and in action, to rely on the talents and exertions of other men. Having thus grown old before his time, he wisely judged it more decent to conceal his infirmities in some solitude, than to expose them any longer to the public eye ; and prudently determined not to forfeit the fame or lose the acquisitions of his bet- ter years, by struggling with a vain obstinacy to retain the reins of government, when he was no 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. 199 longer able to hold them with steadiness or to guide them with address.*^. But though Charles had revolved this schen:e in his mind for several years, and had communi- cated it to his sisters, the dowager queens of France and Hungary, who not only approved of his in- tention, but offered to accompany him to what- ever place of retreat he should choose, several things had hitherto prevented his carrying it into execution. He could not think of loading his son with the government of so many kingdoms, until he should attain such maturity of age and of 4^ Dom Levesque, in his memoirs of Cardinal Granvelle, gives a reason for the emperor's resignation, which, as far as I recollect, is not mentioned by any other historian. He says, that the emperor having ceded the government of the kingdom of Naples and the duchy of Milan to his son, upon his marriage with the queen of England, Philip, not- withstanding the advice and entreaties of his father, removed most of the ministers and officers whom he had employed in those countries, and appointed creatures of his own to fill the places which they held; that he aspired openly, and with little delicacy, to obtain a share in the administration of affairs in the Low Countries ; that he endeavored to thwart the emperor's measures, and to limit his authority, behaving to- wards him sometimes with inattention, and sometimes with haughtiness; that, Charles finding that he must either yield on every occasion to his son, or openly contend with him, in order to avoid either of these, which were both disairreeable and mortifving to a father, he took the resolution of resigning his crowns, and of retiring from the world, vol. i. p. 24, &c. Dom Leves(]ue derived his information concerning these curious facts, which he relates very briefly, from the original papers of Cardinal Gran- '-elle. But as that vast collection of papers, which has been preserved and arranged by M. I'Abbe Boizot of Besan^on, though one of the most valuable historical monuments of the sixteenth century, and which can- not fail of throwing much light on the transactions of Charles V., is not published, I cannot determine what degree of credit should be given to this account of Charles's resignation. I have therefore taken no notice of it in relating this event S 200 ftEIGN OF THE [Book XI abilities as would enable him to sustain that weighty burden. But as Philip had now reached his twenty-eighth year, and had been early a<>- customed to business, for which he discovered both inclination and capacity, it can hardly be imputed to the partiality of paternal affection that his scruples with regard to this point were entirely removed ; and that he thought he might place his son, without further hesitation or delay, on the throne which he himself was about to abandon. His mothers situation had been an- other obstruction in his way: for although she had continued almost fifty years in confinement, and under the same disorder of mind which con- cern for her husband's death had brought upon her, yet the government of Spain was still vested in her jointly with the emperor ; her name was inserted together with his in all the public in- struments issued in that kingdom ; and such was the fond attachment of the Spaniards to her, that they would probably have scrupled to recognize Philip as their sovereign, unless she had consented to assume him as her partner on the throne. Her utter incapacity for business rendered it impossible to obtain her consent. But her death, which happened this year, removed this difficulty; and as Charles, upon that event, became sole monarch of Spain, it left the succession open to his son. The war with France had likewise been a reason for retaining the administration of affairs il' his own hand, as he was extremely solicitous to have 555.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 201 terminated it, that he might have given up his kingdoms to his son at peace with all the world. But as Henry had discovered no disposition to close with any of his overtures, and had even rejected proposals of peace which were equal and moderate, in a tone that seemed to indicate a fixed purpose of continuing hostilities, he saw that it was vain to wait longer in expectation of an event, which, however desirable, was altogether uncertain. As this, then, appeared to be the proper junc- ture for executing the scheme which he had long meditated, Charles resolved to resign his kingdoms to his son with a solemnity suitable to the im- portance of the transaction, and to perform this last act of sovereignty with such formal pomp, as might leave a lasting impression on the minds, not only of his subjects, but of his successor. With this view he called Philip out of England, where the peevish temper of his queen, which in- creased with her despair of having issue, rendered him extremely unhappy; and the jealousy of the English left him no hopes of obtaining the direc- tion of their affairs. Having assembled the states of the Low Countries at Brussels, on the 25th of October, Charles seated himself for the last time in the chair of state, on one side of which was placed his son, and on the other his sister, the queen of Hungary, regent of the Netherlands, with a splendid retinue of the princes of the empire and grandees of Spain standing behind him. The; pres- VOL. III. 2G 202 REIGN OF THE [Book XI ideiit of the council of Flanders, by his command, explained, in a few words, his intention in calling this extraordinary meeting of the states. He then read the instrument of resignation, by which Charles surrendered to his son Philip all his territories, ju- risdiction, and authority in the Low Countries, ab- solving liis subjects there from the oath of allegiance to him, which he required them to transfer to Philip, his lawful heir, and to serve him with the same loy- alty and zeal which they had manifested, during so long a course of years, in support of his government. Charles then rose from his seat, and leaning on the shoulder of the prmce of Orange, because he was unable to stand without support, he addressed himself to the audience, and from a paper which he held in his hand, in order to assist his memory, he recounted, w^ith dignity, but without ostenta- tion, all the great things which he had under- taken and performed since the commencement of his administration. He observed, that, from the seventeenth year of his age, he had dedicated all his thoughts and attention to public objects, re- serving no portion of his time for the indulgence of his ease, and very little for the enjoyment of private pleasure; that, either in a pacific or hostile manner, he had visited Germany nine times, Spain six times, France four times, Italy seven times, the LoAV Countries ten times, England twice, Africa as often, and had made eleven voyages by sea; that, w^hile his health permitted him to discharge his duty, and the vigor of his constitution was 1 555.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 203 equal, in any degree, to the arduous office of gov erning such extensive dominions, he had nev^r shunned labor, nor repined under fatigue : that now, when his health was broken, and his vigor exhausted by the rage of an incurable distemper, his growing infirmities admonished him to retiie; nor was he so fond of reigning, as to retain the sceptre in an impotent hand, which was no longer able to protect his subjects, or to secure to them the happiness which he wished they should enjoy ; that, instead of a sovereign worn out with dis- eases, and scarcely half alive, he gave them one in the prime of life, accustomed already to gov- ern, and who added to the vigor of youth all the attention and sagacity of maturer years ; that if, during the course of a long administration, he had committed any material error in government, or if, under the pressure of so many and great affairs, and amidst the attention which he had been obliged to give to them, he had either neglected or injured any of his subjects, he now implored their forgiveness ; that, for his part, he should ever retain a grateful sense of their fidelity and attach- ment, and would carry the remembrance of it along with him to the place of his retreat, as his sweetest consolation, as well as the best reward for all his servio.5S, and in his last prayers to Almighty God would pour forth his most earnest petitions for their welfare. Then turning towards Philip, who fell on his inees and kissed his father s hand, — " If," says he, S2 204 REIGN OF THE [Book XI. " I had left you by my death this rich inheritance, to which I have made such large additions, some regard would have been justly due to my memory on that account ; but now, when I voluntarily resign to you what I might have still retained, I may well expect the warmest expressions of thanks on your part. With these, however, I dispense, and shall consider your concern for the welfare of your subjects, and your love of them, as the best and most acceptable testimony of your gratitude to me. It is in your power, by a wise and virtuous administration, to justify the extraordinary proof which I, this day, give of my paternal affection, and to demonstrate that you are worthy of the con- fidence which I repose in you. Preserve an in- violable regard for religion ; maintain the Catholic faith in its purity ; let the laws of your country be sacred in your eyes ; encroach not on the rights and privileges of your people ; and if the time should ever come, when you shall wish to enjoy the tranquillity of private life, may you have a son endowed with such qualities, that you can resign your sceptre to him with as much satisfaction as I give up mine to you." As soon as Charles had finished this long address to his subjects and to their new sovereign, he sunk into the chair, exhausted and ready to faint with the fatigue of such an extraordinary effort. During his discourse, the whole audience melted into tearr, some from admiration of his magnanimity, others softened by the expressions of tenderness towards 1555.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 205 his son, and of love to his people ; and all were affected with the deepest sorrow at losing a sov- ereign, who, during his administration, had dis- tinguished the Netherlands, his native country, with particular marks of his regard and attach- Bfient. Philip then arose from his knees, and after returning thanks to his father, with a low and submissive voice, for the royal gift which his un- exampled bounty had bestowed upon him, lie ad- dressed the assembly of the states, and regretting his inability to speak the Flemish language with such facility as to express what he felt on this in- teresting occasion, as well as what he owed to his good subjects in the Netherlands, he begged that they would permit Granvelle, bishop of Arras, to deliver what he had given him in charge to speak in his name. Granvelle, in a long discourse, ex- patiated on the zeal with which Philip was animat- ed for the good of his subjects, on his resolution to devote all his time and talents to the promoting of their happiness, and on his intention to imitate his father s example in distinguishing the Nether- lands with particular marks of his regard. Maes, a lawyer of great eloquence, replied, in the name of the states, with large professions of their fidelity and affection to their new sovereign. Then Mary, queen-dowager of Hungary, resigned the regency with which she had been intrusted by her brother during the space of twenty-five years. Next day Philip, in presence of the states, took the 206 REIGN OF lilE [Book XI usual oalns to maintain the rights and privileges of his suhjects ; and all the members, in their o^vn name and in that of their constituents, swore alle- giance to him."*^ A few weeks after this transaction, Charles, in an assembly no less splendid, and w^ith a ceremonial equally pompous, resigned to his son the crowns of Spain, with all the territories depending on them, both in the Old and in the New World. Of all these vast possessions, he reserved nothing for himself but an annual, pension of a hundred thou- sand crowns, to defray the charges of his family, and to afford him a small sum for acts of benefi- cence and charity.^ 43 Godleveus, Relatio Abdicationis Car. V. ap. Goldast. Polit. Imper. p. 377. Strada de Bello Belgico, lib. i. p. 5. ^14 The emperor's resignation is an event not only of such importance, but of such a nature, that the precise date of it, one would expect, should have been ascertained by historians with the greatest accuracy. There is, however, an amazing and unaccountable diversity among them with regard to this point. All agree, that the deed by which Charles transferred to his son his dominions in the Netherlands, bears date at Brussels the 25th of October. S mdoval fixes on the 28th of October as the day on which the ceremony of resignation happened, and he was present at the transaction, vol. ii. p. 592. Godleveus, who published a treatise De Abdicatione Caroli V., fixes the publit) ceremony, as well as the date of the instrument of resignation, on the 25th. Pere Barre, I know not on what authority, fixes it on the 24th of November. Hisl. d'Alem. viii. 976. Herrera agrees with Godleveus in his account of this matter, tom. i. 155 : as likewise does Pallavicini, whose authority with respect to dates, and everything where a minute accuracy is requisite, is of great weight. Huit. lib. xvi. p. 168. His- torians differ no less with regard to the day on which Charles resigned the crown of Spain to his son. According to M. de Thou, it was a month after his having resigned his dominions in the Netherlands, i. e. about the 25th of November. Thucm. Wh. xvi. p. 571. According Herrera, Yida de Filipo, 181. 7 Thuan. lib. xxviii. 614. Pallav. lib. xiii. 181. Burn. ii. App. ^IT 1557.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 283 charge which could be committed to a subject. As soon as the French had discovered their pur- pose of viohiting the truce of Vaucelles, not only by sending an army into Italy, but by attempt- ing to surprise some of the frontier towns hi Flanders, Philip, though willing to have avoided a rupture, determined to prosecute the war with such spirit as should make his enemies sensible that his father had not erred, when he judged him to be so capable of government that he had given up the reins into his hands. As he knew that Henry had been at great expense in fitting out the army under the duke of Guise, and that his treasury was hardly able to answer the exor- bitant and endless demands of a distant war, he foresaw that all his operations in the Low Coun- tries must, of consequence, prove feeble, and be considered only as secondary to those in Italy. For that reason, he prudently resolved to make his principal effort in that place where he expected the French to be weakest, and to bend his chief force against that quarter where they would feel a blow most sensibly. With this view, he assem- bled in the Low Countries an army of about fifty thousand men, the Flemings serving him on this occasion with that active zeal which subjects are wont to exert in obeying the first commands of a new sovereign. But Philip, cautious and prov- ident, even at that early period of life, did not rest all his hopes of success on that formidable force alone. V(S^. III. 30 234 REIGN OF THE [Book XU. He had been laboring for some time to engage the English to espouse his quarrel; and though it was manifestly the interest of that kingdom to maintain a strict neutrality, and the people them- selves were sensible of the advantages which they derived from it ; 'though he knew how odious his name was to the English, and how averse they would be to co-operate with him. in any measure, he, nevertheless, did not despair of accomplishing his point. Pie relied on the affection with which the queen doted on him, which was so violent, that even his coldness and neglect had not extin- guished it ; he knew her implicit reverence for his opinion, and her fond desire of gratifying him in every particular. That he might work on these with greater facility and more certain success, he set out for England. The queen, who, during her husband's absence, had languished in perpetual dejection, resumed fresh spirits on his arrival ; and, without paying the least attention either to the interest or to the inclinations of her people, entered warmly into all his schemes. In ^ain did her privy council remonstrate against the imprudence as well as danger of involving the nation in an unnecessary war ; in vain did they put her in mind of the sol- emn treaties of peace subsisting between England and France, which the conduct of that nation had afforded her no pretext to violate. Mary, soothed by Philip's caresses, or intimidated by the threats which his ascendant over her emboldened him at some times to throw out, was deaf to everything 1557.] EMPEKOH CHARLES TlIE FIFTH. 235 that covild be urged in opposition to his sentiments, and insisted with the greatest vehemence on an immediate declaration of war against France. The council, though all Philip's address and Marv's authority were employed to gain or overawe them^ after struggling long, yielded at last, not from con- viction, but merely from deference to the wall of their sovereign. War was declared against France, the only one perhaps against that kingdom into which the English ever entered with reluctance. As Mary knew the aversion of the nation to this measure, she durst not call a parliament in order to raise money for carrying on the war. She sup- plied this want, however, by a stretch of royal pre- rogative, not unusual in that age; and levied large sums on her subjects by her own authority. This enabled her to assemble a sufficient body of troops, and to send eight thousand men, under the conduct of the earl of Pembroke, to join Philip's army.^ Philip, who was not ambitious of military glory, gave the command of his army to Emanuel Pliili- bert, duke of Savoy, and fixed his own residence at Cambray, that he might be at hand to receive the earliest intelligence of his motions, and to aid him with his counsels. The duke opened the cam- paign Avith a masterly stroke of address, which jus- tified Philip's choice, and discovered such a superi- ority of genius over the French generals, as almost insured success in his subsequent operations. He appointed the general rendezvous of his troops at a 8 Carte, iii. 337. 7 V 236 REIGN OF THE [Book XU place considerably distant from the country which he destined to be the scene of action ; and having kept the enemy in suspense for a good time with re- gard to his intentions, he at last deceived them so effectually by the variety of his marches and coun- termarches, as led them to conclude that he meant to bend all his force against the province of Cham- pagne, and would attempt to penetrate into the kingdom on that side. In consequence of this opinion, they drew all their strength towards that quarter, and, reinforcing the garrisons there, left the towns on other parts of the frontier destitute of troops sufficient to defend them. The duke of Savoy, as soon as he perceived that this feint had its full effect, turned suddenly to the right, advanced by rapid marches into Picar- dy, and sending his cavalry, in which he was ex- tremely strong, before him, invested St. Quentin. This was a town deemed in that age of considerable strength, and of great importance, as there were few fortified cities between it and Paris. The for- tifications, however, had been much neglected ; the garrison, weakened by draughts sent towards (Cham- pagne, did not amount to a fifth part of the num- ber requisite for its defence ; and the governor, though a brave officer, was neither of rank nor authority equal to the command in a place of so much consequence, besieged by such a formidable army. A few days must have put the duke of Savoy in possession of the town, if the Admiral de Cojigny, who thought it concerned his honor 'to 1557.1 EMrEIlOR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 237 attempt saving a place of such importance to his country, and which lay within his jurisdiction as governor of Picardy, had not taken the gallant resolution of throwing himself into it, with such a body of men as he could collect on a sudden. This resolution he executed with great intrepidity, and, if the nature of the enterprise be considered, with no contemptible success ; for, though one half of his small body of troops was cut off, he with the other broke through the enemy, and entered the town. The unexpected arrival of an officer of such higli rank and reputation, and who had exposed himself to such danger in order to join them, inspired the desponding garrison with cour- age. Everything that the admiral's great skill and experience in the art of war could suggest, for annoying the enemy, or defending the town, was attempted ; and the citizens as well as the gar- rison, seconding his zeal with equal ardor, seemed to be determined that they would hold out to the last, and sacrifice themselves in order to save their country.^ The duke of Savoy, whom the English, under the earl of Pembroke, joined about this time, pushed on the siege with the greatest vigor. An army so numerous, and so well supplied with everything requisite, carried on its approaches with great advantage against a garrison which was still so feeble that it durst seldom venture to disturb or retard the enemy's operations by sallies. The 9 Thuan. lib. xix. 647. 238 RFJGX OF TIIE [Book XIL admiral, sensible of the approaching danger, and unable to avert it, acquainted his uncle, the Con- stable Montmorency, who had the command of the French army, with his situation, and pointed out to him a method by which he might throw relief into the town. The constable, solicitous to save a town, the loss of which would open a passage for the enemy into the heart of France, and eager to extricate his nephew out of that perilous situa- tion, in which zeal for the public had engaged him, resolved, though aware of the danger, to attempt what he desired. With this view, he marched from La Fere towards St. Quentin at the head of his army, which was not by one half so numerous as that of the enemy, and having given the command of a body of chosen men to Coligny's brother, Dan- delot, who was colonel-general of the French in fantry, he ordered him to force his way into the town by that avenue which the admiral had rep- i-esented as most practicable, while he himself, with the main army, would give the alarm to the ene- my's camp on the opposite side, and endeavor to draw all their attention towards that quarter. Dandelot executed his orders with greater intre- pidity than conduct. He rushed on with such headlong impetuosity, that, though it broke the first body of the enemy which stood in his way, it threw his own soldiers into the utmost confu- sion ; and as they were attacked in that situation by fresh troops, which closed in upon them on every side, the greater part of them were cut in 1557.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 239 pieces ; Dandelot, with about five hundred of the Qiost adventurous and most fortunate, making good his entrance into the town. Meanwhile the constable, in executing his part of the plan, advanced so near the camp of the be- siegers, as rendered it impossible to retreat with safety in the face of an enemy so much superior in number. The duke of Savoy histantly perceived Montmorency's error, and prepared, with the pres- ence of mind and abilities of a great general, to avail himself of it. He drew up his army in order of battle, with the greatest expedition, and, watch- ing the moment when the French began to file off towards La Fere, he detached all his cavalry, under the command of the count of Egmont, to fall on their rear, while he himself, at the head of his in- fantry, advanced to support him. The French re- tired at first in perfect order, and with a good coun- tenance ; but when they saw Egmont draw near with his formidable body of cavalry, the shock of which they were conscious that they could not withstand, the prospect of imminent danger, added to distrust of their general, whose imprudence every soldier now perceived, struck them with general consternation. They began insensibly to quicken their pace, and those in the rear pressed so violently on such as were before them, that in a short time their march resembled a flight rather than a re- treat. Egmont, observing their confusion, charged them with the greatest fury, and in a moment all their men-at-arms, the pride and strength of the V2 240 KEIGN OF THE [Book XII French troops in that age, gave way, and fled with precipitation. The infantry, however, whom the constable, by his presence and authority, kept to their colors, still continued to retreat in good order, until the enemy brought some pieces of cannon to bear upon their centre, which threw them into such confusion, that the Flemish cavalry, renewing their attack, broke in, and the rout became universal. About four thousand of the French fell in the field, and among these the duke of Enghien, a prince of the blood, together with six hundred gentlemen. The constable, as soon as he perceived the fortune of the day to be irretrievable, rushed into the thick- est of the enemy, with a resolution not to survive the calamity which his ill conduct had brought upon his country ; but having received a dangerous wound, and being wasted with the loss of blood, he w^as surrounded by some Flemish officers to whom he was known, who protected him from the vio- lence of the soldiers, and obliged him to surrender. Besides the constable, the dukes of Montpensier and LoDgueville, the Marechal St. Andre, many officers of distinction, three hundred gentlemen, and near four thousand private soldiers, were taken prisoners. All the colors belonging to the infantry, all the ammunition, and all the cannon, two pieces excepted, fell into the enemy's hands. The victorious army did not lose above fourscore men.^*^ This battle, no less fatal to France than the W Thuan. 650. Har^i Annal. Brabant, ii. 692. Herrera, ?9/.. 1557. J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 241 ancient victories of Crecy and Agincourt, gained by the English on the same frontier, bore a near resemblance to those disastrous events, in the sud- denness of the rout ; in the ill conduct of the cc m- mander-in-chief ; in the number of persons of note slain or taken ; and in the small loss sustaiued by the enemy. It filled France with equal con- sternation. Many inhabitants of Paris, with the same precipitancy and trepidation as if the enemy had been already at their gates, quitted the city, and retired into the interior provinces. The khig, by his presence and exhortations, endeavored to console and to animate such as remained, and, ap- plying himself with the greatest diligence to repair the ruinous fortifications of the city, prepared to defend it against the attack which he instantly ex- pected. But, happily for France, Philip's caution, together with the intrepid firmness of the Admiral de Coligny, not only saved the capital from the danger to which it was exposed, but gained the nation a short interval, during which the people recovered from the terror and dejection occasioned by a bloAv no less severe than unexpected, and Henry had leisure to take measures for the pub- lic security, with the spirit which became the sov- ereign of a powerful and martial people. Philip, immediately after the battle, visited the camp at St. Quentin, where he was received with all the exultation of military triumph ; and such were his transports of joy on account of an event which threw so much lustre on the beginning of VOL. Til 31 242 REIGN OF TIIE [Book XH. his reign, that they softened his severe and haughty temper into an unusual flow of courtesy. When the duke of Savoy approached, and was kneeling to kiss his hands, he caught him in his arms, and embracing him with warmth, " It becomes me," says he, " rather to kiss your hands, which have gained me such a glorious and almost bloodless victory." As soon as the rejoicings and congratulations on Philip's arrival were over, a council of war was held, in order to determine how they might im- prove their victory to the best advantage. The duke of Savoy, seconded by several of the ablest officers formed under Charles V., insisted that they should immediately relinquish the siege of St. Quen- tin, the reduction of which was now an object be- low their attention, and advance directly towards Paris ; that as there were neither troops to oppose, nor any town of strength to retard their march, they might reach that capital while under the full impression of the astonishment and terror oc- casioned by the rout of the army, and take pos- session of it without resistance. But Philip, less a/1 venturous or more prudent than his generals, preferred a moderate but certain advantage, to an enterprise of greater splendor but of more doubtful success. He represented to the council the infinite resources of a kingdom so powerful as France ; the great number as well as martial spirit of its nobles r their attachment to their sovereign ; the manifold advantages with which they could carry on war iu 1557.1 EMPP:K0R CHARLES THE FIFTH. 243 their own territories ; and the unavoidahle destruc- tion wliich must be the consequence of their pene- trating too rashly into the enemy's country, before they had secured such a communication with their own as might render a retreat safe, if, upon any disastrous event, that measure should become neces- sary. On all these accounts, he advised the con- tinuance of the siege, and his generals acquiesced the more readily in his opinion, as they made no doubt of being masters of the town in a few days, a loss of time of so little consequence in the execu- tion of their plan, that they might easily repair it by their subsequent activity.^^ The weakness of the fortifications, and the small number of the garrison, Avhich could no longer hope either for reinforcement or relief, seemed to authorize this calculation of Philip's generals. But in making it, they did not attend sufficiently to the character of Admiral de Coligny, who com- manded in the town. A courage undismayed, and tranquil amidst the greatest dangers, an invention fruitful in resources, a genius which roused and seemed to acquire new force upon every disaster, a talent of governing the minds of men, together with a capacity of maintaining his ascendant over them, even under circumstances the most ad\eise and distressful, were qualities which Coligny pos- sessed in a degree superior to any general of that age. These qualities were peculiarly adapted to the station in which he was now placed ; and as 11 Belcar. Commentar. de Reb. Gallic. 901. 244 REIGN OF THE [Book Xn. he knew the infinite importance to his country of every hour which he could gain at this junc- ture, he exerted himself to the utmost in contriv- ing how to protract the siege, and to detain the enemy from attempting any enterprise more dan- gerous to France. Such were the perseverance and skill with which he conducted the defence, and such the fortitude as well as patience with which he animated the garrison, that though the Spaniards, the Flemings, and the English carried on the attack with all the ardor w^hich national emulation inspires, he held out the town seven- teen days. He was taken prisoner, at last, on the breach, overpowered by 4:he superior number of the enemy. Henry availed himself, with the utmost activity, of the interval w^hich the admiral's well-timed ob- stinacy had afforded him. He appomted officers to collect the scattered remains of the constable's army; he issued orders for levying soldiers in every part of the kingdom ; he commanded the ban and arriere ban of the frontier provinces in- stantly to take the field, and to join the duke of Nevers at Laon in Picardy ; he recalled the greater part of the veteran troops which served under the Marechal Brissac in Piedmont ; he sent courier after courier to the duke of Guise, requiring him, together with all his army, to return instantly for the defence of their country; he despatched one envoy to the Grand Seignior, to solicit the assistance of his fleet, and the loan of a sum of money ; he 1557.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 245 sent another into Scotland, to incite the Scots to invade the north of England, that, by drawing Mary's attention to that quarter, he might prevent her from reinforcing her troops which served under Philip. These efforts of the king were warmly seconded by the zeal of his subjects. The city of Paris granted him a free gift of three hundred thousand livres. The other great towns imitated the liberality of the capital, and contributed in proportion. Several noblemen of distinction en- gaged, at their own expense, to garrison and de- fend the towns which lay most exposed to the enemy. Nor was the general concern for the pub- lic confined to corporate bodies alone, or to those in the higher sphere of life ; but, diffusing itself among persons of every rank, each individual seemed disposed to act with as much vigor as if the honor of the king and the safety of the state had depended solely on his single efforts.^^ Philip, who was no stranger either to the pru- dent measures taken by the French monarch for the security of his dominions, or to the spirit with which his subjects prepared to deft^nd them- selves, perceived, when it was too late, that he had lost an opportunity which could never be re- called, and that it was now vain to think of pene- trating into the heart of France. He abandoned, therefore, without much reluctance, a scheme which was too bold and hazardous to be perfectly agree able to his cautious temper; and employed his 1-2 Mem. de Ribier, ii. 701, 703 246 REIGN OF THE [Book XII. army, during the remainder of the campaign, in the sieges of Ham and Catelet. Of these he soon became master; and the reduction of two such petty towns, together with the acquisition of St. Quentin, were all the advantages which he de- rived from one of the most decisive victories gained in that century. Philip himself, however, contin- ued in high exultation on account of his success ; and as all his passions were tinged with super- stition, he, in memory of the battle of St. Quen- tin, which had been fought on the day consecrated to St. Laurence, vowed to build a church, a monas- tery, and a palace, in honor of that saint and martyr. Before the expiration of the year, he laid the foundation of an edifice, in which all these were united, at the Escurial, in the neigh- borhood of Madrid ; and the same principle which dictated the vow, directed the building. For the plan of the work was so formed as to resemble a gridiron, which, according to the legendary tale, had been the instrument of St. Laurence's martyr- dom. Notwithstanding the great and expensive schemes in which his restless ambition involved him, Philip continued the building with such per- severance for twenty-two years, and reserved such large sums for this monument of his devotion and vanity, that the monarchs of Spain are indebted to him for a royal residence, which, though not the most elegant, is certainly the most sumptuous and magnificent of any in Europe.^^ 1^ Colmenar, Annales d'Espagne, torn. ii. p. 136. 1557.] EMPEKOR CHARLES THE FIPTH 247 The first account of that flital blow which the French had received at St. Quentin was carried to Rome by the courier whom Henry had sent to recall the duke of Guise. As Paul, even with the assistance of his French auxiliaries, had hardly been able to check the progress of the Spanish arms, he foresaw that, as soon as he was deprived of their protection, his territories must be over- run in a moment. He remonstrated, therefore, with the greatest violence, against the departure of the French army, reproaching the duke of Guise for his ill conduct, which had brouaht him mto such an unhappy situation ; and complain- ing of the king for deserting him so ungenerously under such circumstances. The duke of Guise's orders, however, were peremptory. Paul, inflexi- ble as he w^as, found it necessary to accommodate his conduct to the exigency of his affairs, and to employ the mediation of the Venetians, and of Cosmo de' Medici, in order to obtain peace. Philip, who had been forced unwillingly to a rupture with the pope, and who, even while success crowned his arms, doubted so much the justice of his own cause, that he had made frequent overtures of pacification, listened eagerly to the first proposals of this nature from Paul, and discovered such moderation in his demands, as could hardly have been expected from a prince elated with victory. The duke of Alva on the part of Philip, and the Cardinal Caraffa in the name of his uncle, met at Cavi, and both being equally disposed to peace, 7 w 248 REIGN OF THE [Book XH they, after a short conference, terminated the war by a treaty on the following terms : That Paul should renounce his league with France, and main- tain for the future such a neutrality as became the common father of Christendom ; that Philip should instantl) restore all the towns of the ecclesiastical territory of which he had taken possession ; that the claims of the CarafFas to the duchy of Pali- ano, and other demesnes of the Colonnas, should be referred to the decision of the republic of Yen- ice ; that the duke of Alva should repair in per- son to Eome, and after asking pardon of Paul in his own name, and in that of his master, for having invaded the patrimony of the Church, should re- ceive the pope's absolution from that crime. Thus Paul, through Philip's scrupulous timidity, finished an unprosperous war without any detriment to the papal see. The conqueror appeared humble, and acknowledged his error; while he who had been vanquished retained his usual haughtiness, and ^vas treated with every mark of superiority.-^^ The duke of Alva, in terms of the treaty, repaired to Home, and, in the posture of a supplicant, kissed the feet and implored the forgiveness of that very person w^hom his arms had reduced to the last ex- tjemity. Such was the superstitious veneration ol the Spaniards for the papal character, that Alva, though perhaps the proudest man of the age, and accustomed from his infancy to a familiar inter- course with princes, acknowledged that, when he 14 Pallav. lib. xiii. 183. F. Paul, 380. Herrera, vol. i. 310 1557.] EMPEROU CHAELES THE FIFTH. 249 approached the pope, he was so much overawed, that his voice failed, and his presence of mind forsook him.^^ But though this war, which at its commence- ment threatened mighty revolutions, was brought to an end without occasioning any alteration in those states which were its immediate object, it had produced during its progress effects of con- siderable consequence in other parts of Italy. As Philip was extremely solicitous to terminate his quarrel with Paul as speedily as possible, he was willing to make any sacrifice in order to gain those princes who, by joining their troops to the papal and French army, might have prolonged the war. With this view, he entered into a negotiation with Octavio Farnese, duke of Parma, and, in order to seduce him from his alliance with France, he re- stored to him the city of Placentia, with the terri- tory depending on it, which Charles V. had seized in the year 1547, had kept from that time in his possession, and had transmitted, together with his other dominions, to Philip. This step made such a discovery of Philip's character and views to Cosmo de' Medici, the most sagacious as well as provident of all the Italian princes, that he conceived hopes of accomplishing his favorite scheme of adding Siena and its terri- tories to his dominions in Tuscany. As his success in this attempt depended entirely on the delicacy of address with which it should be conducted, he 15 Pallav. lib. xiii. 185. Summonte, Istoria di Napoli, iv. 286. VOL. III. 32 250 REIGN OF THE [Book XII. employed all the refinements of policy in the nego- tiation which he set on foot for this pnrpose. He began with soliciting Philip, whose treasury he knew to be entirely drained by the expense of the war, to repay the great sums which he had ad- vanced to the emperor during the siege of Siena. When Philip endeavored to elude a demand which he was unable to satisfy, Cosmo affected to be ex- tremely disquieted, and, making no secret of his dis- gust, instructed his ambassador at Pome to open a negotiation with the pope, which seemed to be the effect of it. The ambassador executed his com- mission with such dexterity, that Paul, imagining Cosmo to be entirely alienated from the Spanish interest, proposed to him an alliance with France, which should be cemented by the marriage of his eldest son to one of Henry's daughters. Cosmo received the overture with such apparent satisfac- tion, and with so many professions of gratitude for the high honor of which he had the prospect, that not only the pope's ministers, but the French envoy at Pome, talked confidently, and with little reserve, of the accession of that important ally, as a mat- ter certain and decided. The account of thi*;^ was quickly carried to Philip ; and Cosmo, who fore- saw how much it w^ould alarm him, had despal ^hed his nephew, Ludovico di Toledo, into the Nether- lands, that he might be at hand to observe and take advantage of his consternation, before ihe first impression which it made should in an}' »le- gree abate. Cosmo was extremely fortunate iu I557.I EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTIi. 251 the choice of the instrument whom he employed. Toledo waited with patience, until he discovere/l with certainty that Philip had received such intel- ligence of his uncle's negotiations at Rome as must have filled his suspicious mind with fear and jeal- ousy ; and then, craving an audience, he required payment of the money which had been borrowed by the emperor, in the most earnest and peremp- tory terms. In urging that point, he artfully threw out several dark hints and ambiguous decla- rations, concerning the extremities to which Cosmo might be driven by a refusal of this just demand, as well as by other grievances of which he had good reason to complain. Philip, astonished at an address in such a strain, from a prince so far his inferior as the duke of Tus- cany, and comparing what he now heard with the information which he had received from Italy, im- mediately concluded that Cosmo had ventured to assume this bold and unusual tone on the prospect of his union with France. In order to prevent the pope and Henry from acquiring an ally, who, by his abilities, as Avell as the situation of his do- minions, would have added both reputation and strength to their confederacy, he offered to grant Cosmo the investiture of Siena, if he would con- sent to accept of it as an equivalent for the sums due to him, and engage to furnish a body of troops towards the defence of Philip's territories in Italy, against any power who should attack them. As soon as Cosmo had brought Philip to make this w 2 250 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL concession, which was the object of all his artifices and intrigues, he did not protract the negotiation by an unnecessary delay, or any excess of refine- ment, but closed eagerly with the proposal ; and Philip, in spite of the remonstrances of his ablest counsellors, signed a treaty with him to that ef- fect.i« As no prince was ever more tenacious of his rights than Philip, or less willing to relinquish any territory which he possessed, by what tenure soever he held it, these unusual concessions to the dukes of Parma and Tuscany, by Avhich he wan- tonly gave up countries in acquiring or defending which his father had employed many years, and wasted much blood and treasure, cannot be ac- counted for from any motive but his superstitious desire of extricating himself out of the war which he had been forced to wage against the pope. By these treaties, how^ever, the balance of power among the Italian states was poised with greater equality, and rendered less variable than it had been since it received the first violent shock from the invasion of Charles VIII. of France. From this period, Italy ceased to be the great theatre on which the monarchs of Spain, France, and Germany con- tended for power or for fame. Their dissensions and hostilities, though as frequent and violent as ever, being excited by new objects, stained other regions of Europe with blood, and rendered them miserable, in their turn, by the devastations of war. 16 Thuaii. lib. xviii. 624. Herrera, i. 263, 275. Paluv. lib. xu\ 180 1557.] EMPEROK CHAKLES THE FIFTli. 253 The duke of Guise left Rome on the same day that his adversary, the duke of Alva made his hu- miliating submission to the pope. He was received in France as the guardian angel of the kingdom. His late ill success in Italy seemed to be forgotten, while his former services, particularly his defence of Metz, were recounted with exaggerated praise ; and he was welcomed in every city through which he passed, as the restorer of public security, who, after having set bounds by his conduct and valor to the victorious arms of Charles V., returned now, at the call of his country, to check the formidable progress of Philip's power. The reception which he met with from Henry was no less cordial and honorable. New titles were invented, and new dig- nities created, in order to distinguish him. He was appointed lieutenant-general in chief, both within and without the kingdom, with a jurisdiction almost unlimited, and hardly inferior to that which was possessed by the king himself Thus, through the singular felicity which attended the princes of Lor- rain, the miscarriage of their own schemes contrib- uted to aggrandize them. The calamities of his country, and the ill conduct of his rival, the con- stable, exalted the duke of Guise to a height of dignity and power, which he could not have ex- pected to attain by the most fortunate and most complete success of his own ambitious projects. The duke of Guise, eager to perform something suitable to the high expectations of his country- men» and that he might justify the extraordinary 25 -i BEIGN or THE [Book XU. coufidence which the king had reposed in him, ordered all the troops which could be got together to assemble at Compiegne. Though the winter was well advanced, and had set in with extreme severity, he placed himself at their head, and took the field. By Henry's activity, and the zeal of his subjects, so many soldiers had been raised in the kingdom, and such considerable reinforcements had been drawn from Germany and Switzerland, as formed an army respectable even in the eyes of a victorious enemy. Philip, alarmed at seeing it put in motion at such an uncommon season, began to tremble for his new conquests, particularly St. Quentin, the fortifications of which were hitherto but imperfectly repaired. But the duke of Guise meditated a more impor- tant enterprise ; and after amusing the enemy with threatening successively different towns on the fron- tiers of Flanders, he turned suddenly to the left, and invested Calais with his whole army. Calais had been taken by the English under Edward HI., and was the fruit of that monarch's glorious victory at Crecy. Being the only place that they retained of their ancient and extensive territories in France, and which opened to them, at all times, an easy and secure passage into the heart of that kingdom, their keeping possession of it soothed the pride of the one nation as much as it mortified the vanity of the other. Its situation was naturally so strong, and its fortifications deemed so impregnable, that no monarch of France, how adventurous soever, had 1558.] EMPEROR CILVRLES THE FIFTH. 255 been bold enough to attack it. Even when the do- mestic strength of England was broken and ex- hausted by the bloody wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, and its attention entirely di- verted from foreign objects, Calais had remained undisturbed and unthreatened. Mary and her council, composed chiefly of ecclesiastics, unac- quainted with military affairs, and whose whole attention was turned towards extirpating heresy oat of the kingdom, had not only neglected to take any precautions for the safety of this important place, but seemed to think that the reputation of its strength was alone sufhcient for its security. Full of this opinion, they ventured, even after the declaration of war, to continue a practice which the low state of the queen's finances had introduced in tunes of peace. As the country adjacent to Calais was overflowed during the winter, and the marshes around it became impassable, except by one avenue, which the forts of St. Agatlia and Newnham Bridge commanded, it had been the custom of the English to dismiss the greater part of the garrison towards the end of autumn, and to replace it in the spring. In vain did Lord AVentworth, the governor ot Calais, remonstrate against this ill-timed parsimony, and represent the possibiUty of his being attacked suddenly, while he had not troops sufficient to man the works. The privy council treated these remon- strances with scorn, as if they had flowed from the timidity or the rapaciousness of the governor , and some of them, with that confidence which is* the 256 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL companion of ignoi:ance, boasted that they would defend Calais with their white rods against any enemy who should approach it during winter.-^^ In vain did Philip, who had passed through Calais as he returned from England to the Netherlands, warn the queen of the danger to which it was exposed ; and, acquainting her with what was necessary for its security, in vain did he offer to reinforce the garrison during winter with a detachment of his own troops. Mary's counsellors, though obsequious to her in all points wherein religion was concerned, distrusted, as much as the rest of their countrymen, every proposition that came from her husband ; and suspecting this to be an artifice of Philip's in order to gain the command of the town, they neglected his intelligence, declined his offer, and left Calais w^ith less than a fourth part of the garrison requi- site for its defence. His knowledge of this encouraged the duke of Guise to venture on an enterprise, that surprised his own countrymen no less than his enemies. As he knew that its success depended on conducting his operations with such rapidity as would afford the English no time for throwing relief into the town by sea, and prevent Philip from giving him any interruption by land, he pushed the attack with a degree of vigor little known in carrying on sieges during that age. He drove the English from Fort St. As^atha at the first assault. He obliged them to abandon the fort of Newnham 17 Girte. iii. 345. 1558.1 EINIPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 25** Bridge, after defending it only three days. He took the castle which commanded the harbor by storm ; and, on the eighth day after he appeared before Calais, compelled the governor to surrender, as his feeble garrison, which did not exceed five hundred men, was worn out with the fatigue of sustaining so many attacks, and defending such extensive works. The duke of Guise, without allowing the English time to recover from the consternation occasioned by this blow, immediately invested Guisnes, the garrison of which, though more numerous, defend- ed itself with less vigor, and, after standing one brisk assault, gave up the town. The castle of names was abandoned by the troops posted there, without waiting the approach of the enemy. Thus, in a few days, during the depth of winter, and at a time when the fatal battle of St. Quentin had so depressed the sanguine spirit of the French, that their utmost aim was to protect their own covmtry, without dreaming of making conquests on the enemy, the enterprising valor of one man drove the English out of Calais, after they had held it two hundred and ten years, and deprived them of every foot of land in a kingdom, where their do- minions had been once very extensive. This ex- ploit, at the same time that it gave a high idea of the power and n^sources of France to all Europe, set the duke of Guise, in the opinion of his coun- trymen, far abo^e all the generals of the age. They celebrated his conquests with immoderate transports VOL. III. .S.3 258 REIGN OF THE [Book XII of joy ; Avhile the English gave vent to all the pas- sions which animate a high-spirited people, when any great n.ational calamity is manifestly owing to the ill conduct of their rulers. Mary and her min- isters, formerly odious, were now contemptible in their eyes. All the terrors of her severe and arbi- trary administration could not restrain them from uttering execrations and threats against those who, having wantonly involved the nation in a quarrel wherein it was nowise interested, had, by their neg- ligence or incapacity, brought irreparable disgrace on their country, and lost the most valuable posses- sion belonging to the English crown. The king of Erance imitated the conduct of its former conqueror, Edward III., with regard to Calais. He commanded all the English inhabitants to quit the town, and giving their houses to his own subjects, whom he allured to settle there by granting them various immunities, he left a numer- ous garrison, under an experienced governor, for their defence. After this, his victorious army was conducted into quarters of refreshment, and the usual inaction of winter returned. During these various operations, Eerdinand as- sembled the college of electors at Erankfort, in order to lay before them the instrument whereby Charles Y. had resigned the imperial crown, and transferred it to him. This he had hitherto delayed on account of some difficulties which had occurred concerning the formalities requisite in supplying a vacancy occasioned by an event to which thrre is 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 259 no parallel in the annals of the empire. These being at length adjnsted, the prince of Orange exe- cuted the commission with which he had been in- trusted by Charles : the electors accepted of his resignation ; declared Ferdinand his lawful succes- sor ; and put him in possession of all the ensigns of the imperial dignity. But when the new emperor sent Gusman, his chancellor, to acquaint the pope with this transac- tion, to testify his reverence towards the holy see, and to signify that, according to form, he would soon despatch an ambassador extraordinary to treat with his holiness concerning his coronation ; Paul, whom neither experience nor disappointments could teach to bring down his lofty ideas of the papal prerogative to such a moderate standard as suited the genius of the times, refused to admit the envoy into his presence, and declared all the proceedings at Frankfort irregular and invalid. He contended that the pope, as the vicegerent of Christ, was in- trusted with the keys both of spiritual and of civil government; that from him the imperial jurisdic- tion was derived ; that though his predecessors had authorized the electors to choose an emperor whom the holy see confirmed, this privilege was confined to those cases when a vacancy was occasioned by death ; that the instrument of Charles's resignation had been presented in an improper court, as it belonged to the pope alone to reject or to accept of it, and to nominate a person to fill the imperial throne ; that, setting aside all these objections, Fer- 7 X 960 REIGN OF THE [Book XU dinand's election labored under two defects, which alone weie sufficient to render it void, for the Prot- estant electors had been admitted to vote, though, by their apostasy from the Catholic faith, they had forfeited that and every other privilege of the elec- toral office ; and Ferdinand, by ratifying the con- cessions of several diets in favor of heretics, had rendered himself unworthy of the imperial dignity, which was instituted for the protection, not for the destruction, of the Church. But after thundering out these extravagant maxims, he added, with an appearance of condescension, that if Ferdinand would renounce all title to the imperial crown founded on the election at Frankfort, make pro- fessions of repentance for his past conduct, and supplicate him, with due humility, to confirm Charles's resignation, as well as his own assump- tion to the empire, he might expect every mark of favor from his paternal clemency and goodness. Gusman, though he had foreseen considerable dif- ficulties in his negotiation with the pope, little expected that he would have revived those anti- quated and wild pretensions, wdiich astonished him BO much, that he hardly knew in what tone he ought to reply. He prudently declined entering into any controversy concerning the nature or ex tent of the papal jurisdiction, and, confining him- self to the political considerations Avhich should determine the pope to recognize an emperor al- ready in possession, he endeavored to place them in such a light as he imagined could scarcely fail 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIETH. 261 to strike Paul, if he were not altogether blind to his own interest. Philip seconded Gasman's ar- guments with great earnestness, by an ambassador whom he sent to Kome on purpose, and besought the pope to desist from claims so unseasonable, as might not only irritate and alarm Ferdinand and the princes of the empire, but furnish the enemies of the holy see with a new reason for representing its jurisdiction as incompatible with the rights of princes, and subversive of all civil authority. But Paul, who deemed it a crime to attend to any consideration suggested by human prudence or policy, when he thought himself called upon to assert the prerogatives of the papal see, remained inflexible ; and during his pontificate, Ferdinand was not acknowledged as emperor by the court of Rome.-^^ While Henry was intent upon his preparations for the approaching campaign, he received accounts of the issue of his negotiations in Scotland. Long experience having at last taught the Scots the im- prudence of involving their country in every quar- rel between France and England, neither the solici- tations of the French ambassador, nor the address and authority of the queen regent, could prevail on them to take arms against a kingdom with which they were at peace. On this occasion, the ardor of a martial nobility and of a turbulent peo- ple was restrained by regard for the public interest 18 Godlevous de Abdicat. Car. V. ap. Gold. Pollt. Imper. 392. Pallav Ub. xiii. 189. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 74C, 759. 2b'2 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL and tranquillity, wliicli, in former deliberations of this kind, had been seldom attended to by a nation always prone to rush into every new war. But though the Scots adhered with steadiness to their pacific system, they were extremely ready to gratify the French king in another particular, which he had given in charge to his ambassador. The young queen of Scots had been affianced to the dauphin, in the year 1548, and having been educated since that time in the court of France, she had grown up to be the most amiable, and one of the most accomplished princesses of that age. Henry demanded the consent of her subjects to the celebration of the marriage ; and a parliament, which was held for that purpose, appointed eight commissioners to represent the whole body of ^he nation at that solemnity, with power to sign such deeds as might be requisite before it was concluded. In settling the articles of the marriage, the Scots took every precaution that prudence could dictate, in order to preserve the liberty and independence of their country ; while the French used every art to secure to the dauphin the conduct of affairs dur- ing the queen's life, and the succession of the crown on the event of her demise. The marriage was cel- ebrated with pomp suitable to the dignity of the parties, and the magnificence of a court at that time the most splendid in Europe.^^ Thus Henry, in the course of a few months, had the glory of '9 Keltli's History of Scotland, p. 73. Append. 13. Corps Diplom V. 21. 1&58.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 263 recovering an important possession which had an- ciently belonged to the crown of France, and of adding to it the acquisition of a new kingdom. By this event, too, the duke of Guise acquired new consideration and importance ; the marriage of his niece to the apparent heir of the crown raising him so far above the condition of other subjects, that the credit which he had gained by his ^reat actions seemed thereby to be rendered no less per- manent than it was extensive. When the campaign opened, soon after the dau- phin's marriage, the duke of Guise was placed at the head of the army, with the same unlimited powers as formerly. Henry had received such iiberal supplies from his subjects, that the troops ujder his command were both numerous and well appointed ; while Philip, exhausted by the extraordinary efforts of the preceding year, had been obliged to dismiss so many of his forces dur- ing the winter, that he could not bring an army into the field capable of making head against the enemy. The duke of Guise did not lose the favor- able opportunity which his superiority afforded him. He invested Thionville in the duchy of Luxembourg, one of the stron«:est towns on the frontiers of the Netherlands, and of great importance to France by its neighborhood to Metz ; and, notwithstanding the obstinate valor with which it was defended, he forced it to capitulate after a siege of three weeks.^ But the success of this enterprise, which it was 20 TIman. lib. xx. 690. X2 264 REIGN OF THE [Book XII. expected would lead to other conquests, was more than counterbalanced by an event which happ'aied m another part of the Low Countries. The Mare- cbal de Termes, governor of Calais, having pene- trated into Flanders without opposition, invested Dunkirk with an army of fourteen thousand men, and took it by storm on the fifth day of the siege. Hence he advanced towards Nieuport, which must have soon fallen into his hands, if the approach of the count of Egmont with a superior army had not made it prudent to retreat. The French troops were so much encumbered with the booty which they had got at Dunkirk, or by ravaging the open country, that they moved slowly ; and Egmont, who had left his heavy baggage and artillery behind him, marched with such rapidity that he came up with them near Gra\elines, and attacked them with the utmost impetuosity. De Termes, who had the choice of the ground, having posted his troops to advantage in the angle formed by the mouth of the river Aa and the sea, received him with great firm- ness. Victory remained for some time in suspense, the desperate valor of the French, who foresaw the unr.. voidable destruction that must follow upon a rout in an enemy's country, counterbalancing the superior number of the Flemings, when one of those accidents to which human prudence does not extend, decided the contest in favor of the lat- ter. A squadron of English ships of war, which was cruising on the coast, being drawn by the noise of the nring towards the place of the engagement, 1558.1 EMPEROE CHARLES THE FIFTH. 265 entered the river Aa, and turned its great guns against the right wing of the French, with such effect as immediately broke that body, and spread terror and confusion through the whole army. Ihe Flemings, to whom assistance so unexpected and so seasonable gave fresh spirit, redoubled their ef- forts, tliat they might not lose the advantage which fortune had presented them, or give the enemy time to recover from their consternation, and the rout of the French soon became universal. Near two thou- sand were killed on the spot; a greater number fell by tlie hands of the peasants, who, in revenge for the cruelty with which their country had been plun- dered, pursued the fugitives, and massacred them without mercy; the rest were taken prisoners, to- gether with De Termes, their general, and many officers of distinction.^^ This signal victory, for which the count of Egmont was afterwards so ill requited by Philip, obliged the duke of Guise to relinquish all other schemes, and to hasten towards the frontiers of Picardy, that he might oppose the progress of the enemy in that province. This disaster, however, reflected new lustre on his reputation, and once more turned the eyes of his countrymen towards him, as the only general on whose arms victory always attended, and in whose conduct, as well as good fortune, they could confide in e\ery danger. Henry reinforced the duke of Guise s army with so many troops drawn from the adjacent garrisonSv 21 Thuan. lib. xx. 694. VOL. Ill 34 266 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL that it soon amounted to forty thousand men. That of the enemy, after the junction of Egmont with the duke of Savoy, was not inferior in number They encamped at a distance of a few leagues from one another ; and each monarch having joined his respective army, it was expected, after the vicissi- tudes of good and bad success during this and the former campaign, that a decisive battle would at last determine which of the rivals should take the ascendant for the future, and give law to Europe. But though both had it in their power, neither of them discovered any inclination to bring the deter- mination of such an important point to depend upon the uncertain issue of a single battle. The fatal engagements at St. Quentin and Gravelines were too recent to be so soon forgotten ; and the prospect of encountering the same troops, com- manded by the same generals who had twice tri- umphed over his arms, inspired Henry with a de- gree of caution which was not common to him. Philip, of a genius averse to bold operations in war, naturally leaned to cautious measures, and was not disposed to hazard anything against a general so fortunate and successful as the duke of Guise. Both monarchs, as if by agreement, stood on the defensive, and, fortifying their camps carefull} avoided every skirmish or rencounter that might bring on a general engagement. While the armies continued in this inaction, peace began to be mentioned in each camp, and both Henry and Philip discovered an inclination to lis- 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 267 ten to any overture that tended to re-establish it The kingdoms of France and Spain had been en- gaged during half a century in almost continua] wars, carried on at a great expense, and produc* tive of no considerable advantage to either. Ex- hausted by extraordinary and unceasing efforts, which far exceeded those to which the nations of Europe had been accustomed before the rivalship between Charles V. and Francis L, both nations longed so much for an interval of repose, in order to recruit their strength, that their sovereigns drew from them with difficulty the supplies necessary for carrying on hostilities. The private inclinations of both the kings concurred with those of their people. Philip w^as prompted to wish for peace by his fond desire of returning to Spain. Accustomed from his infancy to the climate and manners of that country, he was attached to it with such extreme predilec- tion, that he never felt himself at ease in any other part of his dominions. But as he could not quit the Low Countries, either with decency or safety, and venture on a voyage to Spain, during the con- tinuance of w^ar, the prospect of a pacification, which w^ould put it in his power to execute his favorite scheme, was highly acceptable. Henry Mas no less desirous of being delivered from the burden and occupations of war, that he might have leisure to turn his attention, and bend the whole force of his government, towards suppressing the opinions of the Reformers, which wTre spreading ^ith such rapidity in Paris, and other great towns 268 EEIGN OP THE [Book XH of l^rance, that they began to grow formidable to the established Church. Besides these public and avowed considerations, arising from the state of the two hostile kingdoms, or from the wishes of their respective monarchs, there was a secret intrigue carried on in the court of France, which contributed as much as either of the other to hasten and to facilitate the negotiation of a peace. The Constable Montmorency, during his captivity, beheld the rapid success and growing favor of the duke of Guise with the envy natural to a ri^ ai. Every advantage gained by the princes of Lorrain he considered as a fresh wound to his own reputation, and he knew with what malevolent address it would be improved to diminish his credit with the king, and to augment that of the duke of Guise. Tliese arts, he was afraid, might, by de- grees, work on the easy and ductile mind of Heury, so as to efface all remains of his ancient affection tawards himself But he could not discover any remedy for this, unless he were allowed to return home, that he might try whether by his presence he could defeat the artifices of his enemies, and revive those warm and tender sentiments which had long attached Henry to him, with a confidence so entire, as resembled rather the cordiality of private friendship than the cold and selfish connection be- tween a monarch and one of his courtiers. While Montmorency was forming schemes and wishes for his return to France, with much anxiety of mind, but with little hope of success, an miexpected inci 1558.1 EMPEROK CHARLES THE FIFTH. 2G9 dent prepared the Avay for it. The cardinal of I,or- ram, who had shared with his brother in the kino-'s flivor, and participated of the power which that conferred, did not bear prosperity with the same discretion as the dnke of Guise. Intoxicated with their good fortune, he forgot how much they had been indebted for their present elevation to their connections with the duchess of Valentinois, and vainly ascribed all to the extraordinary merit of their family. This led him not only to neglect his benefactress, but to thwart her schemes, and to talk with a sarcastic liberty of her character and person. That singular woman, who, if we may believe con- temporary writers, retained the beauty and charms of youth at the age of threescore, and on whom it is certain that Henry still doted with all the fond- ness of love, felt this injury with sensibility, and set herself with eagerness to inflict the vengeance which it merited. As there Avas no method of sup planting the princes of Lorrain so eifectually as by a coalition of interests with the constable, she pro- posed the marriage of her granddaughter with one of his sons, as the bond of their future union ; and Montmorency readily gave his consent to the match. Having thus cemented their alliance, the duchess employed all her influence with the king, in order to confirm his inclinations towards peace, and to induce him to take the steps necessary for attaining it. She insinuated that any overture of that kind would come with great propriety from the constable, and, if intrusted to the conduct of his prudence, could hardly fail of success. 270 REIGN OF THE [Book Xll. HeniT, lonsf accustomed to commit all affairs of importance to the management of the constable, and needing only this encouragement to return to his ancient habits, wrote to him immediately with his usual familiarity and affection, empowering him, at the same time, to take the first opportunity of sounding Philip and his ministers with regard to peace. Montmorency made his application to Philip by the most proper channel. He opened himself to the duke of Savoy, who, notwithstand- ms the hio:h command to which he had been raised, and the military glory which he had ac- quired in the Spanish service, was weary of re- maining in exile, and languished to return into his paternal dominions. As there was no prospect of his recovering possession of them by force of arms, he considered a definitive treaty of peace between France and Spain as the only event by which he could hope to obtain restitution. Being no stranger to Philip's private wishes with regard to peace, he easily prevailed on him, not only to discover a dis- position on his part towards accommodation, but to permit Montmorency to return, on his parole, to France, that he might confirm his own sovereign in his pacific sentiments. Henry received the con- stable with the most flattering marks of regard ; ab- sence, instead of having abated or extinguished the monarch's friendship, seemed to have given it new ardor. Montmorency, from the moment of his ap- pearance in court, assumed, if possible, a higher place than ever in his affection., and a more perfect !558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 271 ascendant over his mind. The cardinal of Lorrain and the dnke of Guise prudently gave way to a tide of favor too strong for them to oppose, and confining themselves to their proper departments, permitted, without any struggle, the constable and duchess of Yalentinois to direct public affairs at then' pleasure. They soon prevailed on tlie king to nominate plenipotentiaries to treat of peace. Philip did the same. The abbey of Cercamp was fixed on as the place of congress ; and all military operations w^re immediately terminated by a sus- pension of arms. While these preliminary steps were taking to- wards a treaty which restored tranquillity to Eu- rope, Charles V., whose ambition had so long disturbed it, ended his days in the monastery of 8t. Justus. When Charles entered this retreat, he formed such a plan of life for himself as would have suited the condition of a private gentleman of a moderate fortune. His table was neat but plain ; his domestics few ; his intercourse with them familiar ; all the cumbersome and ceremoni- ous forms of attendance on his person were entire- ly abolished, as destructive of that social ease and tranquillity which he courted, in order to soothe the remainder of his days. As the mildness of tlie climate, together with his deliverance from the bur- dens and cares of government, procured him, at first, a considerable remission from the acute pains with which he had been long tormented, he enjoyed, perhaps, more complete satisfaction in this humble 7 Y 272 REIGN OF THE [Book XH solitude, than all his grandeur had ever yielded him. 'Jlie ambitious thoughts and projects which had so long engrossed and disquieted him were quite effaced from his mind ; far from taking any ])art in tlie political transactions of the princes of Europe, he restrained his curiosity even from any inquiry concerning them ; and he seemed to view the busy scene which he had abandoned with all the contempt and indifference arising from his thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the pleasing reflection of having disentangled him self from its cares. Other amusements and other objects now occu- pied him. Sometimes he cultivated the plants in his garden with his own hands ; sometimes he rode out to the neighboring Avood on a little horse, the only one that he kept, attended by a single servant on foot. When his infirmities confined him to his^ apartment, which often happened, and deprived him of these more active recreations, he either admitted a few gentlemen who resided near the monastery to visit him, and entertained them familiarly at his table ; or he employed himself in studying me- chanical principles, and in forming curious works of mechanism, of which he had always been re- markably fond, and to which his genius was peculi- arly turned. With this view he had engaged Tur- riano, one of the most ingenious artists of that age, to accompany him in his retreat. He labored to- gether with him in framing models of the most useful machines, as well as in making experirrents 1558.] EjMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 27B with regard to their respective powers ; and it was not seldom that the ideas of the monarch assisted or perfected the inventions of the artist. He re- lieved his mind, at intervals, with slighter and more fantastic works of mechanism, in fashioning pup- pets, which, by the structure of internal springs, mimicked the gestures and actions of men, to the astonishment of the ignorant monks, who, behold- ing movements wdiich they could not comprehend, sometimes distrusted their own senses, and some- times suspected Charles and Turriano of being in compact Avith invisible powers. He was particu- larly curious with regard to the construction of clocks and watches ; and having found, after re- peated trials, that he could not bring any two of them to go exactly alike, he reflected, it is said, with a mixture of surprise as well as regret, on his own folly, in having bestowed so much time and labor on the more vain attempt of bringing mankind to a precise uniformity of sentiment con- cerning the profound and mysterious doctrines of religion. But in what manner soever Charles disposed of the rest of his time, he constantly reserved a consid- erable portion of it for religious exercises. He reg- ularly attended divine service in the chapel of the monastery, every morning and evening ; he took great pleasure in reading books of devotion, par- ticularly the w^orks of St. Augustine and St. Ber nard ; and conversed much with his confessor and the prior of the monastery on pious subjects. Thua voj III 3% 274 REIGN OF TIIE [Book XU did Charles pass the first year of his retreat, in a manner not nnbecoming a man perfectly disen- gaged from the affairs of the present life, and stand- ing on the confines of a futnre world ; either in innocent amusements, which soothed his pains, and relieved a mind worn out w^ith excessive a|> plication to business ; or in devout occupations, which he deemed necessary in preparing for an- other state. But about six months before his death, the gout, after a longer intermission than usual, returned, with a proportional increase of violence. His shat- tered constitution had not vigor enough remaining to withstand such a shock. It enfeebled his mind as much as his body, and from this period we hardly discern any tiaces of that sound and mas- culine understanding which distinguished Charles among his contemporaries. An illiberal and timid superstition depressed his spirit. He had no relish for amusements of any kind. He endeavored to conform, in his manner of living, to all the rigor of monastic austerity. He desired no other society than that of monks, and was almost continually employed with them in chanting the hymns of the missal. As an expiation for his sins, he gave him- self the discipline in secret with such severity, that the whip of cords which he employed as the in- strument of his punishment w^as found, after his decease, tinged with his blood. Nor was he satis- fied with these acts of mortification, which, how- ever severe, were not unexampled. The timorous 1558.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 275 and distrustful solicitude which always accompanies superstition, still continued to disquiet him, and, depreciating all the devout exercises in which he had hitherto been engaged, prompted him to aim at something extraordinary, at some new and singu- lar act of piety, that would display his zeal and merit the favor of Heaven. The act on which he fixed was as wild and uncommon as any that super- stition ever suggested to a weak and disordered fancy. He resolved to celebrate his own obsequies before his death. He ordered his tomb to be erect- ed in the chapel of the monastery. His domestics marched thither in funeral procession, with black tapers in their hands. He himself followed in his shroud. He was laid in his coffin, with much solemnity. The service for the dead was chant- ed, and Charles joined in the prayers which were offered up for the rest of his soul, mingling his tears with those which his attendants shed, as if they had been celebrating a real funeral. The ceremony closed with sprinkling holy water on the coffin in the usual form, and, all the assistants retiring, the doors of the chapel were shut. Then Charles rose out of the coffin, and withdrew to his apartment, full of those awful sentiments which such a singular solemnity was calculated to inspire. But either the fatiguing length of the ceremony, or the impression which the image of death lelt on his mind, affected him so much, that next day he was seized with a fever. His feeble frame could not long resist its violence, and he expired ¥2 2T6 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL on the 2lsi of September, after a life of fifty-eight years, six months, and twenty-five days.^^ As Charles was the first prince of the age in rank and dignity, the part which lie acted, whether we consider the greatness, the variety, or the suc- cess of his undertakings, was the most conspicu- ous. It is from an attentive observation of his conduct, not from the exaggerated praises of the Spanish historians, or the undistinguishiiig cencaire of the French, that a just idea of Charles's genius and abilities is to be collected. He possessed qualities so peculiar, that they strongly mark his character, and not only distinguish him from the princes who were his contemporaries, but account for that superiority over them which he so long maintained. In forming his schemes, he was by nature, as well as by habit, cautious and consid- erate. Born with talents which unfolded them- selves slowly, and were late in attaining maturity, he was accustomed to ponder every subject that demanded his consideration with a careful and deliberate attention. He bent the whole force of his mind towards it, and, dwelling upon it with a serious application, undiverted by pleasure, and hardly relaxed by any amusement, he revolved it, in silence, in his own breast. He then communi- cated the matter to his ministers, and, after hear- ing their opinions, took his resolution with a de- 22 Strada de Bello Belg. lib. i. p. 11. Thuan. 723. Sandov. ii. 609, &o. Minlana, Contin. Marianae, vol. iv. 21G. Vera y Ziiiiga, Vida de Carlos, p. 111. 1558.] EMPEKOR CHARLES THE EIFTH. 27T cisive firmness, which seldom follows sueh slow and seemingly hesitating consultations. Of con seqnence, Charles's measures, instead of resemblino the desultory and irregular sallies of Henry YIII. or Francis I., had the appearance of a consistent system, in which all the parts were arranged, all the effects were foreseen, and even every accident was provided for. His promptitude in execution was no less remarkable than his patience in delib- eration. He did not discover greater sagacity in his choice of the measures which it was proper to pursue, than fertility of genius in finding out the means for rendering his pursuit of them suc- cessful. Though he had naturally so little of the martial turn, that, during the most ardent and bustling period of life, he remained in the cabinet inactive, yet, when he chose at length to appear at the head of his armies, his mind was so formed for vigorous exertions in every direction, that he acquired such knowledge in the art of war, and such talents for command, as rendered him equal in reputation and success to the most able generals of the age. But Charles possessed, in the most eminent degree, the science w^hich is of greatest importance to a monarch, that of knowing men, and of adapting their talents to the various de- partments which he allotted to them. From the death of Chievres to the end of his reign, he em ployed no general m the field, no minister in the cabinet, no ambassador to a foreign court, no gov ernor of a province, whose abilities were inadequate 278 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL to the trr.st wliicli he reposed in them. Though destitute of that bewitching affability of manners which gained Francis the hearts of all who ap- proached his person, he was no stranger to the virtues which secure fidelity and attachment. He placed unbounded confidence in his generals ; he re- warded their services with munificence ; he neither envied their fame nor discovered any jealousy of their powder. Almost all the generals who con- ducted his armies may be placed on a level with those illustrious personages who have attained the highest eminence of military glory ; and his ad- vantao-es over his rivals are to be ascribed so mani- festly to the superior abilities of the commanders whom he set in opposition to them, that this might seem to detract, in some degree, from his own merit, if the talent of discovering, and steadiness in em- ploying, such instruments Avere not the most un- doubted proofs of a capacity for government. There were, nevertheless, defects in his political character wdiich must considerably abate the ad- miration due to his extraordinary talents. Charles's ambition was insatiable ; and though there seems to be no foundation for an opinion prevalent in liis own asre, that he had formed the chimerical project of establishing an universal monarchy in Europe, it is certain that his desire of being dis- tinguished as a conqueror involved him in contin- ual wars, which not only exhausted and oppressed his subjects, but left him little leisure for giving attention to the interior police and improvement if»58.j EMPEPvOR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 279 of his kingdoms, tlie great objects of every prince who makes the happiness of his people the ena of his government. Charles at a very early period of life having added the imperial crown to the kingdoms of Spain, and to the hereditary domin- ions of the houses of Austria and Burgundy, this opened to him such a vast field of enterprise, and engaged him in schemes so complicated as well as arduous, that, feeling his power to be unequal to the execution of them, he had often recourse to low artifices, unbecoming his superior talents, and sometimes ventured on such deviations from integrity as were dishonorable in a great prince. His insidious and fraudulent policy appeared more conspicuous, and was rendered more odious, by a comparison with the open and undesigning charac- ter of his contemporaries, Francis I. and Henry VIII. This difference, though occasioned chiefly by the diversity of their tempers, must be ascribed, in some degree, to such an opposition in the prin- ciples of their political conduct, as affords some excuse for this defect m Charles's behavior, though it cannot serve as a justification of it. Francis and Henry seldom acted but from the impulse of their passions, and rushed headlong towards the object in view. Charles's measures, being the re- sult of cool reflection, were disposed into a regular system, and carried on upon a concerted plan. Per- sons who act in the former manner naturally pur- sue the end in view without assuming any disguise, IT displaying much address. Such as hold the lat- 280 REIGN OF THE [Book XU tor course are apt, in forming, as well as in ex- ecuting their designs, to employ such refinements as always lead to artifice in conduct, and often degenerate into deceit. The circumstances transmitted to us with respect to Charles's private deportment and character are fewer and less interesting than might have been expected from the great number of authors who have undertaken to wTite an account of his life. These are not the object of this history, which aims more at representing the great transactions of the reign of Charles V., and pointing out the man- ner in which they afi'ected the political state of Europe, than at delineating his private virtues or defects. The plenipotentiaries of France, Spain, and Eng- land continued their conferences at Cercamp ; and though each of them, with the usual art of negotia- tors, made at first very high demands in the name of their respective courts, yet, as they were all equally desirous of peace, they would have con- sented reciprocally to such abatements and restric- tions of their claims as must have removed every obstacle to an accommodation. The death of Charles V. was a new motive with Philip to hasten the conclusion of a treaty, as it increased his im- patience for returning into Spain, where there was now no person greater or more illustrious than himself But, in spite of the concurring wishes of all the parties interested, an event happened which occasioned an unavoidable delay in their negotia 1658.1 EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 281 tions. About a month after the openino- of thb conferences at Cercanip, Mary of England ended her short and inglorious reign, and Elizabeth, her sister, was immediately proclaimed queen with uni- versal joy. As the powers of the English plenipo- tentiaries expired on the death of their mistress, they could not proceed until they received a com mission and instructions from their new sovereign. Henry and Philip beheld Elizabeth's elevation to the throne with equal solicitude. As during Mary's jealous administration, under the most difficult cir- cumstances, and in a situation extremely delicate, that princess had conducted herself with prudencf^ and address far exceeding her years, they had con- ceived a high idea of her abilities, and already formed expectations of a reign very different from that of her sister. Equally sensible of the impor- tance of gaining her favor, both monarchs set them- selves with emulation to court it, and employed every art in order to insinuate themselves into her confidence. Each of them had something meritori- ous, with regard to Elizabeth, to plead in his own behalf. Henry had offered her a retreat in his dominions, if the dread of her sister's violence should force her to fly for safety out of England. Philip, by his powerful intercession, had prevented Mary from proceeding to the most fatal extremities against her sister. Each of them endeavored now to avail himself of the circumstances in his favor. Henry wrote to Elizabeth soon after her accession, with the w^armest expressions of regard and frieud- VOL. IIL 3G 282 RTJIGN OF THE [Boor XH ship. lie represented the war which had unhappi- ly been kindled between their kingdoms, not as a national quarrel, but as the effect of Clary's blind partiality to her husband, and fond compliance with all his wishes. He entreated her to disengage her- self from an alliance which had proved so unfortu- nate to England, and to consent to a separate peace with him, without mingling her interests with those of Spain, from which they ought now^ to be alto- gether dis oined. Philip, on the other hand, un- willing to lose his connection with England, the importance of which, during a rupture with France, he had so i.^cently experienced, not only vied with Henry in declarations of esteem for Eliza^beth, and in professions of his resolution to cultivate the strictest amity with her; but, in order to confirm and perpetuate their union, he offered himself to her in marriage, and undertook to procure a dispen- sation from the pope for that purpose. Elizabeth weighed the proposals of the two mon- archs attentively, and with that provident discern- ment of her true interest, which was conspicuous in all her deliberations. She gave some encourage- ment to Henry's overture of a separate negotiation, because it opened a channel of correspondence with France, which she might find to be of great advan- tage, if Philip should not discover sufficient zeal and solicitude for securing to her proper terms in the joint treaty. But she ventured on this step with the most cautious reserve, that she might i.ot alarm Philip's suspicious temper, and lose an ally 1558 I EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 28^ in attempting to gain an enemy.^^ Henry liimself by an unpardonable act of indiscretion, prevented lier from carrying her intercourse with him to such a length as might have offended or alienated Philip, At the very time when he was courting Elizabeth's fiiendship witli the greatest assiduity, he yielded wdth an inconsiderate facility to the solicitations of the princes of Lorrain, and alloAved his daughter- in-law, the queen of Scots, to assume the title and arms of queen of England. This ill-timed preten- sion, the source of many calamities to the unfortu- nate queen of Scots, extinguished at once all the confidence that might have grown between Henry and Elizabeth, and left in its place distrust, resent- ment, and antipathy. Elizabeth soon found that she must unite her interests closely with Philip's, and expect peace only from negotiations carried on in conjunction with liim.^* As she had granted a commission, immediately after her accession, to the same plenipotentiaries whom her sister had employed, she now instructed them to act in every point in concert with the plenipotentiaries of Spain, and to take no step until they had previously consulted with them.^^ But tliough she deemed it prudent to assume this ap- pearance of confidence in the Spanish monarch, she knew precisely h nv far to carry it ; and discovered y3 Forbes, i. p. 4. 24 Strype's Annals of the Reformation, i. 11. Carte's Hist, of Eng- land, vol. iii. p. 375. «5 Forbes, Full View, i. pp. 37, 40. 7 Z 284 EEIGN OF THE fBooK XIL no inclination to accept of that extraordinary pro- posal of marriage which Philip had made to her. The English had expressed so openly their detesta- tion of her sister's choice of him, that it would have been highly imprudent to have exasperated them by renewing that odious alliance. She was too well acquainted with Philip's harsh, imperious temper, to think of him for a husband. Nor could she admit a dispensation from the pope to be suffi- cient to authorize her marrying him, without con- demning her father's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and acknowledging of consequence that her mother's marriage w^as null, and her own birth illegitimate. But though she determined not to yield to Philip's addresses, the situation of her af- fairs rendered it dangerous to reject them ; she re- turned her answer, therefore, in terms which were evasive, but so tempered with respect, that, though they gave him no reason to be secure of success, they did not altogether extinguish his hopes. By this artifice, as well as by the prudence with which she concealed her sentiments and intentions concerning religion, for some time after her acces- sion, she so far gained upon Philip, that he warmly espoused her interest in the conferences which were renewed at Cercamp, and afterwards removed to Chateau-Cambresis. A definitive treaty, which was to adjust the claims and pretensions of so many princes, required the examination of such a variety of intricate points, and led to such infinite and nij- nute details, as drew out the negotiations to a great 1559.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 285 length. But the Constable Montmorency exerted himself Avith such indefatigable zeal and industry, repairing alternately to the courts of Paris ana Brussels, in order to obviate or remove every diffi- culty, that all points in dispute were adjusted at length in such a manner as to give entire satis- faction in every particular to Henry and Philip; and the last hand was ready to be put to the treaty between them. The claims^ of England remained as the only obstacle to retard it. Elizabeth demanded the restitution of Calais in the most peremptory tone, as an essential condition of her consenting to peace. Henry refused to give up that important conquest ; and both seemed to have taken their res- olution with unalterable firmness. Philip warmly supported Elizabeth's pretensions to Calais, not merely from a principle of equity towards the English nation, that he might appear to have contributed to their recovering what they had lost by espo¥ising his cause ; nor solely with a view of soothing Elizabeth by this manifestation of zeal for her interest; but in order to render France less formidable, by securing to her ancient enemy this easy access into the heart of the kingdom. The earnestness, however, with which he sec- onded the arguments of the English plenipoten- tiaries soon began to relax. During the course of the negotiation, Elizabeth, who now felt her- self firmly seated on her throne, began to take such open and vigorous measures, not only for 286 REIGN OF THE [Book Xn ov( rturninii: all that her sister had done in favor of popery, but for establishing the Protestant Church on a firm foundation, as convinced Philip that his hopes of a union with her had been from the beginning vain, and were now desperate. From that period his interpositions in her favor became more cold and formal, flowing merely from a regard to decorum, or from the consideration of remote political interests. Elizabeth having reason to expect such an alteration in his conduct, quickly perceived it. But as nothing would have been of greater detriment to her people, or more inconsist- ent with her schemes of domestic administration, than the continuance of war, she saw the necessity of submitting to such conditions as the situation of her affairs imposed, and that she must reckon upon being deserted by an ally who was now united to her by a very feeble tie, if she did not speedily re- duce her demands to what was moderate and at- tainable. She accordingly gave new instructions to her ambassadors ; and Philip's plenipotentiaries acting as mediators between the French and them,^^ an expedient was fallen upon, which, in some de- gree, justified Elizabeth's departing from the rigoi of her first demand with regard to Calais. All lesser articles were settled without much discussion or delay. Philip, that he might not appear to have abandoned the English, insisted that the treaty be- tween Henry and Elizabeth should be concluded m form, before that between the French monarcn and 26 Forbes, i. 59. Ias9.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 287 himself. The one was signed on the 2d day of April, the other on the day following. The treaty of peace between France and England contained no articles of real importance, but that which respected Calais. It was stipulated, that the king of France should retain possession of that town, with all its dependencies, during eight years ; that, at the expiration of that term, he should re- store it to England ; that, in case of non-perform- ance, he should forfeit five hundred thousand crowns, for the payment of which sum, seven or eight wealthy merchants, who were not his sub- jects, should grant security ; that five persons of distinction should be given as hostages until that security were provided ; that, although the forfeit of five hundred thousand crowns should be paid, the right of England to Calais should still remain entire, in the same manner as if the term of eight years were expired ; that the king and queen of Scotland should be included in the treaty ; that if they or the French king should violate the peace by any hostile action, Henry should be obliged instantly to restore Calais; that, on the other hand, if any breach of the treaty proceeded from Eliza- beth, then Henry and the king and queen of Scots were absolved from all the engagements which they had come under by this treaty. Notwithstanding the studied attention with which so many precautions were taken, it is evident that Henry did not intend the restitution of Calais, nor Is it probable that Elizabeth expected it. It waa Z2 288 REIGN OF THE [Book XII hardly possible that she could maintain, during the course of eight years, such perfect concord both with France and Scotland, as not to afford Henry some pretext for alleging that she had violated the treaty. But, even if that term should elapse with- out any ground for complaint, Henry might then choose to pay the sum stipulated, and Elizabeth had no method of asserting her right but by force of arms. However, by throwing the articles in the treaty with regard to Calais into this form, Eliza- beth satisfied her subjects of every denomination ; she gave men of discernment a striking proof of her address, in palliating what she could not pre- vent ; and amused the multitude, to whom the ces- sion of such an important place would have ap- peared altogether infamous, with a prospect of recovering in a short time that favorite possession. The expedient which Montmorency employed, in order to facilitate the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, was the negotiating two treaties of marriage, one between Elizabeth, Henry's eldest daughter, and Philip, who supplanted his son, the unfortunate Don Carlos, to whom that princess had been promised in the former conferences at Cer- camp ; the other between Margaret, Henry's only sister, and the duke of Savoy. For, however fee- ble the ties of blood may often be among princes, or how little soever they may regard them when pushed on to act by motives of ambition, they assume on other occasions the appearance of being so far influenced by these domestic affections, as to 1551).] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 2^[) employ them to justify measures and concessions which they find to be necessary, but know to be impolitic or dishonorable. Such was the use Henry made of the two marriages to which he gave liis consent. Having secured an honorable establisli- ment for his sister and his daughter, he, in con- sideration of these, granted terms both to Philip and the duke of Savoy, of which he would not, on any other account, have ventured to approve. The principal articles in the treaty between France and Spain were, that a sincere and per- petual amity should be established between the two crowns and their respective allies ; that the two monarchs should labor in concert to procure the convocation of a general council, in order to check the progress of heresy, and restore unity and concord to the Christian Church ; that all conquests made by either party, in this side ot the Alps, since the commencement of the war in 1551, should be mutually restored ; that the duchy of Savoy, the principality of Piedmont, the country of Bressy, and all the other territories formerly sub- ject to the dukes of Savoy, should be restored to Emanuel Philibert, immediately after the celebra- tion of his marriage with Margaret of France, the towns of Turin, Quiers, Pignerol, Chivaz, and V^il- lanova excepted, of which Henry should keep pos- session until his claims to these places, in right of his grandmother, should be tried and decided in course of law ; that, as long as Henry retained these places in his hands, Philip should be at VOL. III. 37 290 REIGN OF THE {Book XIL liberty to keep garrisons in the towns of Vercelli and Asti; that the French king should immediately evacuate all the places which he held in Tuscany and the Sienese, and renounce all future preten- sions to them ; that he should restore the marquis- ate of Montferrat to the duke of Mantua ; that he should receive the Genoese into favor, and give up to them the towns Avhich he had conquered in the island of Corsica ; that none of the princes or states to whom these cessions were made, should call their subjects to account for any part of their conduct while under the dominion of their ene- mies, but should bury all past transactions in ob- livion. The pope, the emperor, the kings of Den- mark, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, the king and queen of Scots, and almost every prince and state in Christendom, were comprehended in this pacifi- cation, as the allies either of Henry or of Philip.^^ Thus, by this famous treaty, peace was re-estab- Ushed in Europe. All the causes of discord which had so long embroiled the powerful monarchs of France and Spain, that had transmitted hereditary quarrels and wars from Charles to Philip, and from Francis to Henry, seemed to be wholly removed or finally terminated. The French alone complained of the unequal conditions of a treaty, into which an ambitious minister, in order to recover his lib- erty, and an artful mistress, that she might gratify her resentment, had seduced their too easy mon- arch. They exclaimed loudly against the folly of 27 Recueil des Traites, torn. ii. 287 1559] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 291 giving up to the enemies of France a hundred and eighty-nine fortified places, in the Lo^v Countries or in Italy, in return for the three insignificant towns of St. Quentin, Ham, and Catelet. They considered it as an indelible stain upon the glory of the nation, to renounce in one day territories so extensive, and so capable of being defended, that the enemy could not have hoped to wrest them out of its hands, after many years of victory. But Henry, without regarding the sentiments of his people, or being mo\ed by the remonstrances of his council, ratified the treaty, and executed with great fidelity whatever he had stipulated to per- form. The duke of Savoy repaired with a numer- ous retinue to Paris, in order to celebrate his mar- riage with Henry's sister. The duke of Alva was sent to the same capital, at the head of a splendid embassy, to espouse Elizabeth in the name of his master. They were received with extraordinary magnificence by the French court. Amidst the rejoicings and festivities on that occasion, Henry's days were cut short by a singular and tragical ac- cident. His son, Francis H., a prince under age, of a weak constitution, and of a mind still more feeble, succeeded him. Soon after, Paul ended his violent and imperious pontificate, at enmity with all the world, and disgusted even with his own nephews. They, persecuted by Philip, and de- serted by the succeeding pope, whom they had raised by their influence to the papal throne, Avere ^'ondemned to the punishment which their crimes 292 REIGN OF THE [Book XH Jind ambition had merited, and their death was ag infamous as their Hves had been criminaL Thus most of the personages who had long sustained the principal characters on the great theatre of Europe, disappeared about the same time. A more known period of history opens at this era ; other actors enter upon the stage, ^vith different views, as well as different passions ; new contests arose, and new schemes of ambition occupied and disquieted man- kind. Upon reviewing the transactions of any active period in the history of civilized nations, the changes which are accomplished appear wonder- fully disproportioned to the efforts which have been exerted. Conquests are never very exten- sive or rapid, but among nations whose progress in improvement is extremely unequal. When Alexander the Great, at the head of a gallant people, of simple manners, and formed to war by admirable military institutions, invaded a state sunk in luxury, and enervated by excessive refine- ment; when Genchizcan and Tamerlane, with their armies of hardy barbarians, poured in upon nation?; enfeebled by the climate in which they lived, or by the arts and commerce which they cultivated, these conquerors, like a torrent, swept everything before them, subduing kingdoms and provinces in as short a space of time as was requisite to march through them. But when nations are in a state similar to each other, and keep equal pace in their advances towards refinement, they are not exposed to the Book XII.] EMPEUOli CHARLES THE FIFTH. 29^ calamity of sudden conquests. Their acquisitions of knowledge, their progress in the art of war, their political sagacity and address, are nearly equal. The fate of states in this situation depends not on a single battle. Their internal resources are many and various. Nor are they themselves alone interested in their own safety, or active in their own defence. Other states interpose, and balance any temporary advantage which either party may have acquired. After the fiercest and most lengthened contest, all the rival nations are Bxhausted, none are conquered. At length they find it necessary to conclude a peace, which re- stores to each almost the same power and the same territories of which they were formerly in posses- sion. Such was the state of Europe during the reign of Charles V. No prince was so much superior to the rest in power, as to render his efforts irresisti- ble, and his conquests easy. No nation had made progress in improvement so far beyond its neigh- bors, as to have acquired a very manifest pre-emi- nence. Each state derived some advantage, or was subject to some inconvenience, from its situation or its climate ; each w^as distinguished by something peculiar in the genius of its people, or the consti- tution of its government. But the advantages pos- sessed by one state w^ere counterbalanced by cir- cumstances favorable to others ; and this prevented any from attaining such superiority as might have been fatal to all. The nations of Europe in tliat 294 REIGN OF THE [Book XH. age, as in the present, were like one great family there were some featnres common to all, which fixed a resemblance ; there were certain peculiari- ties conspicuous in each, which marked a distinc- tion. But there was not among them that wide diA'Crsity of character and of genius whicli, in almost every period of history, hath exalted the Europeans above the inhabitants of the other quar- ters ^of the globe, and seems to have destined the one to rule, and the other to obey. But though the near resemblance and equality in improvement among the different nations of Europe prevented the reign of Charles V. from being distinguished by such sudden and extensive conquests as occur in some other periods of history, yet, during the course of his administration, all the considerable states in Europe suffered a remarkable change in their political situation, and felt the in- fluence of events which have not hitherto spent their force, but still continue to operate in a greater or in a less degree. It was during his reign, and in consequence of the perpetual efforts to which his enterprising ambition roused him, that the different kingdoms of Europe acquired internal vigor; that they discerned the resources of which they were possessed ; that they came both to feel their oavu strength, and to know how to render it formidable to others. It was during his reign, too, that the different kingdoms of Europe, which in former times seemed frequently to act as if they had been single and disjoined, became bo Book XII. ] EMPEROR CHARLES TITE EITTH 2J5 thoroughly acquainted, and so intimately connected with each other, as to form one great political sys- tem, in which each took a station, wherein it hath remained since that time with less variation than could have been expected after the events of two active centuries. The progress, however, and acquisitions of the house of Austria, were not only greater than those of any other power, but more discernible and con- spicuous. I have already enumerated the exten- sive territories which descended to Charles from his Austrian, Burgundian, and Spanish ancestors.^^ To these he himself added the imperial dignity ; and, as if all this had been too little, the bounds of the habitable globe seemed to be extended, and a new w^orld was subjected to his command. Upon his resignation, the Burgundian provinces, and the Spanisli kingdoms with their dependencies, both in the Old and New Worlds, devolved to Philip. But Charles transmitted his dominions to his son in a condition very different from that in which he himself had received them. They Avere aug- mented by the accession of new provinces ; they were habituated to obey an administration which was no less vigorous than steady ; they were accus- tomed to expensive and persevering efforts, which, though necessary in the contests between civilized nations, had been little known in Europe before the sixteenth century. The provinces of Fries land, Utrecht, and Overyssel, which he acquired by 28 Vol. i. p. 428. >T 2A 296 REIGN OF THE [Book XII purchase from their former proprietor?, and the duchy of Gueklres, of which he made himself master, partly by force of arms, partly by the arts of negotiation, were additions of great value to his Burgundian dominions. Ferdinand and Isabella had transmitted to him all the provinces of Spain, from the bottom of the Pyrenees to the frontiers of Portugal ; but as he maintained a per- petual peace with that kingdom, amidst the various eftbrts of his enterprising ambition, he made no ac- quisition of territory in that quarter. Charles had gained, however, a vast accession of power in this part of his dominions. By his suc- cess in the war with the commons of Castile, he exalted the regal prerogative upon the ruins of the privileges which formerly belonged to the people. Thouo-h he allowed the name of the cortes to re- main, and the formality of holding it to be con- tinued, he reduced its authority and jurisdiction almost to nothing, and modelled it in such a man- ner, that it became rather a junto of the servants of the crown, than an assembly of the representatives of the people. One member of the constitution being thus lopped off, it was impossible but that the other must feel the stroke, and suffer by it. The suppression of the popular pov/er rendered the aristocratical less formidable. The grandees, prompted by the warlike spirit of the age, or allured by the honors which they enjoyed in a court, exhausted their fortunes in military ser- vice, or in attending on the person of their prince- Book XU.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH 297 They did not dread, perhaps did not observe, the dangerous progress of the royal authority, which, leaving tliem the vain distinction of being covered in presence of their sovereign, stripped them, by degrees, of that real power which they possessed while they formed one body, and acted in concert w^itJi the people. Charles's success in abolishing the privileges of the commons, and in breaking the power of the nobles of Castile, encouraged Philip to invade the liberties of Aragon, which w^ere still more extensive. The Castilians, accustomed to sub- jection themselves, assisted in imposing the yoke on their more happy and independent neigh- bors. The w^ill of the sovereign became the su- preme law in all the kingdoms of Spain ; and princes who were not checked in forming their plans by the jealousy of the people, nor controlled in executing them by the power of the nobles, could both aim at great objects, and call forth the ^^'hole strength of the monarchy in ordei to attain them. As Charles, by extending the royal prerogative, rendered the monarchs of Spain masters at home, he added new dignity and power to tlieir crown by his foreign acquisitions. He secured to Spain the quiet possession of the kingdom of Naples, which Ferdinand had usurped by fraud, and held with difficulty. He united the duchy of Milan, one o.t the most fertile and populous Italian provinces, to the Spanish crown, and left his successors, even without taking their other territories into the ac- >OL. III. 38 29b REIGN OF THE [Book Xli. count, the most considerable princes in Italy, which had been long the theatre of contention to the great powers of Enrope, and in which they had struggled with emulation to obtain the superiority. AVlien the French, in conformity to the treaty of Chateau- Cambresis, withdrew their forces out of Italy, and finally relinquished all their schemes of conquest on that side of the Alps, the Spanish dominions there rose in importance, and enabled their kings, as long as the monarchy retained any degree of vigor, to preserve the chief sway in all the transac- tions of that country. But whatever accession, either of interior authority or of foreign dominion, Charles gained for the monarchs of Spain in Eu- rope, was inconsiderable when compared Avith his acquisitions in the New World. He added there, not provinces, but empires, to his crown. He con- quered territories of such immense extent, he dis- covered such inexhaustible veins of wealth, and opened such boundless prospects of every kind, as must have roused his successor, and have called him forth to action, though his ambition had been much less ardent than that of Philip, and must have rendered him not only enterprising, but formidable. While the elder branch of the Austrian family rose to such pre-eminence in Spain, the younger, ol which Ferdinand was the head, grew to be consid- erable in Germany. The ancient hereditary domin- ion.", of the house of Austria in Germany, united to the kingdom of Hungary and Bohemia, w4iich Ferdinand had acquired by marriage, formed a tc- Book XII.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 299 spectable power; and when the imperial dignity was added to these, Ferdinand possessed territories more extensive than had belonged to any prince, Charles V. excepted, who had been at the head of the empire during several ages. Fortunately for Europe, the disgust which Philip conceived on ac- count of Ferdinand's refusing to relinquish the im- perial crown in his favor, not only prevented for some time the separate members of the house of Austria from acting in concert, but occasioned between them a visible alienation and rival ship. By degrees, how- ever, regard to the interest of their family extin- guished this impolitical animosity. The confidence which was natural returned ; the aggrandizing of the house of Austria became the common object of all their schemes ; they gave and received assistance alternately towards the execution of them ; and each derived consideration and importance from the other's success. A family so great and so aspiring became the general object of jealousy and terror. All the power, as w^ell as policy, of Europe ^vere exerted during a century, in order to check and humble it. Nothing can give a more striking idea of the ascendant which it had acquired, than that, after its vigor was spent with extraordinary exer- tions of its strength, after Spain Avas become only the shadow of a great name, and its monarchs were sunk into debility and dotage, the house of Austria still continued to be formidable. The nations of Europe had so often felt its superior power, and \iad bee-" so constantly employed in guarding 2 A 2 .^00 llEIGN OF THE [Book XII. against it, that, the dread of it became a kind of political habit, the influence of which remained when the causes which had foi-mcd it ceased to exist. While the house of Austria went on with such success in enlarging its dominions, France made no considerable acquisition of new territory. All its schemes of conquest in Italy had proved abortive ; it had hitherto obtained no establishment of conse- quence in the New World ; and, after the contin- ued and vigorous efforts of four successive reigns,, the confines of the kingdom were much the same as Louis XI. had left them. But though France made not such large strides towards dominion as the house of Austria, it continued to advance by steps which were more secure, because they were gradual and less observed. The conquest of Calais put it out of the power of the English to invade France but at their utmost peril, and delivered the French from the dread of their ancient enemies, who, previous to that event, could at any time pen- etrate into the kingdom by that avenue, and there- by retard or defeat the execution of their best-co-n- certed enterprises against any foreign power. The important acquisition of Metz covered that part of their frontier which formerly was most feeble, and lay most exposed to insult. France, from the time of its obtaining these additional securities against external invasion, must be deemed the most power ful kingdom in Europe, and is more fortunately situated than any on the continent, either fov cou- Book XII.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 301 quest or defence. From the confines of Artois to the bottom of the Pyrenees, and from the British Channel to the frontiers of Savoy and the coast of the Mediterranean, its territories lie 'compact and unmingied with those of any other power. Several of the considerable provinces whicli had contracted a spirit of independence by their having been long subject to the great vassals of the crown, who were often at variance or at war with their master, were now accustomed to recognize and to obey one sov- ereign. As they became members of the same monarchy, they assumed the sentiments of that body into which they were incorporated, and co- operated with zeal towards promoting its interest and honor. The power and influence wrested from the nobles were seized by the crown. The people were not admitted to share in these spoils ; they gained no new privilege ; they acquired no addi- tional weiofht in the le«:islature. It was not for the sake of the people, but in order to extend their own prerogative, that the monarchs of France had labored to humble their great vassals. Satisfied with having brought them under entire subjection to the crown, they .discovered no solicitude to free the people from their ancient dependence on the nobles of whom they held, and by whom they weie often oppressed. A monarch, at the head of a kingdom thus unit- ed at home, and secure from abroad, was entitled to form ffreat desio^ns, because he felt himself in a condition to execute them. The foreign wars, 302 REIGN OF TIIE [Book Xn. which had continued with little interruption from the accession of Charles VIII., had not only cher- ished and augmented the martial genius of the nation, but, hy inuring the troops during the course of long service to the fatigues of war, and accus- toming them to obedience, had added the force of discipline to their natural ardor. A gallant and active body of nobles, who considered themselves as idle and useless, unless when they were in the field, who WTre hardly acquainted with any pas- time or exercise but what w\as military, and who knew no road to power, or fame, or wealth, but war, would not ha^'e suffered their sovereign to remain long in inaction. The people, little ac- quainted with the arts of peace, and always ready to take arms at the command of their superiors, were accustomed, by the expense of long wars carried on in distant countries, to bear impo- sitions, which, however inconsiderable they may seem if estimated by the exorbitant rate of mod- ern exactions, appear immense when compared with the sums levied in France, or in any other country of Europe, previous to the reign of Louis XI. As all the members of whicli the state was composed were thus impatient for action, and ca- pable of great efforts, the schemes and operatic ns of France must have been no less formidable to Europe than those of Spain. The superior advan- tages of its situation, the contiguity and compact- uess of its territories, together with the peculiar state of its political constitution at that juncture. Book XII.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 30;;? must haA^e rendered its enterprises still more alarm- ing and more decisive. The king possessed such a degree of power as gave him the entire command of his subjects ; the people were strangers to those occupations and habits of life which render imrn averse to war, or unfit for it ; and the nobles, though reduced to the subordination necessary in a regular government, still retained the high, un- daunted spirit which was the effect of their ancient independence. The vigor of the feudal times re- mained, their anarchy v/as at an end ; and the kings of France could avail themselves of the mar- tial ardor w^hich that singular institution had kin- dled or kept alive, without being exposed to the dangers or inconveniences which are inseparable from it when in entire force. A kingdom in such a state is, perhaps, capable of greater military efforts than at any other period in its progress. But how formidable or how fatal soever to the other nations of Europe the power of such a monarchy might have been, the civil wars which broke out in France saved them at that junc- ture from feeling its effects. These wars, of which religion was the pretext, and ambition the cause, wherein great abilities were displayed by the leaders of the different factions, and little conduct or firm- ness was manifested by the crown under a succes- sion of weak princes, kept France occupied and embroiled for half a century. During these com- motions, the internal strength of the kingdom was much wasted, and such a spirit of anarchy was 30^1 REIGN OF THE [Book XH spread among tlie nobles, to \yhom rebellion was familiar, and the restraint of laws unknown, that a considerable interval became requisite, not only for recruiting the internal vigor of the nation, but for re-establishing the authority of the prince ; so that it was long before France could turn her whole attention toAvards foreign transactions, or act with her proper force in foreign wars. It was long before she rose to that ascendant in Europe which she has maintained since the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, and which the situation as well as extent of the kingdom, the nature of her government, together with the character of her peo- ple, entitle her to maintain. "While the kingdoms on the continent grew into power and consequence, England likewise made considerable progress towards regular government and interior strength. Henry VIIL, probably with- out intention, and certainly without any consistent plan, of which his nature was incapable, pursued the scheme of depressing the nobility, which the policy of his father, Henry YH., had begun. The pride and caprice of his temper led him to employ chiefly new men in the administration of affairs, because he found them most obsequious, or leasfc scrupulous ; and he not only conferred on them such ])lenitude of power, but exalted them to sucli pre-eminence in dignity, as mortified and degraded the ancient nobility. By the alienation or sale of tlie church lands, which were dissipated with a profusion not inferior to the rapaciousness with Book XIL] E^rPi:ROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 305 which they had been seized, as well as by the priv- ilege granted to the ancient landholders of selling their estates, or disposing of them by will, an im- mense property, formerly locked up, was brought into circulation. This put the spirit of mdustry and commerce in motion, and gave it some consid- erable degree of vigor. The road to power and to opulence became open to persons of every condition. A sudden and excessive flow of wealth from the West Indies proved fatal to industry in Spain ; a moderate accession in England to the sum in cir- culation gave life to commerce, awakened the in- genuity of the nation, and excited it to useful enterprise. In France, what the nobles lost, the crown gained. In England, the commons were gainers as well as the king. Power and influence accompanied, of course, the property which they acquired. They rose to consideration among their fellow-subjects ; they began to feel their own im- portance ; and, extending their influence in the legislative body gradually, and often Avhen neither they themselves nor others foresaw all the effects of their claims and pretensions, they at last attained that high authority to which the British constitu- tion is indebted for the existence, and must owe the preservation, of its liberty. At the same time that the English constitution advanced towards per- fection, several circumstances brought on a chauge in the ancient system with respect to foreign pow- ers, and introduced another more beneficial to the nation. As soon as Henry disclaimed the suprem- VOL. III. 39 306 REIGN OF TIIE [Book XII acy of the papal see, and broke off all connection witL the papal court, considerable sums were saved to the nation, of which it had been annually drained by remittances to Home for dispensations and in- dulgences, by the expense of pilgrimages into for- eign countries,^^ or by payment of annates, first- fruits, and a thousand other taxes, which that artful and rapacious court levied on the credulity of man- kind. The exercise of a jurisdiction different from that of the civil power, and claiming not only to be independent of it, but superior to it, a wild solecism in government, apt not only to perplex and disquiet weak minds, but tending directly to disturb society, was finally abolished. Govern- ment became more simple, as well as more re- spectable, when no rank or character exempted any person from being amenable to the same courts as other subjects, from being tried by the same judges, and from being acquitted or con- demned by the same laws. By the loss of Calais, the English were exclud- ed from the continent. All schemes for invading Prance became, of course, as chimerical as they had formerly been pernicious. The views of the English were confined, first by necessity, and after- 29 The loss which the nation sustained by most of these articles is obvious, and must have been great. Even that by pilgrimages was not inconsiderable. In the year 1428, license was obtained by no fewer than 916 persons to visit the shrine of St. James of Con)po&' tello in Spain, llijmer, vol. x. p. . . In 1434, the number of pilgrims fo the same place Avas 2,4G0. Ibid. p. . . In 1445, they were 2,100 Ibid. vol. xi. p. . Book XU.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIPTH. 307 wards from choice, within their own island. That rage for conquest which had possessed the nation during many centuries, and wasted its strength in perpetual and fruitless wars, ceased at length. Those active spirits which had known and followed no profession but war, sought for occupation in the arts of peace, and their country was benefited as much by the one as it had suffered by the other. The nation, which had been exhausted by frequent expeditions to the continent, recruited its numbers, and acquired new strength ; and when roused by any extraordinary exigency to take part in foreign operations, the vigor of its efforts was proportion- ally great, because they were only occasional, and of short continuance. The same principle which had led England to adopt this new system with rega];d to the powers on the continent, occasioned a change in its plan of conduct with respect to Scotland, the only for- eign state with which, on account of its situation in the same island, the English had such a close connection as demanded their perpetual attention. Instead of prosecuting the ancient scheme of con- quering that kingdom, which the nature of the country, defended by a brave and hardy people, rendered dangerous, if not impracticable, it ap- peared more eligible to endeavor at obtaining such influence in Scotland as might exempt England from any danger or disquiet from that quarter. The national poverty of the Scots, together with the violence and animosity of their factions, ren- r 2 B 308 REIGN OF THE [Book Xlt dered the execution of this phm easy to a people far superior to them in wealth. The leading men of greatest power and popularity were gained ; the ministers and favorites of the crown were corrupted; and such absolute direction of the Scottish councils was acquired, as rendered the operations of the one kingdom dependent, in a great measure, on the sovereign of the other. Such perfect external se- curity, added to the interior advantages which Eng- land now possessed, must soon have raised it to new consideration and importance ; the long reign of Elizabeth, equally conspicuous for wisdom, for steadiness, and for vigor, accelerated its progress, and carried it with greater rapidity towards that elevated station which it hath since held among the powers of Europe. During the period in which the political state of the great kingdoms underwent such changes, revo- lutions of considerable importance happened in that of the secondary or inferior powers. Those in the papal court are most obvious, and of most extensive consequence. In the preliminary book, I have mentioned the rise of that spiritual jurisdiction, which the popes claim as vicars of Jesus Christ, and have traced the progress of that authority which they possess as temporal princes.^^ Previous to the reign of Charles V. there was nothing that tended to circumscribe or to moderate their authority, but science and philos- ophy, which began to revive and to be cultivated 30 Vol. i. p. 144, &c. Book Xn.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 309 The progress of these, however, was still inconsid- erable ; they always operate slowly ; and it is long before their influence reaches the people, or can produce any sensible effect upon them. They may perhaps gradually, and in a long course of years, undermine and shake an established system of false religion, but there is no instance of their having overturned one. The battery is too feeble to de- molish those fabrics which superstition raises on deep foundations, and can strengthen with the most consummate art. Luther had attacked the papal supremacy with other weapons, and with an impetuosity more for- midable. The time and manner of his attack con- curred with a multitude of circumstances, which have been explained, in giving him immediate suc- cess. The charm which had bound mankind for so many ages was broken at once. The human mind, which had continued long as tame and passive as if it had been formed to believe whatever was taught, and to bear whatever was imposed, roused of a sud- den, and became inquisitive, mutinous, and disdain- ful of the yoke to which it had hitherto submitted. That wonderful ferment and agitation of mind, which, at this distance of time, appears unaccount^ able, or is condemned as extravagant^ was so gen- eral, that it must have been excited by causes which were natural and of powerful efficacy. The king- doms of Denmark, Sweden, England, and Scotland, and almost one half of Germany, threw off their allegiance to the pope, abolished his jurisdiction 310 REIGN OF THE [Book XII within their territories, and gave the sanction of law to modes of discipline and systems of doctrine which were not only independent of his power, but hostile to it. Nor was the spirit of innovation con- fined to those countries which openly revolted from the pope ; it spread through all Europe, and broke out in every part of it, with various degrees of vio- lence. It penetrated early into France, and made a quick progress there. In that kingdom the num- ber of converts to the opinions of the Eeformers was so great, their zeal so enterprising, and the abilities of their leaders so distinguished, that they soon ventured to contend for superiority with the established Church, and were sometimes on the point of obtaining it. In all the provinces of Ger- many which continued to acknowledge the papal supremacy, as well as in the Low Countries, the Protestant doctrines were secretly taught, and had gained so many proselytes, that they were ripe foi ' revolt, and were restrained merely by the dread of their rulers from imitating the example of their neighbors, and asserting their independence. Even in Spain and in Italy, symptoms of the same dispo- sition to shake off the yoke appeared. The pre- tensions of the pope to infallible knowledge and supreme power were treated by many persons of eminent learning and abilities with such scorn, or attacked with such vehemence, that the most vigi- lant attention of the civil magistrate, the highest strains of pontifical authority, and all the rigor of inquisitorial jurisdiction, were requisite to check and extinguish it. Book XII J EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 311 The defection of so many opulent and powerful kingdoms from the papal see was a fatal blow to its grandeur and power. It abridged the domin- ions of the popes in extent ; it diminished their revenues, and left them fewer rewards to bestow on the ecclesiastics of various denominations, attached to them by vows of obedience as well as by ties of interest, and whom they employed as instruments to establish or support their usurpations in every part of Europe. The countries, too, which now disclaimed their authority, were those which for- merly had been most devoted to it. The empire of superstition differs from every other species of dominion ; its power is often greatest, and most implicitly obeyed, in the provinces most remote from the seat of government; while such as are situated nearer to that are more apt to discern the artifices by which it is upheld, or the impostures on which it is founded. The personal frailties or vices of the popes, the errors as well as corruption of their administration, the ambition, venality, and deceit which reigned in their courts, fell imme- diately under the observation of the Italians, and could not fail of diminishing that respect which begets submission. But in Germany, England, and the more remote parts of Europe, these were either altogether unknown, or, being only known by re- port, made a slighter impression. Veneration for the papal dignity increased accordingly in these countries in proportion to their distance from Rome; and that veneration, added to their gross 2B2 312 REIGN OF THE [Book XII ignorance, rendered them equally credulous and passive. In tracing the progress of the papal domination, the boldest and most successful in- stances of encroachment are to be found in Ger- many and other countries distant from Italy. In these its impositions were heaviest, and its exac- tions the most rapacious ; so that, in estimating the diminution of power which the court of Rome suffered in consequence of the Reformation, not only the number but the character of the people who revolted, not only the great extent of terri- tory, but the extraordinary obsequiousness of the subjects which it lost, must be taken into the ac- count. Nor was it only by this defection of so many kingdoms and states which the Reformation occa- sioned, that it contributed to diminish the power of the Roman pontiffs. It obliged them to adopt a different system of conduct towards the nations which still continued to recognize their jurisdic- tion, and to govern them by new maxims and with a milder spirit. The Reformation taught them, by a fatal example, what they seem not before to have apprehended, that the credulity and patience of mankind might be overburdened and exhausted. They became afraid of venturing upon any such exertion of their authority as might alarm or ex- asperate their subjects, and excite them to a new revolt. They saw a rival Church established in many countries of Europe, the members of which were on the watch to observe any errors in their Book XII. j EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 313 administration, and eager to expose them. They were sensible that the opinions, adverse to their power and usurpations, were not adopted by their enemies alone, but had spread even among the people who still adhered to them. Upon all these accounts, it was no longer possible to lead or to govern their flock in the same manner as in those dark and quiet ages when faith was implicit, when submission was unreserved, and all tamely followed and obeyed the voice of their pastor. From the era of the Eeformation, the popes have ruled rather by address and management than by authority. Though the style of their decrees be still the same, the effect of them is very different. Those bulls and interdicts which, before the Ref- ormation, made the greatest princes tremble, have, since that period, been disregarded or despised by the most inconsiderable. Those bold decisions and acts of jurisdiction which, during many ages, not only passed uncensured, but were revered as the awards of a sacred tribunal, would, since Luther's appearance, be treated by one part of Europe as the effect of folly or arrogance, and be detested by the other as impious and unjust. The popes, in their administration, have been obliged not only to accommodate themselves to the notions of their ad- herents, but to pay some regard to the prejudices of their enemies. They seldom venture to claim new powers, or even to insist obstinately on their ancient prerogatives, lest they should irritate the former; they carefully avoid every measure that VOL. III. 40 314 REIGN OF THE [Book XIL may either excite the indignation or draw on them the derision of the latter. The policy of the court of Home has become as cautious, circumspect, and timid, as it was once adventurous and violent ; and though their pretensions to infallibility, on which all their authority is founded, do not allow them to renounce any jurisdiction which they have at any time claimed or exercised, they find it expedient to sufier many of their prerogatives to lie dormant, and not to expose themselves to the risk of losing that remainder of power which they still enjoy, by ill-timed attempts towards reviving obsolete pre- tensions. Before the sixteenth century, the popes were the movers and directors in every considerable enterprise; they were at the head of every great alliance; and being considered as arbiters in the affairs of Christendom, the court of Rome was the centre of political negotiation and intrigue. Since that time, the greatest operations in Europe have been carried on independent of them ; they have sunk almost to a level with the other petty princes of Italy ; they continue to claim, though they dare not exercise, the same spiritual jurisdiction, but hardly retain any shadow of the temporal power which they anciently possessed. But how fatal soever the Reformation may have been to the power of the popes, it has contributed to improve the Church of Rome both in science and in morals. The desire of equalling the Re- formers in those talents which had procured them respect; the necessity of acquiring tbe knowledge Book XH.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 315 requisite for defending their own tenets, oi refuting the arguments of their opponents, together with the emulation natural between two rival churches, engaged the Roman Catholic clergy to apply them- seh^es to the study of useful science, which they cultivated with such assiduity and success, that they have gradually become as eminent in literature as they were in some periods infamous for ignorance. The same principle occasioned a change no less considerable in the morals of the Romish clergy. Various causes, which have formerly been enumerat- ed, had concurred in introducing great irregularity, and even dissolution of manners, among the popish clergy. Luther and his adherents began their at- tack on the Church with such vehement invectives against these, that, in order to remove the scandal, and silence their declamations, greater decency of conduct became necessary. The Reformers them- selves were so eminent, not only for the purity, but even austerity of their manners, and had acquired such reputation among the people on that account, that the Roman Catholic clergy must have soon lost all credit, if they had not endeavored to conform in some measure to their standard. They knew that all their actions fell under the severe inspection of the Protestants, whom enmity and emulation prompted to observe every vice, or even impro- priety, in their conduct, to censure them without indulgence, and to expose them without mercy. This rendered them, of course, not only cautious to avoid such enormities as might give offence, but 316 REIGN OF THE [Book XH studious to acquire the virtues which might merit praise. In Spain and Portugal, ^yhere the tyran- nical jurisdiction of the Inquisition crushed the Protestant faith as soon as it appeared, the spirit of Popery continues invariable ; science has made small progress, and the character of ecclesiastics has undergone little change. But in those coun- tries where the members of the two Churches have mingled freely with each other, or have carried on any considerable intercourse, either commercial or literary, an extraordinary alteration in the ideas, as well as in the morals, of the popish ecclesiastics, is manifest. In France, the manners of the digni- taries and secular clergy have become decent and exemplary in a high degree. Many of them have been distinguished for all the accomplishments and virtues which can adorn their profession, and differ greatly from their predecessors before the Reformat tion, both in their maxims and in their conduct. Nor has the influence of the Reformation been felt only by the inferior members of the Roman Catholic Church ; it has extended to the see of Rome, to the sovereign pontiffs themselves. Viola- tions of decorum, and even trespasses against mo- rality, which passed without censure in those ages, when neither the power of the popes, nor the ven- eration of the people for their character, had any bounds, — when there was no hostile eye to observe the errors in their 'conduct, and no adversaries zeal- ous to inveigh against them, — would be liable now to the severest animadversion, and excite general Book XII.] EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH. 317 indignation or horror. Instead of rivalling the courts of temporal princes in gayety, and surpassing them in licentiousness, the popes have studied to assume manners more severe and more suitable to their ecclesiastical character. The chair of St. Peter hath not been polluted, during two centuries, by any pontiff that resembled Alexander VI., or several of his predecessors, who were a disgrace to religion and to human nature. Throu