UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 WORKS 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 
 
 VOL. IV.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by A. & R. Spottiiwoode, 
 New-Street-Square.
 
 THE 
 
 WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, 
 
 AX ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 BY DUGALD STEWART, F.R.S. EDIN. 
 
 IN EIGHT VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. IV. 
 
 HISTORY OF CHARLES V. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FORT. CADELL; c. & j. RIVINGTON ; J.CUTHELL; J. NUNN; 
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 1827. 
 
 1
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN EUROPE, 
 
 FROM THE SUBVERSION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 
 TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. CADELL ; C. & J. RIVINGTON ; J. CUTHELI, ; J. NUNN J JEFFERY 
 & SON ; LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN ; J. & A. ARCH ; J. BOOKER; 
 J.RICHARDSON; J.M.RICHARDSON; R. SCHOI.EY; W.STEWART; CARPENTER 
 & SON; R.H.EVANS; BALDWIN & co. ; j. BOHN ; SIMFKIN & MARSHALL ; 
 j. DUNCAN; <.. B. WIUTTAKER; HARDING & LEPARD ; SHERWOOD & co. : 
 
 AND J. PARKER, OXFORD. 
 
 1827.
 
 "T?5' 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 concurring circumstances not only called 
 Charles's thoughts towards the affairs of Germany, 
 but rendered his presence in that country necessary. German y 
 The electors grew impatient of so long an interreg- 
 num ; his hereditary dominions were disturbed by 
 intestine commotions ; and the new opinions con- 
 cerning religion made such rapid progress as required 
 the most serious consideration. But, above all, the 
 motions of the French king drew his attention, and 
 convinced him, that it was necessary to take measures 
 for his own defence with no less speed than vigour. 
 
 When Charles and Francis entered the lists as Rise and 
 candidates for the imperial dignity, they conducted 
 their rivalship with many professions of regard for sh 'P be - 
 each other, and with repeated declarations that they charies 
 would not suffer any tincture of enmity to mingle * 
 itself with this honourable emulation. " We both 
 court the same mistress," said Francis, with his 
 usual vivacity ; " each ought to urge his suit with 
 all the address of which he is master ; the most for- 
 tunate will prevail, and the other must rest con- 
 
 Ch. VOL. ii. B
 
 2 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tented. 3 " But though two young and high-spirited 
 
 ! princes, and each of them animated with the hope 
 
 1520. Q f success> m ight be capable of forming such a ge- 
 nerous resolution, it was soon found that they pro- 
 mised upon a moderation too refined and disinterested 
 for human nature. The preference given to Charles 
 in the sight of all Europe mortified Francis extremely, 
 and inspired him with all the passions natural to dis- 
 appointed ambition. To this was owing the personal 
 jealousy and rivalship which subsisted between the 
 two monarchs during their whole reign ; and the 
 rancour of these, augmented by a real opposition of 
 interest, which gave rise to many unavoidable causes 
 of discord, involved them in almost perpetual hosti- 
 lities. Charles had paid no regard to the principal 
 article in the treaty of Noyon, by refusing oftener 
 than once to do justice to John d j Albert, the excluded 
 monarch of Navarre, whom Francis was bound in 
 honour, and prompted by interest, to restore to his 
 throne. The French king had pretensions to the 
 crown of Naples, df which Ferdinand had deprived 
 his predecessor by a most unjustifiable breach of faith. 
 The emperor might reclaim the dutchy of Milan as 
 a fief of the empire, which Francis had seized, and 
 still kept in possession, without having received in- 
 vestiture of it from the emperor. Charles considered 
 the dutchy of Burgundy as the patrimonial domain 
 of his ancestors, wrested from them by the unjust 
 policy of Louis XI., and observed with the greatest 
 jealousy the strict connections which Francis had 
 formed with the Duke of Gueldres, the hereditary 
 enemy of his family. 
 
 bSons 11 " Wnen tne sources of discord were so many and 
 previous to various, peace could be of no long continuance, even 
 mencement between princes the most exempt from ambition or 
 ofbostiii- emulation. But as the shock between two such 
 
 * Guic. lib. xiii, p. 159.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. i 
 
 mighty antagonists could not fail of being extremely BOOK 
 violent, they both discovered no small solicitude 
 
 about its consequences, and took time not only 
 to collect and to ponder their own strength, and to 
 compare it with that of their adversary, but to secure 
 the friendship or assistance of the other European 
 powers. 
 
 The pope had equal reason to dread the two rivals, They nego- 
 and saw that he who prevailed would become absolute the pope ; 
 master in Italy. If it had been in his power to engage 
 them in hostilities, without rendering Lombardy the 
 theatre of war, nothing would have been more agree- 
 able to him than to see them waste each other's 
 strength in endless quarrels. But this was impossible. 
 Leo foresaw, that, on the first rupture between the two 
 monarchs, the armies of France and Spain would take 
 the field in the Milanese ; and while the scene of 
 their operations was so near, and the subject for 
 which they contended so interesting to him, he could 
 not long remain neuter. He was obliged, therefore, to 
 adapt his plan of conduct to his political situation. 
 He courted and soothed the emperor and King of 
 France with equal industry and address. Though 
 warmly solicited by each of them to espouse his 
 cause, he assumed all the appearances of entire im- 
 partiality, and attempted to conceal his real sen- 
 timents under that profound dissimulation which 
 seems to have been affected by most of the Italian 
 politicians in that age. 
 
 The views and interest of the Venetians were not th the 
 
 Venetians ; 
 
 different from those of the pope ; nor were they less 
 solicitous to prevent Italy from becoming the seat of 
 war, and their own republic from being involved in 
 the quarrel. But through all Leo's artifices, and 
 notwithstanding his high pretensions to a perfect 
 neutrality, it was visible that he leaned towards the 
 emperor, from whom he had both more to fear and 
 
 B 2
 
 ^ THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK more to hope than from Francis ; and it was equally 
 manifest, that, if it became necessary to take a side, 
 
 152 * the Venetians would, from motives of the same nature, 
 declare for the King of France. No considerable as- 
 sistance, however, was to be expected from the Italian 
 states, who were jealous to an extreme degree of the 
 Transalpine powers, and careful to preserve the balance 
 even between them, unless when they were seduced to 
 violate this favourite maxim of their policy, by the cer- 
 tain prospect of some great advantage to themselves. 
 
 with Hen- But the chief attention both of Charles and of 
 Francis, was employed in order to gain the King of 
 England, from whom each of them expected as- 
 sistance more effectual, and afforded with less political 
 caution. Henry VIII. had ascended the throne of 
 that kingdom in the year one thousand five hundred 
 and nine, with such circumstances of advantage as 
 promised a reign of distinguished felicity and'splen- 
 
 The great dour. The union in his person of the two con- 
 tending titles of York and Lancaster, the alacrity 
 a nd emulation with which both factions obeyed his 
 commands, not only enabled him to exert a degree of 
 vigour and authority in his domestic government 
 which none of his predecessors could have safely 
 assumed ; but permitted him to take a share in the 
 affairs of the continent, from which the attention of 
 the English had long been diverted by their unhappy 
 intestine divisions. The great sums of money which 
 his father had amassed, rendered him the most wealthy 
 prince in Europe. The peace which had subsisted 
 under the cautious administration of that monarch, 
 had been of sufficient length to recruit the population 
 of the kingdom after the desolation of the civil wars, 
 but not so long as to enervate its spirit; and the 
 English, ashamed of having rendered their own 
 country so long a scene of discord and bloodshed, 
 were eager to display their valour in some foreign war,
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. ^ 
 
 and to revive the memory of the victories gained on BOOK 
 the continent by their ancestors. Henry's own tern- ' 
 per perfectly suited the state of his kingdom, and the 
 disposition of his subjects. Ambitious, active, enter- 
 prising, and accomplished in all the martial exercises 
 which in that age formed a chief part in the education 
 of persons of noble birth, and inspired them with an 
 early love of war, he longed to engage in action, and 
 to signalize the beginning of his reign by some re- 
 markable exploit. An opportunity soon presented 
 itself; and the victory at Guinegate, together with 
 the successful sieges of Terouenne and Tournay, 
 though of little utility to England, reflected great 
 lustre on its monarch, and confirmed the idea which 
 foreign princes entertained of his power and con- 
 sequence. So many concurring causes, added to the 
 happy situation of his own dominions, which secured 
 them from foreign invasion ; and to the fortunate 
 circumstance of his being in possession of Calais, 
 which served not only as a key to France, but opened 
 an easy passage into the Netherlands, rendered the 
 King of England the natural guardian of the liberties 
 of Europe, and the arbiter between the emperor and 
 French monarch. Henry himself was sensible of this 
 singular advantage, and convinced, that, in order to 
 preserve the balance even, it was his office to prevent 
 either of the rivals from acquiring such superiority of 
 power as might be fatal to the other, or formidable 
 to the rest of Christendom. But he was destitute of 
 the penetration, and still more of the temper, which 
 such a delicate function required. Influenced by 
 caprice, by vanity, by resentment, by affection, he 
 was incapable of forming any regular and extensive 
 system of policy, or of adhering to it with steadiness. 
 His measures seldom resulted from attention to the 
 general welfare, or from a deliberate regard to his 
 own interest, but were dictated by passions which 
 
 B 3
 
 (5 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK rendered him blind to both, and prevented his gaining 
 
 1^ that ascendant in the affairs of Europe, or from 
 
 1520. reaping such advantages to himself, as a prince of 
 greater art, though with inferior talents, might have 
 easily secured. 
 
 and of his All the impolitic steps in Henry's administration 
 clrdfnai must not, however, be imputed to defects in his own 
 Woisey. character ; many of them were owing to the violent 
 passions and insatiable ambition of his prime minister 
 and favourite, Cardinal Woisey. This man, from 
 one of the lowest ranks in life, had risen to a height 
 of power and dignity, to which no English subject 
 ever arrived ; and governed the haughty, pre- 
 sumptuous, and untractable spirit of Henry with 
 absolute authority. Great talents, and of very dif- 
 ferent kinds, fitted him for the two opposite stations 
 of minister, and of favourite. His profound judg- 
 ment, his unwearied industry, his thorough acquaint- 
 ance with the state of the kingdom, his extensive 
 knowledge of the views and interest of foreign courts, 
 qualified him for that uncontrolled direction of affairs 
 with which he was intrusted. The elegance of his 
 manners, the gaiety of his conversation, his insinuating 
 address, his love of magnificence, and his proficiency 
 in those parts of literature of which Henry was fond, 
 gained him the affection and confidence of the young 
 monarch. Woisey was far from employing this vast 
 and almost royal power, to promote either the true 
 interest of the nation, or the real grandeur of his 
 master. Rapacious at the same time, and profuse, he 
 was insatiable in desiring wealth. Of boundless am- 
 bition, he aspired after new honours with an eagerness 
 unabated by his former success ; and being rendered 
 presumptuous by his uncommon elevation, as well as 
 by the ascendant which he had gained over a prince, 
 who scarcely brooked advice from any other person, 
 he discovered in his whole demeanour the most over-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 7 
 
 bearing haughtiness and pride. To these passions he BOOK 
 
 himself sacrificed every consideration ; and whoever ' 
 endeavoured to obtain his favour, or that of his 
 master, found it necessary to soothe and to gratify 
 them. 
 
 As all the states of Europe sought Henry's friend- The court 
 
 ,. . r 1 ,. & .. J . 1 . paid to 
 
 ship at that time, all courted his minister with in- woisey by 
 credible attention and obsequiousness, and strove by Francis } 
 presents, by promises, or by flattery, to work upon 
 his avarice, his ambition, or his pride. b Francis had, 
 in the year one thousand five hundred and eighteen, 
 employed Bonnivet, Admiral of France, one of his 
 most accomplished and artful courtiers, to gain this 
 haughty prelate. He himself bestowed on him every 
 mark of respect and confidence. He consulted him 
 with regard to his most important affairs, and received 
 his responses with implicit deference. By these arts, 
 together with the grant of a large pension, Francis 
 attached the cardinal to his interest, who persuaded 
 his master to surrender Tournay to France, to con- 
 clude a treaty of marriage between his daughter the 
 Princess Mary and the dauphin, and to consent to a 
 personal interview with the French king. From 
 that time, the most familiar intercourse subsisted 
 between the two courts ; Francis, sensible of the great 
 value of Wolsey's friendship, laboured to secure the 
 continuance of it by every possible expression of 
 regard, bestowing on him, in all hie letters, the 
 honourable appellations of father, tutor, and go- 
 vernor. 
 
 Charles observed the progress of this union with and by 
 
 ,1 . . , TT . . .. Charles. 
 
 the utmost jealousy and concern. His near amnity 
 to the King of England gave him some title to his 
 friendship ; and, soon after his accession to the throne 
 of Castile, he had attempted to ingratiate himself with 
 
 b Fiddes's Life of Woisey, 160. Rymer's Feedera, xiii. 718. 
 c Herbert's Hist, of Henry VIII. 30. Rymer, xiii. 624. 
 
 B 4
 
 $ THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Wolsey, by settling on him a pension of three thou- 
 sand livres. His chief solicitude at present was to 
 
 1520. p reven t the intended interview with Francis, the 
 effects of which upon two young princes, whose 
 hearts were no less susceptible of friendship than 
 their manners were capable of inspiring it, he ex- 
 tremely dreaded. But, after many delays, occa- 
 sioned by difficulties with respect to the ceremonial, 
 and by the anxious precautions of both courts for the 
 safety of their respective sovereigns, the time and 
 place of meeting were at last fixed. Messengers 
 had been sent to different courts, inviting all comers, 
 who were gentlemen, to enter the lists at tilt and 
 tournament, against the two monarchs and their 
 knights. Both Francis and Henry loved the splen- 
 dour of these spectacles too well, and were too much 
 delighted with the graceful figure which they made 
 on such occasions, to forego the pleasure or glory 
 which they expected from such a singular and bril- 
 liant assembly. Nor was the cardinal less fond of 
 displaying his own magnificence in the presence of 
 two courts, and of discovering to the two nations the 
 extent of his influence over both their monarchs. 
 Charles, finding it impossible to prevent the interview, 
 endeavoured to disappoint its effects, and to pre- 
 occupy the favour of the English monarch and his 
 minister, by an act of complaisance still more flatter- 
 
 charies ing and more uncommon. Having sailed from Co- 
 visits Eng- 
 land, runna, as has already been related, he steered his 
 
 261 course directly towards England, and, relying wholly 
 on Henry's generosity for his own safety, landed at 
 Dover. This unexpected visit surprised the nation. 
 Wolsey, however, was well acquainted with the em- 
 peror's intention. A negotiation, unknown to the 
 historians of that age, had been carried on between 
 him and the court of Spain ; this visit had been con- 
 certed ; and Charles granted the cardinal, whom he
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 9 
 
 calls his most dear friend, an additional pension of BOOK 
 seven thousand ducats. d Henry, who was then at 
 
 Canterbury, in his way to France, immediately dis- 
 patched Wolsey to Dover, in order to welcome the 
 emperor ; and being highly pleased with an event so 
 soothing to his vanity, hastened to receive, with suit- 
 able respect, a guest who had placed in him such un- 
 bounded confidence. Charles, to whom time was insinuates 
 precious, staid only four days in England ; but, during J^H^th 
 tli at short space, he had the address not only to give with the 
 Henry favourable impressions of his character and woisey. 
 intentions, but to detach Wolsey entirely from the in- 
 terest of the French king. All the grandeur, the 
 wealth, and the power, which the cardinal possessed, 
 did not satisfy his ambitious mind, while there was 
 one step higher to which an ecclesiastic could ascend. 
 The papal dignity had for some time been the object 
 of his wishes ; and Francis, as the most effectual 
 method of securing his friendship, had promised to 
 favour his pretensions, on the first vacancy, with all 
 his interest. But as the emperor's influence in the 
 college of cardinals was greatly superior to that of 
 the French king, Wolsey grasped eagerly at the offer 
 which that artful prince had made him, of exerting 
 it vigorously in his behalf; and, allured by this pro- 
 spect, which, under the pontificate of Leo, still in the 
 prime of his life, was a very distant one, he entered 
 with warmth into all the emperor's schemes. No 
 treaty, however, was concluded at that time between 
 the two monarchs ; but Henry, in return for the 
 honour which Charles had done him, promised to 
 visit him in some place of the Low Countries, imme- 
 diately after taking leave of the French king. 
 
 His interview with that prince was in an open June 7th. 
 plain between Guisnes and Ardres, where the two between 
 kings and their attendants displayed their magnifi- ? r e a n n '2 b a . nd 
 
 d Rymcr, xiii. 714.
 
 10 
 
 BOOK 
 II. 
 
 1520. 
 
 July 10. 
 
 Henry's 
 ideas of his 
 own im- 
 portance. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 cence with such emulation, and profuse expence, as 
 procured it the name of the Field of the cloth of 
 gold. Feats of chivalry, parties of gallantry, to- 
 gether with such exercises and pastimes as were in 
 that age reckoned manly or elegant, rather than se- 
 rious business, occupied both courts during eighteen 
 days that they continued together. 6 Whatever im- 
 pression the engaging manners of Francis, or the 
 liberal and unsuspicious confidence with which he 
 treated Henry, made on the mind of that monarch, 
 was soon effaced by Wolsey*s artifices, or by an in- 
 terview he had with the emperor at Gravelines, which 
 was conducted with less pomp than that near Guisnes, 
 but with greater attention to what might be of poli- 
 tical utility. 
 
 This assiduity with which the two greatest mon- 
 archs in Europe paid court to Henry, appeared to 
 him a plain acknowledgment that he held the balance 
 in his hands, and convinced him of the justness of 
 the motto which he had chosen, " That whoever he 
 favoured would prevail." In this opinion he was 
 confirmed by an offer which Charles made, of sub- 
 mitting any difference that might arise between him 
 and Francis to his sole arbitration. Nothing could 
 have the appearance of greater candour and mode- 
 ration than the choice of a judge who was reckoned 
 
 The French and English historians describe the pomp of this interview, 
 and the various spectacles, with great minuteness. One circumstance men- 
 tioned by the Mareschal de Fleuranges, who was present, and which must ap- 
 pear singular in the present age, is commonly omitted. " After the tourna- 
 ment," says he, " the French and English wrestlers made their appearance, and 
 wrestled in presence of the kings, and the ladies ; and as there were many 
 stout wrestlers there, it afforded excellent pastime ; but as the King of 
 France [had neglected to bring any wrestlers out of Bretagne, the English 
 gained the prize. After this, the Kings of France and England retired to a 
 tent, where they drank together, and the King of England, seizing the King 
 of France by the collar, said, " My brother, I must wrestle with you," and 
 endeavoured once or twice to trip up his heels ; but the King of France, who 
 is a dexterous wrestler, twisted him round, and threw him on the earth with 
 prodigious violence. The King of England wanted to renew the combat, but 
 was prevented." Memmres de Fleuranges, 12. Paris, 1753, p. 829.
 
 of the em- 
 peror, 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. H 
 
 the common friend of both. But as the emperor had BOOK 
 now attached Wolsey entirely to his interest, no pro- ' 
 posal could be more insidious, nor, as appeared by 1520> 
 the sequel, more fatal to the French king. f 
 
 Charles, notwithstanding his partial fondness for coronation 
 the Netherlands, the place of his nativity, made no 
 long stay there, and, after receiving the homage and 
 congratulations of his countrymen, hastened to Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, the place appointed by the golden bull 
 for the coronation of the emperor. There, in pre- Octobers, 
 sence of an assembly more numerous and splendid 
 than had appeared on any fonner occasion, the crown 
 of Charlemagne was placed on his head, with all the 
 pompous solemnity which the Germans affect in their 
 public ceremonies, and which they deem essential to 
 the dignity of their empire. 8 
 
 Almost at the same time Solyman the Magnificent, Soiyman 
 one of the most accomplished, enterprising, and vie- fic g nt agm ~ 
 torious of the Turkish sultans, a constant and for- O 5c t en i ^ s n the 
 midable rival to the emperor, ascended the Ottoman throne, 
 throne. It was the peculiar glory of that period to 
 produce the most illustrious monarchs who have at 
 any one time appeared in Europe. Leo, Charles, 
 Francis, Henry, and Solyman, were each of them 
 possessed of talents which might have rendered any 
 age wherein they happened to flourish conspicuous. 
 But such a constellation of great princes shed un- 
 common lustre on the sixteenth century. In every 
 contest great power, as well as great abilities, were 
 set in opposition ; the efforts of valour and conduct 
 on one side, counterbalanced by an equal exertion of 
 the same qualities on the other, not only occasioned 
 such a variety of events as renders the history of that 
 period interesting, but served to check the exorbi- 
 
 f Herbert, 37. 
 
 8 Hartman. Mauri Relatio Coronat. Car. V. ap. Goldast Polit. Imperial. 
 Franc. 1614. fol. p. 264.
 
 2 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tant progress of any of those princes, and to prevent 
 IL their attaining such pre-eminence in power as would 
 
 152a have been fatal to the liberty and happiness of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Diet called The first act of the emperor's administration was 
 wS at to appoint a diet of the empire to be held at Worms 
 on the sixth of January, one thousand five hundred 
 and twenty-one. In his circular letters to the dif- 
 ferent princes, he informed them, that he had called 
 this assembly in order to concert with them the most 
 proper measures for checking the progress of those 
 new and dangerous opinions, which threatened to 
 disturb the peace of Germany, and to overturn the 
 religion of their ancestors. 
 
 Rise of the Charles had in view the opinions which had been 
 tfon ; propagated by Luther and his disciples since the year 
 one thousand five hundred and seventeen. As these 
 led to that happy reformation in religion which re- 
 scued one part of Europe from the papal yoke, 
 mitigated its rigour in the other, and produced a re- 
 volution in the sentiments of mankind, the greatest, 
 as well as the most beneficial, that has happened since 
 the publication of Christianity, not only the events 
 which at first gave birth to such opinions, but the 
 causes which rendered their progress so rapid and 
 successful, deserve to be considered with minute at- 
 tention. 
 
 To overturn a system of religious belief, founded 
 on ancient and deep-rooted prejudices, supported by 
 power, and defended with no less art than industry ; 
 to establish in its room doctrines of the most contrary 
 genius and tendency ; and to accomplish all this, not 
 by external violence or the force of arms, are oper- 
 ations which historians, the least prone to credulity 
 and superstition, ascribe to that Divine Providence 
 which, with infinite ease, can bring about events 
 which to human sagacity appear impossible. The
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 13 
 
 interposition of heaven in favour of the Christian BOOK 
 religion at its first publication, was manifested by - 
 miracles and prophecies wrought and uttered in con- 
 firmation of it. Though none of the reformers pos- 
 sessed, or pretended to possess, these supernatural 
 gifts, yet that wonderful preparation of circumstances 
 which disposed the minds of men for receiving their 
 doctrines, that singular combination of causes which 
 secured their success, and enabled men destitute of 
 power and of policy to triumph over those who em- 
 ployed against them extraordinary efforts of both, 
 may be considered as no slight proof, that the same 
 hand which planted the Christian religion, protected 
 the reformed faith, and reared it from beginnings ex- 
 tremely feeble, to an amazing degree of vigour and 
 maturity. 
 
 It was from causes seemingly fortuitous, and from from in- 
 a source very inconsiderable, that all the mighty ab 
 effects of the reformation flowed. Leo X., when nin s s - 
 raised to the papal throne, found the revenues of the 
 church exhausted by the vast projects of his two am- 
 bitious predecessors, Alexander VI. and Julius II. 
 His own temper, naturally liberal and enterprising, 
 rendered him incapable of that severe and patient 
 economy which the situation of his finances required. 
 On the contrary, his schemes for aggrandizing the 
 family of Medici, his love of splendour, his taste for 
 pleasure, and his magnificence in rewarding men of 
 genius, involved him daily in new expences ; in order 
 to provide a fund for which, he tried every device, 
 that the fertile invention of priests had fallen upon, 
 to drain the credulous multitude of their wealth. 
 Among others, he had recourse to a sale of indul- 
 gences. According to the doctrine of the Romish A sale of 
 church, all the good works of the saints, over and g"^ 
 above those which were necessary towards their own P ublishe 
 
 i n ty k 60 X. 
 
 justification, are deposited, together with the infinite
 
 14 
 
 BOOK 
 II. 
 
 1520. 
 
 so con- 
 ducted as 
 to give 
 general of- 
 fence. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 merits of Jesus Christ, in one inexhaustible treasury. 
 The keys of this were committed to St. Peter, and 
 to his successors the popes, who may open it at plea- 
 sure, and, by transferring a portion of this superabun- 
 dant merit to any particular person for a sum of 
 money, may convey to him either the pardon of his 
 own sins, or a release for any one in whose happiness 
 he is interested, from the pains of purgatory. Such 
 indulgences were first invented in the eleventh cen- 
 tury by Urban II. as a recompense for those who 
 went in person upon the meritorious enterprise of 
 conquering the Holy Land. They were afterwards 
 granted to those who hired a soldier for that pur- 
 pose ; and in process of time were bestowed on such 
 as gave money for accomplishing any pious work 
 enjoined by the pope. h Julius II. had bestowed in- 
 dulgences on all who contributed towards building 
 the church of St. Peter at Rome ; and as Leo was 
 carrying on that magnificent and expensive fabric, his 
 grant was founded on the same pretence. l 
 
 The right of promulgating these indulgences in 
 Germany, together with a share in the profits arising 
 from the sale of them, was granted to Albert, Elector 
 of Metz and Archbishop of Magdeburg, who, as his 
 chief agent for retailing them in Saxony, employed 
 Tetzel, a Dominican friar, of licentious morals, but 
 of an active spirit, and remarkable for his noisy and 
 popular eloquence. He, assisted by the monks of 
 his order, executed the commission with great zeal 
 and success, but with little discretion or decency ; 
 and though, by magnifying excessively the benefit of 
 their indulgences k , and by disposing of them at a 
 
 * History of the Council of Trent, by F. Paul, p. 4. 
 
 1 Palavic. Hist. Cone. Trident, p. 4. 
 
 k As the form of these indulgences, and the benefits which they were sup- 
 posed to convey, are unknown in protestant countries, and little understood, 
 at present, in several places where the Roman catholic religion is established, 
 I hare, for the information of my readers, translated the form of absolution
 
 EMPEROR CHARLBS V. 15 
 
 very low price, they carried on for some time an ex- BOOK 
 tensive and lucrative traffic among the credulous and ' 
 the ignorant ; the extravagance of their assertions, 1520. 
 as well as the irregularities in their conduct, came at 
 last to give general offence. The princes and nobles 
 were irritated at seeing their vassals drained of so 
 much wealth, in order to replenish the treasury of a 
 profuse pontiff. Men of piety regretted the delu- 
 sion of the people, who, being taught to rely for the 
 pardon of their sins on the indulgences which they 
 purchased, did not think it incumbent on them either 
 
 used by Telzel : " May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee, and 
 absolve thee by the merits of his most holy passion. And I, by his authority, 
 that of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, 
 granted and committed to me in these parts, do absolve thee, first from all 
 ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have been incurred, and then 
 from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may 
 be, even from such as are reserved for the cognizance x of the holy see ; and as 
 far as the keys of the holy church extend, I remit to you all punishment 
 which you deserve in purgatory on their account ; and I restore you to the 
 holy sacraments of the church, to the unity of the faithful, and to that inno- 
 cence and purity which you possessed at baptism ; so that, when you die, the 
 gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight shall 
 be opened ; and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full 
 force when you are at the point of death. In the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Seckend. Comment, b'b. i. p. 14. 
 
 The terms in which Tetzel and his associates described the benefits of in- 
 dulgences, and the necessity of purchasing them, are so extravagant, that they 
 appear to be almost incredible. If any man (said they) purchase letters of in- 
 dulgence, his soul may rest secure with respect to its salvation. The souls 
 confined in purgatory, for whose redemption indulgences are purchased, as 
 soon as the money tinkles in the chest, instantly escape from that place of tor- 
 ment, and ascend into heaven. That the efficacy of indulgences was so great, 
 that the most heinous sins, even if one should violate (which was impossible) 
 the mother of God, would be remitted and expiated by them, and the person 
 be freed both from punishment and guilt. That this was the unspeakable gift 
 of God, in order to reconcile men to himself. That the cross erected by the 
 preachers of indulgences, was as efficacious as the cross of Christ itself. Lo ! 
 the heavens are open ; if you enter not now, when will you enter ? For 
 twelve pence you may redeem the soul of your father out of purgatory ; and are 
 you so ungrateful, that you will not rescue your parent from torment ? If you 
 iiad but one coat, you ought to strip yourself instantly, and sell it, in order to 
 purchase such benefits, &c. These and many such extravagant expressions, 
 are selected out of Luther's works by Chemnitius in his Examen Concilii Tri- 
 dentini, apud Herra. Von der Hardt. Hist. Liter. Reform. 'pars iy. p. 6. The 
 same author has published several of Tetzel's discourses, which prove that these 
 expressions were neither singular nor exaggerated. Ibid. p. 14.
 
 16 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK to study the doctrines taught by genuine Chris- 
 tianity, or to practise the duties which it enjoins. 
 
 152a Even the most unthinking were shocked at the 
 scandalous behaviour of Tetzel and his associates, 
 who often squandered in drunkenness, gaming, and 
 low debauchery, those sums which were piously be- 
 stowed in hopes of obtaining eternal happiness ; and 
 all began to wish that some check were given to this 
 commerce, no less detrimental to society than de- 
 structive to religion. 
 First ap- Such was the favourable juncture, and so disposed 
 
 pearance . . .. . . 
 
 of Luther, were the minds of his countrymen to listen to his 
 discourses, when Martin Luther first began to call 
 in question the efficacy of indulgences, and to declaim 
 against the vicious lives and false doctrines of the 
 persons employed in promulgating them. Luther 
 was a native of Eisleben in Saxony, and, though born 
 of poor parents, had received a learned education, 
 during the progress of which he gave many indications 
 of uncommon vigour and acuteness of genius. His 
 mind was naturally susceptible of serious sentiments, 
 and tinctured with somewhat of that religious melan- 
 choly which delights in the solitude and devotion of 
 a monastic life. The death of a companion killed by 
 lightning at his side in a violent thunder-storm, made 
 such an impression on his mind, as co-operated with 
 his natural temper, in inducing him to retire into a 
 convent of Augustinian friars, where, without suffering 
 the entreaties of his parents to divert him from what 
 he thought his duty to God, he assumed the habit of 
 that order. He soon acquired great reputation, not 
 only for piety, but for his love of knowledge, and his 
 unwearied application to study. He had been taught 
 the scholastic philosophy and theology, which were 
 then in vogue by very able masters, and wanted not 
 penetration to comprehend all the niceties and dis- 
 tinctions with which they abound; but his under-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 standing, naturally sound, and superior to everything BOOK 
 frivolous, soon became disgusted with those subtile ' 
 
 and iminstructive sciences, and sought for some more 152 * 
 solid foundation of knowledge and of piety in the 
 holy Scriptures. Having found a copy of the Bible, 
 which lay neglected in the library of his monastery, 
 he abandoned all other pursuits, and devoted himself 
 to the study of it, with such eagerness and assiduity, 
 as astonished the monks, who were little accustomed 
 to derive their theological notions from that source. 
 The great progress which he made in this uncommon 
 course of study, augmented so much the fame both 
 of his sanctity and of his learning, that Frederic, 
 Elector of Saxony, having founded an university at 
 Wittemberg on the Elbe, the place of his residence, 
 Luther was chosen first to teach philosophy, and 
 afterwards theology there ; and discharged both offices 
 in such a manner, that he was deemed the chief orna- 
 ment of that society. 
 
 While Luther was at the height of his reputation He opposes 
 and authority, Tetzel began to publish indulgences i n a^. e< 
 in the neighbourhood of Wittemberg, and to ascribe g ences * 
 to them the same imaginary virtues, which had, in 
 other places, imposed on the credulity of the people. 
 As Saxony was not more enlightened than the other 
 provinces of Germany, Tetzel met with prodigious 
 success there. It was with the utmost concern, that 
 Luther beheld the artifices of those who sold, and 
 the simplicity of those who bought, indulgences. 
 The opinions of Thomas Aquinas and the other 
 schoolmen, on which the doctrine of indulgences was 
 founded, had already lost much of their authority 
 with him ; and the Scriptures, which he began to 
 consider as the great standard of theological truth, 
 afforded no countenance to a practice equally subver- 
 sive of faith and of morals. His warm and impetuous 
 
 Ch. VOL. n. c
 
 18 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK temper did not suffer him long to conceal such im- 
 portant discoveries, or to continue a silent spectator 
 
 1520. Q f t^ delusion of his countrymen. From the pulpit, 
 in the great church of Wittemberg, he inveighed 
 bitterly against the irregularities and vices of the 
 monks who published indulgences ; he ventured to 
 examine the doctrines which they taught, and pointed 
 out to the people the danger of relying for salvation 
 upon any other means than those appointed by God 
 in his word. The boldness and novelty of these 
 opinions drew great attention, and being recommended 
 by the authority of Luther's personal character, and 
 delivered with a popular and persuasive eloquence, 
 they made a deep impression on his hearers. Encou- 
 raged by the favourable reception of his doctrines 
 among the people, he wrote to Albert, Elector of 
 Metz and Archbishop of Magdeburg, to whose juris- 
 diction that part of Saxony was subject, and remon- 
 strated warmly against the false opinions, as well as 
 wicked lives, of the preachers of indulgences ; but he 
 found that prelate too deeply interested in their suc- 
 cess to correct their abuses. His next attempt was 
 He pub- to gain the suffrage of men of learning. For this 
 
 1*1* i_' ^ 
 
 " purpose he published ninety-five theses, containing his 
 sentiments with regard to indulgences. These he 
 proposed not as points fully established, or of un- 
 doubted certainty, but as subjects of inquiry and dis- 
 putation ; he appointed a day, on which the learned 
 were invited to impugn them, either in person or by 
 writing; to the whole he subjoined solemn protest- 
 ations of his high respect for the apostolic see, and 
 of his implicit submission to its authority. No oppo- 
 nent appeared at the time prefixed ; the theses spread 
 over Germany with astonishing rapidity ; they were 
 read with the greatest eagerness ; and all admired the 
 boldness of the man, who had ventured not only to
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 19 
 
 call in question the plenitude of papal power, but to BOOK 
 
 attack the Dominicans, armed with all the terrors of 1_ 
 
 inquisitorial authority. 1 
 
 The friars of St. Augustin, Luther's own order, Supported 
 
 i -IT i-ii i i i by his own 
 
 though addicted with no less obsequiousness than the order, 
 other monastic fraternities to the papal see, gave no 
 check to the publication of these uncommon opinions. 
 Luther had, by his piety and learning, acquired ex- 
 traordinary authority among his brethren ; he pro- 
 fessed the highest regard for the authority of the 
 pope ; his professions were at that time sincere ; and 
 as a secret enmity, excited by interest or emulation, 
 subsists among all the monastic orders in the Romish 
 church, the Augustinians were highly pleased with 
 his invectives against the Dominicans, and hoped to 
 see them exposed to the hatred and scorn of the 
 people. Nor was his sovereign, the Elector of Saxony, 
 the wisest prince at that time in Germany, dissatisfied 
 with this obstruction wliich Luther threw in the way 
 of the publication of indulgences. He secretly en- 
 couraged the attempt, and flattered himself that this 
 dispute among the ecclesiastics themselves, might 
 give some check to the exactions of the court of Rome, 
 which the secular princes had long, though without 
 success, been endeavouring to oppose. 
 
 Many zealous champions immediately arose to de- Many en- 
 fend opinions on which the wealth and power of the confute' l 
 church were founded, against Luther's attacks. In him - 
 opposition to his theses, Tetzel published counter- 
 theses at Francfort on the Oder ; Eccius, a celebrated 
 divine of Augsburg, endeavoured to refute Luther's 
 notions ; and Prierias, a Dominican friar, master of 
 the sacred palace, and inquisitor-general, wrote against 
 him with all the virulence of a scholastic disputant. 
 But the manner in which they conducted the con- 
 
 1 Luthcri Opera, Jenre, 1612, vol. i. praefat. 3. p. 2. 66. Hist, of Counc. of 
 Trent, by F. Paul, p. 4. Seckend. Com. Apol. p. 16.
 
 20 
 
 BOOK 
 II. 
 
 1520. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 troversy did little service to their cause. Luther 
 attempted to combat indulgences by arguments 
 founded in reason, or derived from Scripture ; they 
 produced nothing in support of them but the senti- 
 ments of schoolmen, the conclusions of the canon 
 law, and the decrees of popes. ra The decision of 
 judges so partial and interested did not satisfy the 
 people, who began to call in question the authority 
 even of these venerable guides, when they found 
 them standing in direct opposition to the dictates of 
 reason, and the determinations of the divine law. n * 
 
 m F. Paul. p. 6. Seckend. p. 40. Palavic. p. 8. 
 
 n Seckend. p. 30. 
 
 * Guicciardini has asserted two things with regard to the first promulga- 
 tion of indulgences : 1 . That Leo bestowed a gift of the profits arising from the 
 sale of indulgences in Saxony, and the adjacent provinces of Germany, upon his 
 sister Magdalen, the wife of Francescetto Cibo. Guic. lib. xiii. 168. 2. That 
 Arcemboldo,a Genoese ecclesiastic, who had been bred a merchant, and still 
 retained all the activity and address of that profession, was appointed by her to 
 collect the money which should be raised. F. Paul has followed him in both 
 these particulars, and adds, that the Augustinians in Saxony had been imme- 
 morially employed in preaching indulgences ; but that Arcemboldo and his 
 deputies, hoping to gain more by committing this trust to the Dominicans, had 
 made their bargain with Tetzel, and that Luther was prompted at first to op- 
 pose Tetzel and his associates, by a desire of taking revenge for this injury 
 offered to his order. F. Paul, p. 5. Almost all historians since their time, 
 popish as well as protestant, have, without examination, admitted these asser- 
 tions to be true upon their authority. But notwithstanding the concurring 
 testimony of two authors, so eminent both for exactness and veracity, we may 
 observe, 
 
 1. That Felix Contolori, who searched the pontifical archives for the pur- 
 pose, could not find this pretended grant to Leo's sister in any of those regis- 
 ters where it must necessarily have been recorded. Palav. p. 5. 2. That 
 the profits arising from indulgences in Saxony and the adjacent countries, had 
 been granted not to Magdalen, but to Albert, Archbishop of Mentz, who had 
 the right of nominating those who published them. Seek. p. 12. Luth. Oper. i. 
 pra-f. p. i. Palav. p. 6. 3. That Arcemboldo never had concern in the 
 publication of indulgences in Saxony; his district was Flanders and the Upper 
 and Lower Rhine. Seek. p. 14. Palav. p. 6. 4. That Luther and his ad- 
 herents never mentioned this grant of Leo's to his sister, though a circum- 
 stance of which they could hardly have been ignorant, and which they would 
 have been careful not to suppress. 5. The publication of indulgences in Ger- 
 many was not usually committed to the Augustinians. The promulgation of 
 them, at three different periods under Julius II., was granted to the Francis- 
 cans ; the Dominicans had been employed in the same office a short time be- 
 fore the present period. Palnv. p. 46. 6. The promulgation of those indul- 
 gences, which first excited Luther's indignation, was entrusted to the Arch-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 21 
 
 Meanwhile, these novelties in Luther's doctrines BOOK 
 which interested all Germany, excited little attention ' 
 and no alarm in the court of Rome. Leo, fond of 15 ' 20 - 
 elegant and refined pleasures, intent upon great 5*^^ 
 schemes of policy, a stranger to theological contro- first disre - 
 
 J . i T i i g* 1 " 11 * 1 Lu * 
 
 versies, and apt to despise them, regarded with the ther. 
 utmost indifference the operations of an obscure friar, 
 who, in the heart of Germany, carried on a scho- 
 lastic disputation in a barbarous style. Little did he 
 apprehend, or Luther himself dream, that the effects 
 of this quarrel would be so fatal to the papal see. 
 Leo imputed the whole to monastic enmity and emu- 
 lation, and seemed inclined not to interpose in the 
 contest, but to allow the Augustinians and Domini- 
 cans to wrangle about the matter with their usual 
 animosity. 
 
 The solicitations, however, of Luther's adversaries, The pro- 
 who were exasperated to a high degree by the 
 boldness and severity with which he animadverted on 
 their writings, together with the surprising progress 
 which his opinions made in different parts of Germany, 
 roused at last the attention of the court of Rome, 
 and obliged Leo to take measures for the security of 
 the church against an attack that now appeared too 
 serious to be despised. For this end, he summoned He is sum- 
 Luther to appear at Rome, within sixty days, before ^"a,.^ 
 the auditor of the chamber, and the inquisitor- K me - 
 
 July, 1518. 
 
 bishop of Mentz, in conjunction with the guardian of die Franciscans; but 
 the latter having declined accepting of that trust, the sole right became vested 
 in the archbishop. Palav. 6 Seek. 16, 17. 7. Luther was not instigated 
 by his superiors among the Augustinians, to attack the Dominicans their 
 rivals, or to depreciate indulgences because they were promulgated by them; 
 his opposition to their opinions and vices proceeded from more laudable mo- 
 tives. Seek. p. 15. 32. Lutheri Ojiera, i. p. 64. 6. 8. A diploma of in- 
 dulgences is published by Herm. Von der Hardt, from which it appears, that 
 the name of the guardian of the Franciscans is retained together with that of 
 the archbishop, although the former did not act. The limits of the country to 
 which their commissions extended, viz. the diocese of Mentz, Magdeburg, 
 llalberstadt, and the territories of the Marquis of Brandenburg, are mentioned 
 in that diploma. Hist. Literaria Reformat, pars iv. p. 14. 
 
 c 3
 
 2 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK general Prierias, who had written against him, whom 
 _ he empowered jointly to examine his doctrines, and 
 152 - to decide concerning them. He wrote, at the same 
 time, to the Elector of Saxony, beseeching him -not 
 to protect a man whose heretical and profane tenets 
 were so shocking to pious ears; and enjoined the 
 provincial of the Augustinians to check, by his au- 
 thority, the rashness of an arrogant monk, which 
 brought disgrace upon the order of St. Augustine, 
 and gave offence and disturbance to the whole 
 church. 
 
 The pope From the strain of these letters, as well as from the 
 h P igaTe S nomination of a judge so prejudiced and partial as 
 in'oe!" 111 Pri 6 3 - 8 * Luther easily saw what sentence he might 
 many. expect at Rome. He discovered, for that reason, the 
 utmost solicitude to have his cause tried in Germany, 
 and before a less suspected tribunal. The professors 
 in the university of Wittemberg, anxious for the safety 
 of a man who did so much honour to their society, 
 wrote to the pope ; and, after employing several pre- 
 texts to excuse Luther from appearing at Rome, en- 
 treated Leo to commit the examination of his doctrines 
 to some persons of learning and authority in Germany. 
 The elector requested the same thing of the pope's 
 legate at the diet of Augsburg ; and as Luther him- 
 self, who, at that time, was so far from having any 
 intention to disclaim the papal authority, that he did 
 not even entertain the smallest suspicion concerning 
 its divine original, had written to Leo a most submis- 
 sive letter, promising an unreserved compliance with 
 his will ; the pope gratified them so far as to empower 
 his legate in Germany, Cardinal Cajetan, a Domini- 
 can, eminent for scholastic learning, and passionately 
 devoted to the Roman see, to hear and determine the 
 cause. 
 
 L eaS e b c ap " ^ utner though he had good reason to decline a 
 fore the le- judge chosen among his avowed adversaries, did not 
 
 gate.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 23 
 
 hesitate about appearing before Cajetan ; and, having BOOK 
 
 obtained the emperor's safe-conduct, immediately re- 1__ 
 
 paired to Augsburg. The cardinal received him with 
 decent respect, and endeavoured at first to gain upon 
 him by gentle treatment. The cardinal, relying on 
 the superiority of his own talents as a theologian, 
 entered into a formal dispute with Luther concerning 
 the doctrines contained in his theses.* But the 
 weapons which they employed were so different, 
 Cajetan appealing to papal decrees, and the opinions 
 of schoolmen, and Luther resting entirely on the 
 authority of Scripture, that the contest was altogether 
 fruitless. The cardinal relinquished the character of 
 a disputant, and, assuming that of a judge, enjoined 
 Luther, by virtue of the apostolic powers with which 
 he was clothed, to retract the errors which he had 
 uttered with regard to indulgences, and the nature of 
 faith ; and to abstain, for the future, from the publi- 
 cation of new and dangerous opinions. Luther, fully 
 persuaded of the truth of his own tenets, and con- 
 firmed in the belief of them by the approbation which 
 they had met with among persons conspicuous both 
 for learning and piety, was surprised at this abrupt 
 mention of a recantation, before any endeavours were 
 used to convince him that he was mistaken. He had 
 flattered himself, that, in a conference concerning the 
 points in dispute with a prelate of such distinguished 
 abilities, he should be able to remove many of those 
 imputations with which the ignorance or malice of his 
 antagonists had loaded him ; but the high tone of 
 authority that the cardinal assumed, extinguished at 
 once all hopes of this kind, and cut off every prospect 
 of advantage from the interview. His native intre- Hisintre- 
 
 i , , . 
 
 pidity of mind, however, did not desert him. He {, rt 
 
 * In the former editions I asserted, upon the authority of Father Paul, 
 that Cajetan thought it beneath his dignity to enter into any dispute with Lu- 
 ther ; but M. Beausobre, in his Histoire de la Reformation, vol. i. p. 121* 
 &c. has satisfied me that I was mistaken. See also Seckend. lib. i. p. 46 f &e. 
 
 c 4
 
 24 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK declared with the utmost firmness, that he could not, 
 IL with a safe conscience, renounce opinions which he 
 1520. believed to be true ; nor should any consideration 
 ever induce him to do what would be so base in itself, 
 and so offensive to God. At the same time, he con* 
 tinued to express no less reverence than formerly for 
 the authority of the apostolic see ; he signified his 
 willingness to submit the whole controversy to certain 
 universities which he named, and promised neither to 
 write nor to preach concerning indulgences for the 
 future, provided his adversaries were likewise enjoined 
 to be silent with respect to them. p All these offers 
 Cajetan disregarded or rejected, and still insisted per- 
 emptorily on a simple recantation, threatening him 
 with ecclesiastical censures, and forbidding him to 
 appear again in his presence, unless he resolved in- 
 stantly to comply with what he had required. This 
 haughty and violent manner of proceeding, as well as 
 other circumstances, gave Luther's friends such strong 
 reasons to suspect, that even the imperial safe-conduct 
 would not be able to protect him from the legate's 
 power and resentment, that they prevailed on him to 
 withdraw secretly from Augsburg, and to return to 
 his own country. But before his departure, accord- 
 ing to a form of which there had been some examples, 
 
 His appeal, he prepared a solemn appeal from the pope, ill-informed 
 at that time concerning his cause, to the pope when 
 he should receive more full information with respect 
 to it. q 
 
 He is sup. Cajetan, enraged at Luther's abrupt retreat, and 
 at the publication of his appeal, wrote to the Elector 
 of Saxony, complaining of both ; and requiring him, 
 as he regarded the peace of the church, or the 
 authority of its head, either to send that seditious 
 monk a prisoner to Rome, or to banish him out of 
 
 Luth. Oper. vol. i. p. 164. P Ibid. p. 160. 
 
 11 Sleid. Hist of Reform, p. 7. Seckend. p. 45. Luth. Oper. i. 163.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 25 
 
 his territories. It was not from theological consi- BOOK 
 
 derations that Frederic had hitherto countenanced 1__ 
 
 Luther ; he seems to have been much a stranger to 
 controversies of that kind, and to have been little 
 interested in them. His protection flowed almost 
 entirely, as hath been already observed, from political 
 motives, and was afforded with great secrecy and cau- 
 tion. He had neither heard any of Luther's discourses, 
 nor read any of his books ; and though all Germany 
 resounded with his fame, he had never once admitted 
 him into his presence/ But upon this demand which 
 the cardinal made, it became necessary to throw off 
 somewhat of his former reserve. He had been at 
 great expence, and had bestowed much attention on 
 founding a new university, an object of considerable 
 importance to every German prince ; and foreseeing 
 how fatal a blow the removal of Luther would be to 
 its reputation 5 , he, under various pretexts, and with 
 many professions of esteem for the cardinal, as well as 
 of reverence for the pope, not only declined comply- 
 ing with either of his requests, but openly discovered 
 great concern for Luther's safety. 1 
 
 The inflexible rigour with which Caietan insisted Motives of 
 
 r*t T the legate's 
 
 on a simple recantation, gave great onence to Luther s conduct, 
 followers in that age, and hath since been censured 
 as imprudent by several popish writers. But it was 
 impossible for the legate to act another part. The 
 judges before whom Luther had been required to ap- 
 pear at Rome, were so eager to display their zeal 
 against his errors, that, without waiting for the expir- 
 ation of sixty days allowed him in the citation, they 
 had already condemned him as an heretic. u Leo 
 had, in several of his briefs and letters, stigmatized 
 
 r Seckend. p. 27. Sleid. Hist. p. 12. 
 
 * Seckend. p. 59. * Sleid. Hist. p. 10. Luth. Oper. i. 178. 
 
 * Luther. Oper. i. 161.
 
 26 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK him as a child of iniquity, and a man given up to a 
 reprobate sense. Nothing less, therefore, than a re- 
 
 152 - cantation could save the honour of the church, whose 
 maxim it is, never to abandon the smallest point that 
 it has established, and which is even precluded, by 
 its pretensions to infallibility, from having it in its 
 power to do so. 
 
 Luther's Luther's situation, at this time, was such as would 
 Stuation. have filled any other person with the most disquiet- 
 ing apprehensions. He could not expect that a prince 
 so prudent and cautious as Frederic would, on his ac- 
 count, set at defiance the thunders of the church, and 
 brave the papal power, which had crushed some of 
 the most powerful of the German emperors. He 
 knew what veneration was paid, in that age, to eccle- 
 siastical decisions ; what terrors ecclesiastical censures 
 carried along with them, and how easily these might 
 intimidate and shake a prince, who was rather his 
 protector from policy, than his disciple from convic- 
 tion. If he should be obliged to quit Saxony, he 
 had no prospect of any other asylum, and must stand 
 exposed to whatever punishment the rage or bigotry 
 of his enemies could inflict. Though sensible of his 
 danger, he discovered no symptoms of timidity or 
 remissness, but continued to vindicate his own con- 
 duct and opinions, and to inveigh against those of his 
 adversaries with more vehemence than ever. x 
 He appeals But as every step taken by the court of Rome, 
 
 to a general i i i 
 
 council. particularly the irregular sentence by which he had 
 been so precipitately declared a heretic, convinced 
 Luther that Leo would soon proceed to the most 
 violent measures against him, he had recourse to the 
 only expedient in his power, in order to prevent the 
 effect of the papal censures. He appealed to a general 
 council, which he affirmed to be the representative of 
 
 * Seckend. p. 59.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 27 
 
 the catholic church, and superior in power to the pope, BOOK 
 who, being a fallible man, might err, as St. Peter, the 
 
 most perfect of his predecessors, had erred. y 1520. 
 
 It soon appeared, that Luther had not formed rash A new bull 
 
 I' r p 
 
 conjectures concerning the intentions of the Romish * 111 
 church. A bull of a date prior to his appeal was 
 issued by the pope, in which he magnifies the virtue 
 and efficacy of indulgences, in terms as extravagant 
 as any of his predecessors had ventured to use in the 
 darkest ages ; and, without applying such palliatives, 
 or mentioning such concessions, as a more enlightened 
 period, and the disposition in the minds of many men 
 at that juncture, seemed to call for, he required all 
 Christians to assent to what he delivered as the doc- 
 trine of the catholic church, and subjected those who 
 should hold or teach any contrary opinion, to the 
 heaviest ecclesiastical censures. 
 
 Among Luther's followers, this bull, which they 
 
 considered as an unjustifiable effort of the pope, in ' 
 
 order to preserve that rich branch of his revenue Luther 
 which arose from indulgences, produced little effect. 
 But, among the rest of his countrymen, such a clear 
 decision of the sovereign pontiff against him, and 
 enforced by such dreadful penalties, must have been 
 attended with consequences very fatal to his cause ; 
 if these had not been prevented in a great measure 
 
 by the death of the Emperor Maximilian, whom both Jan. n. 
 , : i i , . . 1519. 
 
 Ins principles and his interest prompted to support 
 
 the authority of the holy see. In consequence of 
 this event, the vicariat of that part of Germany which 
 is governed by the Saxon laws, devolved to the Elector 
 of Saxony ; and under the shelter of his friendly ad- 
 ministration, Luther not only enjoyed tranquillity, 
 but his opinions were suffered, during the inter- 
 regnum which preceded Charles's election, to take 
 root in different places, and to grow up to some 
 
 > Sleid. Hist. 12. Luth. Oper. i. 179i
 
 28 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK degree of strength and firmness. At the same time, 
 IL as the election of an emperor was a point more in- 
 1520t teresting to Leo than a theological controversy, which 
 he did not understand, and of which he could not 
 foresee the consequences, he was so extremely soli- 
 citous not to irritate a prince of such considerable in- 
 fluence in the electoral college as Frederic, that he 
 discovered a great unwillingness to pronounce the 
 sentence of excommunication against Luther, which 
 his adversaries continually demanded with the most 
 clamorous importunity. 
 Suspension To these political views of the pope, as well as to 
 
 of proceed- , . , . ,, 
 
 ings against his natural aversion from severe measures, was owing 
 Luther. ^ SUS p ens i on O f an y further proceedings against 
 Luther for eighteen months. Perpetual negotia- 
 tions, however, in order to bring the matter to some 
 amicable issue, were carried on during that space. 
 The manner in which these were conducted having 
 given Luther many opportunities of observing the 
 corruption of the court of Rome ; its obstinacy in 
 adhering to established errors ; and its indifference 
 about truth, however clearly proposed, or strongly 
 proved, he began to utter some doubts with regard 
 He begins to the divine original of the papal authority. A 
 question" public disputation was held upon this important 
 the papal question at Leipsic, between Luther and Eccius, one 
 
 authority. * 
 
 of his most learned and formidable antagonists ; but 
 it was as fruitless and indecisive as such scholastic 
 combats usually prove. Both parties boasted of 
 having obtained the victory ; both were confirmed in 
 their own opinions ; and no progress was made to- 
 wards deciding the point in controversy. z 
 Refbrma- Nor did this spirit of opposition to the doctrines 
 sTiuer- an d usurpations of the Romish church break out in 
 latd - Saxony alone; an attack no less violent, and occa- 
 sioned by the same causes, was made upon them 
 
 * Luth. Oper. i. 199.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 29 
 
 about this time in Switzerland. The Franciscans BOOK 
 being entrusted with the promulgation of indulgences 
 in that country, executed their commission with the 15 -- 
 same indiscretion and rapaciousness which had ren- 
 dered the Dominicans so odious in Germany. They 
 proceeded, nevertheless, with uninterrupted success 
 till they arrived at Zurich. There Zuinglius, a man 
 not inferior to Luther himself in zeal and intrepidity, 
 ventured to oppose them ; and being animated with 
 a republican boldness, and free from those restraints 
 which subjection to the will of a prince imposed on 
 the German reformer, he advanced with more daring 
 and rapid steps to overturn the whole fabric of the 
 established religion/ The appearance of such a 
 vigorous auxiliary, and the progress which he made, 
 was, at first, matter of great joy to Luther. On the 
 other hand, the decrees of the universities of Cologne 
 and Louvain, which pronounced his opinions to be 
 erroneous, afforded great cause of triumph to his 
 adversaries. 
 
 But the undaunted spirit of Luther acquired ad- Luther's 
 ditional fortitude from every instance of opposition ; a ndpro! 
 and, pushing on his inquiries and attacks from one s ress - 
 doctrine to another, he began to shake the firmest 
 foundations on which the wealth or power of the 
 church was established. Leo came at last to be con- 
 vinced, that all hopes of reclaiming him by forbear- 
 ance were vain ; several prelates of great wisdom 
 exclaimed no less than Luther's personal adversaries, 
 against the pope's unprecedented lenity in permitting 
 an incorrigible heretic, who, during three years had 
 been endeavouring to subvert every thing sacred and 
 venerable, still to remain within the bosom of the 
 church ; the dignity of the papal see rendered the 
 most vigorous proceedings necessary ; the new em- 
 peror, it was hoped, would support its authority ; 
 
 * Sleid. Hist. 22. Seckend. 59.
 
 30 
 
 BOOK 
 II. 
 
 1520. 
 
 Bull of 
 excommu- 
 nication 
 published 
 against 
 him. 
 
 The effects 
 of this in 
 Germany, 
 
 and upon 
 Luther, 
 Nov. 17. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 nor did it seem probable that the Elector of Saxony 
 would so far forget his usual caution, as to set him- 
 self in opposition to their united power. The college 
 of cardinals was often assembled, in order to prepare 
 the sentence with due deliberation, and the ablest 
 canonists were consulted how it might be expressed 
 with unexceptionable formality. At last, on the fif- 
 teenth of June, one thousand five hundred and twenty, 
 the bull, so fatal to the church of Rome, was issued. 
 Forty-one propositions, extracted out of Luther's 
 works, are therein condemned as heretical, scandal- 
 ous, and offensive to pious ears ; all persons are for- 
 bidden to read his writings, upon pain of excommu- 
 nication ; such as had any of them in their custody 
 were commanded to commit them to the flames ; he 
 himself, if he did not, within sixty days, publicly 
 recant his errors, and burn his books, is pronounced 
 an obstinate heretic, is excommunicated, and delivered 
 unto Satan for the destruction of his flesh ; and all 
 secular princes are required, under pain of incurring 
 the same censure, to seize his person, that he might 
 be punished as his crimes deserved. b 
 
 The publication of this bull in Germany excited 
 various passions in different places. Luther's adver- 
 saries exulted, as if his party and opinions had been 
 crushed at once by such a decisive blow. His fol- 
 lowers, whose reverence for the papal authority daily 
 diminished, read Leo's anathemas with more indig- 
 nation than terror. In some cities, the people vio- 
 lently obstructed the promulgation of the bull ; in 
 others, the persons who attempted to publish it were 
 insulted, and the bull itself was torn in pieces, and 
 trodden under foot. c 
 
 This sentence, which he had for some time ex- 
 pected, did not disconcert or intimidate Luther. 
 After renewing his appeal to the general council, he 
 
 b Palavic. 27. Lutli. Open i. 423. c Seckend. p. 116.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 31 
 
 published remarks upon the bull of excommunication ; BOOK 
 and being now persuaded that Leo had been guilty ' 
 
 both of impiety and injustice in his proceedings against 
 him, he boldly declared the pope to be that man of 
 sin, or Antichrist, whose appearance is foretold in 
 the New Testament; he declaimed against his ty- 
 ranny and usurpations with greater violence than 
 ever ; he exhorted all Christian princes to shake off 
 such an ignominious yoke, and boasted of his own 
 happiness in being marked out as the object of eccle- 
 siastical indignation, because he had ventured to as- 
 sert the liberty of mankind. Nor did he confine his 
 expressions of contempt for the papal power to words 
 alone : Leo having, in execution of the bull, appointed 
 Luther's books to be burnt at Rome, he, by way of 
 retaliation, assembled all the professors and students 
 in the university of Wittemberg, and with great pomp, 
 in presence of a vast multitude of spectators, cast 
 the volumes of the canon law, together with the bull 
 of excommunication, into the flames ; and his ex- 
 ample was imitated in several cities of Germany. 
 The manner in which he justified this action was still 
 more offensive than the action itself. Having col- 
 let-ted from the canon law some of the most extrava- 
 gant propositions with regard to the plenitude anil 
 omnipotence of the papal power, as well as the subor- 
 dination of all secular jurisdiction to the authority of 
 the holy see, he published these with a commentary, 
 pointing out the impiety of such tenets, and their 
 evident tendency to subvert all civil government/ 
 
 Such was the progress which Luther had made, state of the 
 and such the state of his party, when Charles arrived [^* e ~ n 
 in Germany. No secular prince had hitherto em- Charu-sar- 
 braced Luther's opinions; no change in the established Germany, 
 forms of worship had been introduced ; and no en- 
 croachments had been made upon the possessions or 
 
 d Lutli. Opcr. ii. 316.
 
 32 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK jurisdiction of the clergy ; neither party had yet 
 proceeded to action ; and the controversy, though 
 
 1520. conducted with great heat and passion on both sides, 
 was still carried on with its proper weapons, with 
 theses, disputations, and replies. A deep impression, 
 however, was made upon the minds of the people ; 
 their reverence for ancient institutions and doctrines 
 was shaken ; and the materials were already scattered, 
 which kindled into the combustion that soon spread 
 over all Germany. Students crowded from every 
 province of the empire to Wittemberg ; and under 
 Luther himself, Melancthon, Carlostadius, and other 
 masters then reckoned eminent, imbibed opinions, 
 which, on their return, they propagated among their 
 countrymen, who listened to them with that fond at- 
 tention, which truth, when accompanied with novelty, 
 naturally commands. 
 Reflections During the course of these transactions, the court 
 
 upon the ' 
 
 conductor of Rome, though under the direction of one of its 
 ablest pontiffs, neither formed its schemes with that 
 profound sagacity, nor executed them with that 
 steady perseverance, which had long rendered it the 
 most perfect model of political wisdom to the rest of 
 Europe. When Luther began to declaim against 
 indulgences, two different methods of treating him 
 lay before the pope ; by adopting one of which, the 
 attempt, it is probable, might have been crushed, 
 and by the other it might have been rendered inno- 
 cent. If Luther's first departure from the doctrines of 
 the church had instantly drawn upon him the weight 
 of its censures, the dread of these might have re- 
 strained the Elector of Saxony from protecting him, 
 might have deterred the people from listening to his 
 discourses, or even might have overawed Luther 
 himself ; and his name, like that of many good men 
 before his time, would now have been known to the 
 
 ' Seckend. 59.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 33 
 
 world only for his honest but ill-timed effort to cor- BOOK 
 rect the corruptions of the Romish church. On the IL 
 other hand, if the pope had early testified some dis- 152a 
 pleasure with the vices and excesses of the friars who 
 had been employed in publishing indulgences ; if he 
 had forbidden the mentioning of controverted points 
 in discourses addressed to the people ; if he had en- 
 joined the disputants on both sides to be silent ; if 
 he had been careful not to risk the credit of the 
 church by defining articles which had hitherto been 
 left undetermined ; Luther would, probably, have 
 stopped short at his first discoveries ; he would not have 
 been forced, in self-defence, to venture upon new 
 ground, and the whole controversy might possibly 
 have died away insensibly ; or, being confined entirely 
 to the schools, might have been carried on with as 
 little detriment to the peace and unity of the Romish 
 church as that which the Franciscans maintained with 
 the Dominicans concerning the immaculate concep- 
 tion, or that between the Jansenists and Jesuits 
 concerning the operations of grace. But Leo, by 
 fluctuating between these opposite systems, and by 
 embracing them alternately, defeated the effects of 
 both. By an improper exertion of authority, Luther 
 was exasperated, but not restrained. By a mistaken 
 exercise of lenity, time was given for his opinions to 
 spread, but no progress was made towards reconciling 
 him to the church ; and even the sentence of excom- 
 munication, which at another juncture might have 
 been decisive, was delayed so long, that it became at 
 last scarcely an object of terror. 
 
 Such a series of errors in the measures of a court and upon 
 seldom chargeable with mistaking its own true in- 
 terest, is not more astonishing than the wisdom which 
 appeared in Luther's conduct. Though a perfect 
 stranger to the maxims of worldly wisdom, and in- 
 capable, from the impetuosity of his temper, of 
 
 Ch. VOL. n. D
 
 4 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK observing them, he was led naturally, by the method 
 IL in which he made his discoveries, to carry on his 
 152 * operations in a manner which contributed more to 
 their success, than if every step he took had been 
 prescribed by the most artful policy. At the time 
 when he set himself to oppose Tetzel, he was far 
 from intending that reformation which he afterwards 
 effected ; and would have trembled with horror at the 
 thoughts of what at last he gloried in accomplishing. 
 The knowledge of truth was not poured into his 
 mind all at once, by any special revelation ; he ac- 
 quired it by industry and meditation, and his progress, 
 of consequence, was gradual. The doctrines of 
 popery are so closely connected, that the exposing of 
 one error conducted him naturally to the detection of 
 others ; and all the parts of that artificial fabric were 
 so united together, that the pulling down of one 
 loosened the foundation of the rest, and rendered it 
 more easy to overturn them. In confuting the ex- 
 travagant tenets concerning indulgences, he was 
 obliged to inquire into the true cause of our jus- 
 tification and acceptance with God. The knowledge 
 of that discovered to him by degrees the inutility of 
 pilgrimages and penances ; the vanity of relying on 
 the intercession of saints ; the impiety of worshipping 
 them ; the abuses of auricular confession ; and the 
 imaginary existence of purgatory. The detection 
 of so many errors, led him, of course, to consider the 
 character of the clergy who taught them ; and their 
 exorbitant wealth, the severe injunction of celibacy, 
 together with the intolerable rigour of monastic vows, 
 appeared to him the great sources of their corruption. 
 From thence, it was but one step to call in question 
 the divine original of the papal power, which au- 
 thorised and supported such a system of errors. As 
 the unavoidable result of the whole, he disclaimed the 
 infallibility of the pope, the decisions of schoolmen,
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 35 
 
 or any other human authority, and appealed to the BOOK 
 word of God as the only standard of theological 
 
 truth. To this gradual progress Luther owed his 
 success. His hearers were not shocked at first by 
 any proposition too repugnant to their ancient pre- 
 judices, or too remote from established opinions. 
 They were conducted insensibly from one doctrine to 
 another. Their faith and conviction were able to 
 keep pace with his discoveries. To the same cause was 
 owing the inattention, and even indifference, with 
 which Leo viewed Luther's first proceedings. A 
 direct or violent attack upon the authority of the 
 church would at once have drawn upon Luther the 
 whole weight of its vengeance ; but as this was far 
 from his thoughts, as he continued long to profess 
 great respect for the pope, and made repeated offers 
 of submission to his decisions, there seemed to be no 
 reason for apprehending that he would prove the 
 author of any desperate revolt ; and he was suffered 
 to proceed step by step in undermining the consti- 
 tution of the church, until the remedy applied at last 
 came too late to produce any effect. 
 
 But whatever advantages Luther's cause derived An inquiry 
 either from the mistakes of his adversaries, or from causes 
 his own good conduct, the sudden progress and firm ^buted'to 
 establishment of his doctrines must not be ascribed to *?progres 
 
 of the re- 
 
 these alone. The same corruptions in the church of formation. 
 Rome which he condemned, had been attacked long 
 before his time. The same opinions which he now 
 propagated, had been published in different places, 
 and were supported by the same arguments. Waldus 
 in the twelfth century, Wickliff in the fourteenth, and 
 Huss in the fifteenth, had inveighed against the errors 
 of popery with great boldness, and confuted them 
 with more ingenuity and learning than could have 
 been expected in those illiterate ages in which they 
 flourished. But all these premature attempts towards 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK a reformation proved abortive. Such feeble lights, 
 IL incapable of dispelling the darkness which then covered 
 
 J520p the church, were soon extinguished ; and though the 
 doctrines of these pious men produced some effects, 
 and left some traces in the countries where they 
 taught, they were neither extensive nor considerable. 
 Many powerful causes contributed to facilitate Lu- 
 ther's progress, which either did not exist, or did not 
 operate with full force, in their days ; and at that 
 critical and mature juncture when he appeared, cir- 
 cumstances of every kind concurred in rendering each 
 step that he took successful. 
 The long 'phg j on an( j scan d a l ous schism which divided the 
 
 schism in 
 
 the four- church during the latter part of the fourteenth and 
 tuiy. " the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, had a great 
 effect in diminishing the veneration with which the 
 world had been accustomed to view the papal dignity. 
 Two or three contending pontiffs roaming about 
 Europe at a time ; fawning on the princes whom they 
 wanted to gain ; extorting large sums of money from 
 the countries which acknowledged their authority ; 
 excommunicating their rivals, and cursing those who 
 adhered to them, discredited their pretensions to in- 
 fallibility, and exposed both their persons and their 
 office to contempt. The laity, to whom all parties 
 appealed, came to learn that some right of private 
 judgment belonged to them, and acquired the exercise 
 of it so far as to choose, among these infallible guides, 
 whom they would please to follow. The proceedings 
 of the councils of Constance and Basil spread this 
 disrespect for the Romish see still wider, and by their 
 bold exertion of authority in deposing and electing 
 popes, taught men that there was in the church a 
 jurisdiction superior even to the papal power, which 
 they had long believed to be supreme. 
 
 Theponti. The wound given on that occasion to the papal 
 authority was scarcely healed up, when the pontificates
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 37 
 
 of Alexander VI. and Julius II., both able princes, BOOK 
 but detestable ecclesiastics, raised new scandal in ! 
 
 1520. 
 
 Christendom. The profligate morals of the former 
 
 IT *l 1 4.1. * VI. andof 
 
 in private life ; the fraud, the injustice, and cruelty Julius n. 
 of his public administration, place him on a level with 
 those tyrants, whose deeds are the greatest reproach 
 to human nature. The latter, though a stranger to 
 the odious passions which prompted his predecessor to 
 commit so many unnatural crimes, was under the 
 dominion of a restless and ungovernable ambition, 
 that scorned all considerations of gratitude, of decency, 
 or of justice, when they obstructed the execution of 
 his schemes. It was hardly possible to be firmly per- 
 suaded that the infallible knowledge of a religion, 
 whose chief precepts are purity and humility, was de- 
 posited in the breasts of the profligate Alexander or 
 the overbearing Julius. The opinion of those who 
 exalted the authority of a council above that of the 
 pope, spread wonderfully under their pontificates : 
 and as the emperor and French kings, who were 
 alternately engaged in hostilities with those active 
 pontiffs, permitted and even encouraged their subjects 
 to expose their vices with all the violence of invective 
 and all the petulance of ridicule, men's ears being ac- 
 customed to these, were not shocked with the bold 
 or ludicrous discourses of Luther and his followers 
 concerning the papal dignity. 
 
 Nor were such excesses confined to the head of the The immo. 
 church alone. Many of the dignified clergy, secular [ e clergy. 
 as well as regular, being the younger sons of noble 
 families, who had assumed the ecclesiastical character 
 for no other reason but that they found in the church 
 stations of great dignity and affluence, were accus- 
 tomed totally to neglect the duties of their office, 
 and indulged themselves without reserve in all the 
 vices to which great wealth and idleness naturally 
 give birth. Though the inferior clergy were pre- 
 
 D 3 
 
 343*; 
 
 i u <J
 
 gg THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK vented by their poverty from imitating the expensive 
 IL luxury of their superiors, yet gross ignorance and low 
 1520. debauchery rendered them as contemptible as the 
 others were odious/ The severe and unnatural law 
 of celibacy, to which both were equally subject, occa- 
 sioned such irregularities, that in several parts of 
 Europe the concubinage of priests was not only per- 
 mitted, but enjoined. The employing of a remedy 
 so contrary to the precepts of the Christian religion, 
 is the strongest proof that the crimes it was intended 
 to prevent were both numerous and flagrant. Long 
 before the sixteenth century, many authors of great 
 name and authority give such descriptions of the dis- 
 solute morals of the clergy, as seem almost incredible 
 in the present age. s The voluptuous lives of ecclesi- 
 
 f The corrupt state of the church prior to the reformation, is acknowledged 
 by an author, who was both abundantly able to judge concerning this matter, 
 and who was not over-forward to confess it. " For some years (says Bellar- 
 mine) before the Lutheran and Calvinistic heresies were published, there was 
 not (as contemporary authors testify) any severity in ecclesiastical judicatories, 
 any discipline with regard to morals, any knowledge of sacred literature, any 
 reverence for divine things; there was not almost any religion remaining." 
 Bellarminus, Concio xxviii. Oper. torn. vi. col. 296. edit. Colon. 1617. apud 
 Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati, vol. i. p. 25. 
 
 8 Centum Gravamina Nation. German, in Fasciculo Rer. expetend. et 
 fugiendarum, per Ortuinum Gratium, vol. i. 361. See innumerable passages 
 to the same purpose in the appendix, or second volume, published by Edw. 
 Brown. See also Herm. von der Hardt, Hist. Lit. Reform, pars iii. and the 
 vast collections of Walchius in his four volumes of Monumenta Medii JEvi, 
 Gotting. 1757. 
 
 The authors I have quoted enumerate the vices of the clergy. When they 
 ventured upon actions manifestly criminal, we may conclude that they would 
 be less scrupulous with respect to the decorum of behaviour. Accordingly 
 their neglect of the decent conduct suitable to their profession, seems to have 
 given great offence. In order to illustrate this, I shall transcribe one passage, 
 because it is not taken from any author whose professed purpose it was to de- 
 scribe the improper conduct of the clergy ; and who, from prejudice or arti- 
 fice, may be supposed to aggravate the charge against them. The Emperor 
 Charles IV., in a letter to the Archbishop of Mentz, A.D. 1359, exhorting 
 him to reform the disorders of the clergy, thus expresses himself : " De 
 Christi patrimonio, ludos, hastiludia et torneatnenta exercent ; habitum mili- 
 tarem cum pnetextis aureis et argenteis gestant, et calceos militares ; comam et 
 barbam nutriunt, et nihil quod ad vitain et ordinem ecclesiasticum spectat, 
 ostendunt- Militaribus se duntaxat et secularibus actibus, vita et moribus, in 
 suse salutis dispendium, et generate populi scandalum, immiscent." Codex 
 Diplomatics Anecdotorum, per Val. Ferd. Gudenum, 4to. vol. iii. p. 438*
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 39 
 
 astics occasioned great scandal, not only because their BOOK 
 manners were inconsistent with their sacred character ; IIj 
 but the laity being accustomed to see several of them 152a 
 raised from the lowest stations to the greatest afflu- 
 ence, did not show the same indulgence to their ex- 
 cesses, as to those of persons possessed of hereditary 
 wealth or grandeur ; and, viewing their condition with 
 more envy, they censured their crimes with greater 
 severity. Nothing, therefore, could be more accept- 
 able to Luther's hearers, than the violence with which 
 he exclaimed against the immoralities of churchmen, 
 and every person in his audience could, from his own 
 observation, confirm the truth of his invectives. 
 
 The scandal of these crimes was greatly increased The facility 
 by the facility with which such as committed them J^m^ 
 obtained pardon. In all the European kingdoms, moralities 
 the importance of the civil magistrate, under forms of 
 government extremely irregular and turbulent, made 
 it necessary to relax the rigour of justice, and upon 
 payment of a certain fine or composition prescribed 
 by law, judges were accustomed to remit farther 
 punishment, even of the most atrocious crimes. The 
 court of Rome, always attentive to the means of aug- 
 menting its revenues, imitated this practice ; and, by 
 a preposterous accommodation of it to religious con- 
 cerns, granted its pardons to such transgressors as 
 gave a sum of money in order to purchase them. As 
 the idea of a composition for crimes was then familiar, 
 this strange traffic was so far from shocking mankind, 
 that it soon became general ; and in order to prevent 
 any imposition in carrying it on, the officers of the 
 Roman chancery published a book, containing the 
 precise sum to be exacted for the pardon of every 
 particular sin. A deacon, guilty of murder, was ab- 
 solved for twenty crowns. A bishop, or abbot, might 
 assassinate for three hundred iivres. Any ecclesiastic 
 
 D 4
 
 40 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK might violate his vows of chastity, even with the most 
 n ' aggravating circumstances, for the third part of that 
 1520> sum. Even such shocking crimes as occur seldom in 
 human life, and perhaps exist only in the impure 
 imagination of a casuist, were taxed at a very moderate 
 rate. When a more regular and perfect mode of 
 dispensing justice came to be introduced into civil 
 courts, the practice of paying a composition for crimes 
 went gradually into disuse ; and mankind having ac- 
 quired more accurate notions concerning religion and 
 morality, the conditions on which the court of Rome 
 bestowed its pardons appeared impious, and were 
 considered as one great source of ecclesiastical cor- 
 ruption ". 
 
 This degeneracy of manners among the clergy 
 " 63 might have been tolerated, perhaps, with greater in- 
 church; dulgence, if their exorbitant riches and power had 
 not enabled them, at the same time, to encroach on 
 the rights of every other order of men. It is the 
 genius of superstition, fond of whatever is pompous 
 or grand, to set no bounds to its liberality towards 
 persons whom it esteems sacred, and to think its ex- 
 pressions of regard defective, unless it hath raised 
 them to the height of wealth and authority. Hence 
 flowed the extensive revenues and jurisdiction pos- 
 sessed by the church in every country in Europe, 
 and which were become intolerable to the laity, from 
 whose undiscerning bounty they were at first derived, 
 particularly The burden, however, of ecclesiastical oppression, 
 ny j had fallen with such peculiar weight on the Germans, 
 as rendered them, though naturally exempt from 
 levity, and tenacious of their ancient customs, more 
 inclinable than any people in Europe to listen to those 
 
 h Fascicul. Rer. expet, et fug. i. 355. J. G. Schelhornii Amtenit. Lite- 
 rar. Francof. 1725. vol. ii. 369. Diction, de Bayle, Artie. Banck et Tup- 
 pius. Taxa Cancellar. Roman ae, edit. Francof. 1651. passim.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 41 
 
 who called on them to assert their liberty. During BOOK 
 
 the long contests between the popes and emperors ! 
 
 concerning the right of investiture, and the wars 
 which these occasioned, most of the considerable 
 German ecclesiastics joined the papal faction ; and 
 while engaged in rebellion against the head of the 
 empire, they seized the imperial domains and re- 
 venues, and usurped the imperial jurisdiction within 
 their own dioceses. Upon the re-establishment of 
 tranquillity, they still retained these usurpations, as 
 if by the length of an unjust possession they had ac- 
 quired a legal right to them. The emperors, too 
 feeble to wrest them out of their hands, were obliged 
 to grant the clergy fiefs of those ample territories, 
 and they enjoyed all the immunities, as well as ho- 
 nours, which belonged to feudal barons. By means 
 of these, many bishops and abbots in Germany were 
 not only ecclesiastics, but princes, and their character 
 and manners partook more of the licence too frequent 
 among the latter, than of the sanctity which became 
 the former. ' 
 
 The unsettled state of government in Germany, where the 
 and the frequent wars to which that country was ex- usu^ed a 
 posed, contributed in another manner towards aggran- g^ e f part 
 
 1 . . . =e ofthepro- 
 
 di/mg ecclesiastics. The only property, during those perty. 
 times of anarchy, which enjoyed security from the 
 oppression of the great, or the ravages of war, was 
 that which belonged to the church. This was owing 
 not only to the great reverence for the sacred cha- 
 racter prevalent in those ages, but to a superstitious 
 dread of the sentence of excommunication, which the 
 clergy were ready to denounce against all who in- 
 vaded their possessions. Many observing this, made 
 a surrender of their lands to ecclesiastics, and con- 
 senting to hold them in fee of the church, obtained 
 as its vassals a degree of safety, which without this 
 
 1 F. Paul, History of Ecclesiast. Benefices, p. 107.
 
 42 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK device they were unable to procure. By such an in- 
 crease of the number of their vassals, the power of 
 
 1520. ecclesiastics received a real and permanent augment- 
 ation ; and as lands held in fee, by the limited tenures 
 common in those ages, often returned to the persons 
 on whom the fief depended, considerable additions 
 were made in this way to the property of the clergy. k 
 The great The solicitude of the clergy in providing for the 
 personal safety of their own persons, was still greater than that 
 
 immunities J r . . 
 
 of ecciesi- which they displayed in securing their possessions ; 
 and their efforts to attain it were still more successful. 
 As they were consecrated to the priestly office with 
 much outward solemnity ; were distinguished from 
 the rest of mankind by a peculiar garb and manner of 
 life ; and arrogated to their order many privileges 
 which do not belong to other Christians, they natu- 
 rally became the objects of excessive veneration. As 
 a superstitious spirit spread, they were regarded as 
 beings of a superior species to the profane laity, whom 
 it would be' impious to try by the same laws, or to sub- 
 ject to the same punishments. This exemption from 
 civil jurisdiction, granted at first to ecclesiastics as a 
 mark of respect, they soon claimed as a point of right. 
 This valuable immunity of the priesthood is asserted, 
 not only in the decrees of popes and councils, but was 
 confirmed in the most ample form by many of the 
 greatest emperors. ' As long as the clerical character 
 remained, the person of an ecclesiastic was in some 
 degree sacred ; and unless he were degraded from 
 his office, the unhallowed hand of the civil judge 
 durst not touch him. But as the power of de- 
 gradation was lodged in the spiritual courts, the dif- 
 ficulty and expence of obtaining such a sentence too 
 often secured absolute impunity to offenders. Many 
 
 k F. Paul, Hist, of Eccles. Benef. p. 66. Boulainvillers, Etatde France, 
 torn. i. 169. Lond. 1737. 
 
 1 Goldasti Constitut. Imperial. Francof. 1673. vol. ii. 92, 107.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 43 
 
 assumed the clerical character for no other reason BOOK 
 than that it might screen them from the punishment 
 which their actions deserved. m The German nobles 
 complained loudly that these anointed malefactors, as 
 they called them ", seldom suffered capitally, even for 
 the most atrocious crimes; and their independence of 
 the civil magistrate is often mentioned in the remon- 
 strances of the diets, as a privilege equally pernicious 
 to society and to the morals of the clergy. 
 
 While the clergy asserted the privileges of their Their en- 
 own order with so much zeal, they made continual ments on 
 encroachments upon those of the laity. All causes tjiejurisdic- 
 
 . r J Uon of the 
 
 relative to matrimony, to testaments, to usury, to laity, 
 legitimacy of birth, as well as those which concerned 
 ecclesiastical revenues, were thought to be so con- 
 nected with religion, that they could be tried only in 
 the spiritual courts. Not satisfied with this ample 
 jurisdiction, which extended to one half of the subjects 
 that give rise to litigation among men, the clergy, 
 with wonderful industry, and by a thousand inven- 
 tions, endeavoured to draw all other causes into their 
 own courts. As they had engrossed almost the 
 whole learning known in the dark ages, the spiritual 
 judges were commonly so far superior in knowledge 
 and abilities to those employed in the secular courts, 
 that the people at first favoured any stretch that was 
 made to bring their affairs under the cognizance of a 
 judicature, on the decisions of which they could rely 
 with more perfect confidence than on those of the 
 civil courts. Thus the interest of the church, and 
 the inclination of the people, concurring to elude 
 the jurisdiction of the lay-magistrate, soon reduced it 
 almost to nothing. p By means of this, vast power 
 accrued to ecclesiastics, and no inconsiderable ad- 
 
 " Rymer's Foedera, vol. xiii. 532. n Centum Gravam. 81. 
 
 Giannone, Hist, of Naples, book xix. 3. 
 * Centum Gravam. 9. 56. 64.
 
 44 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK dition was made to their revenue by the sums paid in 
 those ages to the persons who administered justice. 
 
 1520. 
 
 The penalty by which the spiritual courts enforced 
 
 The dread- . . 11 i i_. j . *! 
 
 ful effects their sentences added great weight and terror to their 
 cenTi^s 1 jurisdiction. The censure of excommunication was 
 instituted originally for preserving the purity of the 
 church ; that obstinate offenders, whose impious 
 tenets or profane lives were a reproach to Christianity, 
 might be cut off from the society of the faithful : 
 this, ecclesiastics did not scruple to convert into an 
 engine for promoting their own power, and they in- 
 flicted it on the most frivolous occasions. Whoever 
 despised any of their decisions, even concerning civil 
 matters, immediately incurred this dreadful censure, 
 which not only excluded them from all the privileges 
 of a Christian, but deprived them of their rights as 
 men and citizens' 1 ; and the dread of this rendered 
 even the most fierce and turbulent spirits obsequious 
 to the authority of the church. 
 
 The devices Nor did the clergy neglect the proper methods of 
 tics to sJ preserving the wealth and power which they had ac- 
 usunw!* quired with such industry and address. The posses- 
 sions of the church, being consecrated to God, were 
 declared to be unalienable ; so that the funds of a so- 
 ciety which was daily gaining, and could never lose, 
 grew to be immense. In Germany, it was computed 
 that the ecclesiastics had got into their hands more 
 than one half of the national property. r In other 
 countries the proportion varied ; but the share be- 
 longing to the church was every where prodigious. 
 These' vast possessions were not subject to the burdens 
 imposed on the lands of the laity. The German 
 clergy were exempted by law from all taxes s ; and if, 
 on any extraordinary emergence, ecclesiastics were 
 
 q Centum Gravam. 34. * Ibid. 28. 
 
 * Id. ibid. Goldasti Const. Imptr. ii. 79. 108. Pfeffel, Hist, du Droit 
 Publ 350. 374.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 45 
 
 pleased to grant some aid towards supplying the pub- BOOK 
 lie exigencies, this was considered as a free gift flow- 
 
 ing from their own generosity, which the civil magis- 
 trate had no title to demand, far less to exact. In 
 consequence of this strange solecism in government, 
 the laity in Germany had the mortification to find 
 themselves loaded with excessive impositions, because 
 such as possessed the greatest property were freed 
 from any obligation to support or defend the state. 
 
 Grievous, however, as the exorbitant wealth and TheGer- 
 numerous privileges of the clerical order were to the 
 other members of the Germanic body, they would 
 have reckoned it some mitigation of the evil, if these 
 had been possessed only by ecclesiastics residing 
 among themselves, who would have been less apt to 
 make an improper use of their riches, or to exercise 
 their rights with unbecoming rigour. But the bishops 
 of Rome having early put in a claim, the boldest that 
 ever human ambition suggested, of being supreme 
 and infallible heads of the Christian church, they, by 
 their profound policy and unwearied perseverance ; by 
 their address in availing themselves of every circum- 
 stance which occurred; by taking advantage of the 
 superstition of some princes, of the necessities of 
 others, und of the credulity of the people, at length 
 established their pretensions, in opposition both to 
 the interest and common sense of mankind. Ger- 
 many was the country which these ecclesiastical sove- 
 reigns governed with most absolute authority. They 
 excommunicated and deposed some of its most il- 
 lustrious emperors, and excited their subjects, their 
 ministers, and even their children, to take arms 
 against them. Amidst these contests, the popes con- 
 tinually extended their own immunities, spoiling the 
 secular princes gradually of their most valuable pre- 
 rogatives, and the German church felt all the rigour
 
 46 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK of that oppression which flows from subjection to 
 ! foreign dominion, and foreign exactions. 
 
 1520. 
 
 The right of conferring benefices, which the popes 
 
 nominated ' . ; p ' . 
 
 by the usurped during that period of confusion, was an ac- 
 quisition of great importance, and exalted the eccle- 
 siastical power upon the ruins of the temporal. The 
 emperors and other princes of Germany had long 
 been in possession of this right, which served to in- 
 crease both their authority and their revenue ; but 
 by wresting it out of their hands, the popes were en- 
 abled to fill the empire with their own creatures ; 
 they accustomed a great body of every prince's sub- 
 jects to depend, not upon him, but upon the Roman 
 see ; they bestowed upon strangers the richest bene- 
 fices in every country, and drained their wealth to 
 supply the luxury of a foreign court. Even the pa- 
 tience of the most superstitious ages could no longer 
 bear such oppression ; and so loud and frequent were 
 the complaints and murmurs of the Germans, that 
 the. popes, afraid of irritating them too far, consented, 
 contrary to their usual practice, to abate somewhat of 
 their pretensions, and to rest satisfied with the right 
 of nomination to such benefices as happened to fall 
 vacant during six months in the year, leaving the dis- 
 posal of the remainder to the princes and other legal 
 patrons. l 
 
 The expe- But the court of Rome easily found expedients for 
 
 clients for i j , . , 
 
 restraining eluding an agreement which put such restraints on 
 its P ower - The practice of reserving certain bene- 
 fices in every country to the pope's immediate nomi- 
 nation, which had been long known, and often 
 complained of, was extended far beyond its ancient 
 bounds. All the benefices possessed by cardinals, or 
 any of the numerous officers in the Roman court ; 
 those held by persons who happened to die at Rome, 
 
 1 F. Paul, Hist, of Eccles. Benef. 204. Gold. Constit. Imper. i. 408.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 47 
 
 or within forty miles of that city, on their journey BOOK 
 
 to or from it ; such as became vacant by translation, . 
 
 with many others, were included in the number of 
 reserved benefices. Julius II. and Leo X. stretching 
 the matter to the utmost, often collated to benefices 
 where the right of reservation had not been declared, 
 on pretence of having mentally reserved this pri- 
 vilege to themselves. The right of reservation, how- 
 ever, even with this extension, had certain limits, as 
 it could be exercised only where the benefice was 
 actually vacant ; and therefore, in order to render 
 the exertion of papal power unbounded, expectatwe 
 graces, or mandates nominating a person to succeed 
 to a benefice upon the first vacancy that should 
 happen, were brought into use. By means of these, 
 Germany was filled with persons who were servilely 
 dependent on the court of Rome, from which they 
 had received such reversionary grants ; princes were 
 defrauded, in a great degree, of their prerogatives ; 
 the rights of lay-patrons were pre-occupied, and ren- 
 dered almost entirely vain. u 
 
 The manner in which these extraordinary powers venality of 
 were exercised, rendered them still more odious and 
 intolerable. The avarice and extortion of the court 
 of Rome, were become excessive almost to a proverb. 
 The practice of selling benefices was so notorious, 
 that no pains were taken to conceal or to disguise it. 
 Companies of merchants openly purchased the be- 
 nefices of different districts in Germany from the 
 pope's ministers, and retailed them at an advanced 
 price/ Pious men beheld with deep regret these 
 simoniacal transactions, so unworthy the ministers of 
 a Christian church ; while politicians complained of 
 
 u Centum Gravam. 21. Fascic. Rer. expet. &c. 334. Gold. Const. 
 Imper. i. 391. 401, 405. F. Paul, Hist, of Earl. Bcnef. 1G7. 199. 
 * F.iscic. Her. cxpet. i. 359.
 
 ^g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the loss sustained by the exportation of so much wealth 
 IL in that irreligious traffic. 
 
 1520. The SUI ns, indeed, which the court of Rome drew 
 other E coun- ty i ts sta ted and legal impositions from all the coun- 
 tries of tries acknowledging its authority, were so consider- 
 wedth. able, that it is not strange that princes, as well as their 
 subjects, murmured at the smallest addition made to 
 them by unnecessary or illicit means. Every eccle- 
 siastical person, upon his admission to his benefice, 
 paid annats, or one year's produce of his living, to 
 the pope ; and as that tax was exacted with great 
 rigour, its amount was very great. To this must be 
 added, the frequent demands made by the popes of 
 free gifts from the clergy, together with the extra- 
 ordinary levies of tenths upon ecclesiastical benefices, 
 on pretence of expeditions against the Turks, seldom 
 intended, or carried into execution ; and from the 
 whole, the vast proportion of the revenues of the 
 church, which flowed continually to Rome, may be 
 estimated. 
 The united Such were the dissolute manners, the exorbitant 
 
 effect of all . ., ,, . 
 
 these wealth, the enormous power and privileges of the 
 clergy, before the reformation ; such the oppres- 
 sive rigour of that dominion which the popes had 
 established over the Christian world ; and such the 
 sentiments concerning them that prevailed in Ger- 
 many at the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 Nor has this sketch been copied from the contro- 
 versial writers of that age, who, in the heat of dis- 
 putation, may be suspected of having exaggerated the 
 errors, or of having misrepresented the conduct of 
 that church which they laboured to overturn ; it 
 is formed upon more authentic evidence, upon the 
 memorials and remonstrances of the imperial diets, 
 enumerating the grievances under which the empire 
 groaned, in order to obtain the redress of them.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 49 
 
 Dissatisfaction must have arisen to a great height BOOK 
 among the people, when these grave assemblies ex- IL 
 pressed themselves with that degree of acrimony which 1520 
 abounds in their remonstrances ; and if they de- 
 manded the abolition of these enormities with so 
 much vehemence, the people, we may be assured, 
 uttered their sentiments and desires in bolder and 
 more virulent language. 
 
 To men thus prepared for shaking off the yoke, Men pre - 
 Luther addressed himself with certainty of success. ^^ 
 As they had long felt its weight, and had borne it Luther's 
 
 .... ,. i -,i , i n / opinions, 
 
 with impatience, they listened with joy to the first 
 offer of procuring them deliverance. Hence pro- 
 ceeded the fond and eager reception that his doctrines 
 met with, and the rapidity with which they spread 
 over all the provinces of Germany. Even the impe- and to toie- 
 tuosity and fierceness of Luther's spirit, his confidence r f ^^ ls de ~ 
 in asserting his own opinions, and the arrogance as 
 well as contempt wherewith he treated all who dif- 
 fered from him, which, in ages of greater moderation 
 and refinement, have been reckoned defects in the 
 character of that reformer, did not appear excessive 
 to his contemporaries, whose minds were strongly 
 agitated by those interesting controversies which he 
 carried on, and who had themselves endured the 
 rigour of papal tyranny, and seen the corruptions in 
 the church against which he exclaimed. 
 
 Nor were they offended at that gross scurrility 
 with which his polemical writings are filled, or at the 
 low buffoonery which he sometimes introduces into 
 his gravest discourses. No dispute was managed in 
 those rude times without a large portion of the 
 former; and the latter was common, even on the 
 most solemn occasions, and in treating the most 
 sacred subjects. So far were either of these from 
 doing hurt to his cause, that invective and ridicule 
 had some effect, as well as more laudable arguments, 
 
 Ch. VOL. ii. E
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK in exposing the errors of popery, and in determining 
 
 mankind to abandon them. 
 1520. Besides all these causes of Luther's rapid progress, 
 
 The effect _ , ,. , . \ j , 
 
 of the in- ansing from the nature or his enterprise, and the 
 prlmta on j unc ture at which he undertook it, he reaped ad- 
 the progress vantage from some foreign and adventitious circum- 
 stances, the beneficial influence of which none of his 
 forerunners in the same course had enjoyed. Among 
 these may be reckoned the invention of the art of 
 printing, about half a century before his time. By 
 this fortunate discovery, the facility of acquiring and 
 of propagating knowledge was wonderfully increased, 
 and Luther's books, which must otherwise have made 
 their way slowly and with uncertainty into distant 
 countries, spread at once all over Europe. Nor were 
 they read only by the rich and the learned, who 
 alone had access to books before that invention ; they 
 got into the hands of the people, who, upon this ap- 
 peal to them as judges, ventured to examine and to 
 reject many doctrines which they had formerly been 
 required to believe, without being taught to under- 
 stand them. 
 
 va The revival of learning at the same period was a 
 
 learning, circumstance extremely friendly to the reformation. 
 The study of the ancient Greek and Roman au- 
 thors, by enlightening the human mind with liberal 
 and sound knowledge, roused it from that profound 
 lethargy in which it had been sunk during several 
 centuries. Mankind seem, at that period, to have 
 recovered the powers of enquiring and of thinking 
 for themselves, faculties of which they had long lost 
 the use ; and fond of the acquisition, they exercised 
 them with great boldness upon all subjects. They 
 were not now afraid of entering an uncommon path, 
 r of embracing a new opinion. Novelty appears 
 rather to have been a recommendation of a doctrine ; 
 and instead of being startled when the daring hand
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 51 
 
 of Luther drew aside, or tore the veil which covered BOOK 
 and established errors, the genius of the age ap- 
 plauded and aided the attempt. Luther, though a 152 - 
 stranger to elegance in taste or composition, zealously 
 promoted the cultivation of ancient literature ; and 
 sensible of its being necessary to the right under- 
 standing of the Scriptures, he himself had acquired 
 considerable knowledge both in the Hebrew and 
 Greek tongues. Melancthon, and some other of his 
 disciples, were eminent proficients in the polite arts; 
 and as the same ignorant monks who opposed the in- 
 troduction of learning into Germany, set themselves 
 with equal fierceness against Luther's opinions, and 
 declared the good reception of the latter to be the 
 effect of the progress which the former had made, 
 the cause of learning and of the reformation came to 
 be considered as closely connected with each other, 
 and, in every country, had the same friends and the 
 same enemies. This enabled the reformers to carry 
 on the contest at first with great superiority. Erudi- 
 tion, industry, accuracy of sentiment, purity of com- 
 position, even wit and raillery, were almost wholly 
 on their side, and triumphed with ease over illiterate 
 monks, whose rude arguments, expressed in a per- 
 plexed and barbarous style, were found insufficient 
 for the defence of a system, the errors of which, all 
 the art and ingenuity of its later and more learned 
 advocates have not been able to palliate. 
 
 That bold spirit of inquiry, which the revival of Luther 
 learning excited in Europe, was so favourable to the persons 
 reformation, that Luther was aided in his progress, 
 and mankind were prepared to embrace his doctrines, 
 by persons who did not wish success to his under- 
 taking. The greater part of the ingenious men who 
 applied to the study of ancient literature towards the 
 close of the fifteenth century, and the beginning of 
 the sixteenth, though they had no intention, and
 
 2 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK perhaps no wish, to overturn the established system 
 " O f religion, had discovered the absurdity of many 
 1520. tenets and practices authorized by the church, and 
 perceived the futility of those arguments by which 
 illiterate monks endeavoured to defend them. Their 
 contempt of these advocates for the received errors, 
 led them frequently to expose the opinions which 
 they supported, and to ridicule their ignorance, with 
 great freedom and severity. By this, men were pre- 
 pared for the more serious attacks made upon them 
 by Luther, and their reverence both for the doctrines 
 and persons against whom he inveighed was con- 
 siderably abated. This was particularly the case in 
 Germany. When the first attempts were made to 
 revive a taste for ancient learning in that country, 
 the ecclesiastics there, who were still more ignorant 
 than their brethren on the other side of the Alps, set 
 themselves to oppose its progress with more active 
 zeal ; and the patrons of the new studies, in return, 
 attacked them with greater violence. In the writ- 
 ings of Reuchlin, Hutten, and the other revivers of 
 learning in Germany, the corruptions of the church 
 of Rome are censured with an acrimony of style, 
 little inferior to- that of Luther himself. y 
 particularly From the same cause proceeded the frequent 
 strictures of Erasmus upon the errors of the church, 
 as well as upon the ignorance and vices of the clergy. 
 His reputation and authority were so high in Europe 
 at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and his 
 works were read with such universal admiration, that 
 the effect of these deserves to be mentioned as one 
 of the circumstances which contributed considerably 
 towards Luther's success. Erasmus, having been 
 destined for the church, and trained up in the know- 
 ledge of ecclesiastical literature, applied himself more 
 
 y Gerdcsius Hist. Evang. Renov. vol. i. p. 141. 157. Seckend. lib. i. 
 p. JOS. Yonder Hardt, Hist. Literar. Reform, pars ii.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 53 
 
 to theological enquiries than any of the revivers of BOOK 
 learning in that age. His acute judgment and IL 
 extensive erudition enabled him to discover many 152 * 
 errors, both in the doctrine and worship of the 
 Romish church. Some of these he confuted with 
 great solidity of reasoning and force of eloquence. 
 Others he treated as objects of ridicule, and turned 
 against them that irresistible torrent of popular and 
 satirical wit, of which he had the command. There 
 was hardly any opinion or practice of the Romish 
 church which Luther endeavoured to reform, but 
 what had been previously animadverted upon by 
 Erasmus, and had afforded him subject either of cen- 
 sure or of raillery. Accordingly, when Luther first 
 began his attack upon the church, Erasmus seemed 
 to applaud his conduct ; he courted the friendship of 
 several of his disciples and patrons, and condemned 
 the behaviour and spirit of his adversaries. 2 He 
 concurred openly with him in inveighing against the 
 school divines, as the teachers of a system equally 
 unedifying and obscure. He joined him in en- 
 deavouring to turn the attention of men to the study 
 of the Holy Scriptures, as the only standard of 
 religious truth/ 
 
 Various circumstances, however, prevented Erasmus 
 from holding the same course with Luther. The na- 
 tural timidity of his temper ; his want of that strength 
 of mind which alone can prompt a man to assume the 
 character of a reformer"; his excessive deference for 
 
 z Seckcnd. lib. i. p. 40. 06. 
 
 * Von der Hardt, Ilistor. Literar. Reform, pars i. Gerdes. Hist. Evang. 
 Renov. i. 147. 
 
 " Erasmus himself is candid enough to acknowledge this : " Luther," says 
 he, " has given us many a wholesome doctrine, and many a good counsel, 
 wish he had not defeated the effect of them by intolerable faults. But if he 
 had written every thing in the most unexceptionable manner, I had no incli- 
 nation to die for the sake of truth. Every man hath not the courage requisite 
 to make a martyr; and I am afraid, that if I were put to the trial, I should 
 Imitate St. Peter." Epist. Erasmi, in Jortin's Life of Erasin. vol. i. p. 273. 
 
 E 3
 
 54 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK persons in high stations ; his dread of losing the pen- 
 
 ^ sions and other emoluments, which their liberality 
 
 KSO. na( } conferred upon him ; his extreme love of peace, 
 and hopes of reforming abuses gradually, and by 
 gentle methods, all concurred in determining him not 
 only to repress and to moderate the zeal with which 
 he had once been animated against the errors of the 
 church , but to assume the character of a mediator 
 between Luther and his opponents. But though 
 Erasmus soon began to censure Luther as too daring 
 and impetuous, and was at last prevailed upon to 
 write against him, he must, nevertheless, be con- 
 sidered as his forerunner and auxiliary in this war 
 upon the church. He first scattered the seeds, which 
 Luther cherished and brought to maturity. His 
 raillery and oblique censures prepared the way for 
 Luther's invectives and more direct attacks. In this 
 light Erasmus appeared to the zealous defenders 
 of the Romish church in his own times. d In this 
 light he must be considered by every person conversant 
 in the history of that period. 
 
 In this long enumeration of the circumstances 
 which combined in favouring the progress of Luther's 
 opinions, or in weakening the resistance of his ad- 
 versaries, I have avoided entering into any discussion 
 of the theological doctrines of popery, and have not 
 attempted to shew how repugnant they are to the 
 spirit of Christianity, and how destitute of any found- 
 ation in reason, in the word of God, or in the practice 
 of the primitive church, leaving those topics entirely 
 to ecclesiastical historians, to whose province they 
 peculiarly belong. But when we add the effect of 
 these religious considerations to the influence of 
 political causes, it is obvious that the united oper- 
 ation of both on the human mind must have been 
 
 c Jortin's Life of Erasmus, vol. i. p. 258 
 
 d Von der Hardt, Hist. Literar. Reform. 'pars i. p. 2. 

 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 55 
 
 sudden and irresistible. Though, to Luther's con- BOOK 
 temporaries, who were too near, perhaps, to the scene, IL _ 
 or too deeply interested in it, to trace causes with ac- 152 - 
 curacy, or to examine them with coolness, the rapidity 
 with which his opinions spread, appeared to be so un- 
 accountable, that some of them imputed it to a certain 
 uncommon and malignant position of the stars, which 
 scattered the spirit of giddiness and innovation over 
 the world 6 ; it is evident, that the success of the 
 reformation was the natural effect of many powerful 
 causes prepared by peculiar providence, and happily 
 conspiring to that end. This attempt to investigate 
 these causes, and to throw light on an event, so sin- 
 gular and important, will not, perhaps, be deemed an 
 
 unnecessary digression. 1 return from it to the 
 
 course of the history. 
 
 The diet at Worms conducted its deliberations Proceed, 
 with that slow formality peculiar to such assemblies. ^ t ' 
 Much time was spent in establishing some regulations Worms - 
 with regard to the internal police of the empire. 
 The jurisdiction of the imperial chamber was con- 
 firmed, and the forms of its proceeding rendered more 
 fixed and regular. A council of regency was ap- 
 pointed to assist Ferdinand in the government of the 
 empire during any occasional absence of the emperor, 
 which, from the extent of the emperor's dominions, 
 as well as the multiplicity of his affairs, was an event 
 that might be frequently expected.' The state of 
 religion was then taken into consideration. There Theempe- 
 were not wanting some plausible reasons which might J,J "Jj^ 
 have induced Charles to have declared himself the to Luther, 
 protector of Luther's cause, or at least to have con- 
 nived at its progress. If he had possessed no other 
 dominions but those which belonged to him in Ger- 
 
 ' Jovii Historia, Lut. 1553. fol. p. 134. 
 
 f Pont. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 11. p. 195. Pfeflel, Abrlgl 
 Clironol. p. 598. 
 
 E 4
 
 6 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK many, and no other crown besides the imperial, he 
 IL micrht have been disposed, perhaps, to favour a man, 
 
 who asserted so boldly the privileges and immunities 
 for which the empire had struggled so long with the 
 popes. But the vast and dangerous schemes which 
 Francis I. was forming against Charles, made it 
 necessary for him to regulate his conduct by views 
 more extensive than those which would have suited a 
 Gennan prince ; and it being of the utmost import- 
 ance to secure the pope's friendship, this determined 
 him to treat Luther with great severity, as the most 
 effectual method of soothing Leo into a concurrence 
 with his measures. His eagerness to accomplish this 
 rendered him not unwilling to gratify the papal legates 
 in Germany, who insisted that, without any delay or 
 formal deliberation, the diet ought to condemn a man 
 whom the pope had already excommunicated as an in- 
 corrigible heretic. Such an abrupt manner of pro- 
 ceeding, however, being deemed unprecedented and 
 unjust by the members of the diet, they made a 
 
 He is sum. point of Luther's appearing in person, and declaring 
 
 moned to , . . , . , 
 
 appear. whether he adhered or not to those opinions which 
 had drawn upon him the censures of the church. s 
 Not only the emperor, but all the princes through 
 whose territories he had to pass, granted him a safe- 
 March e. conduct ; and Charles wrote to him at the same time, 
 requiring his immediate attendance on the diet, and 
 renewing his promises of protection from any injury 
 or violence. 11 Luther did not hesitate one moment 
 about yielding obedience, and set out for Worms, at- 
 tended by the herald who had brought the emperor's 
 letter and safe-conduct. While on his journey, many 
 of his friends, whom the fate of Huss under similar cir* 
 cumstances, and notwithstanding the same security of 
 an imperial safe-conduct, filled with solicitude, ad- 
 vised and entreated him not to rush wantonly into the 
 
 * P. Mart. Ep. 722. " Luth. Oper. ii. 411.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 57 
 
 midst of danger. But Luther, superior to such ter- BO OK 
 rors, silenced them with this reply: " I am lawfully IL 
 
 called," said he, " to appear in that city, and thither "Tssi. 
 
 will I go in the name of th'e Lord, though as many His un ~ 
 
 , ., , ., , , ' daunted 
 
 devils as there are tiles on the houses were there spirit, 
 combined against me." 
 
 The reception which he met with at Worms was His 
 such as he might have reckoned a full reward of all 
 his labours, if vanity and the love of applause had been 
 the principles by which he was influenced. Greater 
 crowds assembled to behold him than had appeared 
 at the emperor's public entry ; his apartments were 
 daily filled with princes and personages of the highest 
 rank k , and he was treated with all the respect paid to 
 those who possess the power of directing the under- 
 standing and sentiments of other men ; an homage, 
 more sincere, as well as more flattering, than any 
 which pre-eminence in birth or condition can com- 
 mand. At his appearance before the diet, he behaved The man- 
 vvith great decency, and with equal firmness. He appearance, 
 readily acknowledged an excess of vehemence and 
 acrimony in his controversial writings, but refused to 
 retract his opinions, unless he were convinced of their 
 falsehood, or to consent to their being tried by any 
 other rule than the word of God. When neither 
 threats nor entreaties could prevail on him to depart 
 from this resolution, some of the ecclesiastics pro- 
 posed to imitate the example of the council of Con- 
 stance, and by punishing the author of this pestilent 
 heresy, who was now in their power, to deliver the 
 church at once from such an evil. But the members 
 of the diet refusing to expose the German integrity 
 to fresh reproach by a second violation of public faith, 
 and Charles being no less unwilling to bring a stain 
 upon the beginning of his administration by such an 
 ignominious action, Luther was permitted to depart 
 
 1 Luth. Opcr. ii. 412. k Seckend. 156; Luth. Oper. ii. 414.
 
 5g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK in safety. ' A few days after he left the city, a severe 
 edict was published in the emperor's name, and by 
 1521 - authority of the diet, depriving him, as an obstinate 
 j^! 126 ' and excommunicated criminal, of all the privileges 
 apinst which he enjoyed as a subject of the empire, forbid- 
 ding any prince to harbour or protect him, and re- 
 quiring all to concur in seizing his person as soon as 
 the term specified in his safe-conduct was expired. m 
 He is But this rigorous decree had no considerable effect, 
 
 seized and ^ execution of it being prevented, partly by the 
 
 concealed . i i i 
 
 at Wart, multiplicity of occupations which the commotions in 
 Spain, together with the wars in Italy and the Low 
 Countries, created to the emperor ; and partly by 
 a prudent precaution employed by the Elector of 
 Saxony, Luther's faithful and discerning patron. As 
 Luther, on his return from Worms, was passing near 
 Altenstein in Thuringia, a number of horsemen in 
 masks rushed suddenly out of a wood, where the 
 elector had appointed them to lie in wait for him, and, 
 surrounding his company, carried him, after dismiss- 
 ing all his attendants, to Wartburg, a strong castle 
 not far distant. There the elector ordered him to be 
 supplied with every thing necessary or agreeable, but 
 the place of his retreat was carefully concealed, until 
 the fury of the present storm against him began to 
 abate, upon a change in the political situation of 
 Europe. In this solitude, where he remained nine 
 months, and which he frequently called his Patmos, 
 after the name of that island to which the apostle John 
 was banished, he exerted his usual vigour and in- 
 dustry in defence of his doctrines, or in confutation 
 of his adversaries, publishing several treatises, which 
 revived the spirit of his followers, astonished to a 
 great degree, and disheartened at the sudden disap- 
 pearance of their leader. 
 
 1 F. Paul, Hist, of Counc. p. 13. Seckend. 160. 
 m Gold. Const. Imperial, ii. 401.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 5 g 
 
 During his confinement, his opinions continued to BOOK 
 gain ground, acquiring the ascendant in almost every 
 city in Saxony. At this time, the Augustinians of MSI. 
 Wittemberg, with the approbation of the university, ^ g 7 ss f 
 and the connivance of the elector, ventured upon the nions - 
 first step towards an alteration in the established 
 forms of public worship, by abolishing the celebra- 
 tion of private masses, and by giving the cup as well 
 as the bread to the laity in administering the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's supper. 
 
 Whatever consolation the courage and success of Decree of 
 his disciples, or the progress of his doctrines in his ^ ie "f' ver " 
 own country, afforded Luther in his retreat, he there Paris con- 
 received information of two events which consider- them! 1 " 8 
 ably damped his joy, as they seemed to lay insuper- 
 able obstacles in the way of propagating his principles, 
 in the two most powerful kingdoms of Europe. One 
 was, a solemn decree, condemning his opinions, pub- 
 lished by the university of Paris, the most ancient, 
 and, at that time, the most respectable of the learned 
 societies in Europe. The other was the answer written Henry 
 to his book concerning the Babylonish captivity by 
 Henry VIII. of England. That monarch, having 
 been educated under the eye of a suspicious father, 
 who, in order to prevent his attending to business, 
 kept him occupied in the study of literature, still re- 
 tained a greater love of learning, and stronger habits 
 of application to it, than are common among princes 
 of so active a disposition and such violent passions* 
 Being ambitious of acquiring glory of every kind, as 
 well as zealously attached to the Romish church, and 
 highly exasperated against Luther, who had treated 
 Thomas Aquinas, his favourite author, with great con- 
 tempt, Henry did not think it enough to exert his 
 royal authority in opposing the opinions of the re- 
 former, but resolved likewise to combat them with 
 scholastic weapons. With this view he published his 
 
 writes *
 
 60 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK treatise on the seven sacraments, which, though for- 
 - gotten at present, as books of controversy always are, 
 152l> when the occasion that produced them is past, is not 
 destitute of polemical ingenuity and acuteness, and 
 was represented 1 by the flattery of his courtiers to be 
 a work of such wonderful science and learning, as ex- 
 alted him no less above other authors in merit, than 
 he was distinguished among them by his rank. The 
 pope, to whom it was presented with the greatest 
 formality in full consistory, spoke of it in such terms, 
 as if it had been dictated by immediate inspiration ; 
 and, as a testimony of the gratitude of the church for 
 his extraordinary zeal, conferred on him the title of 
 Defender of the Faith, an appellation which Henry 
 soon forfeited in the opinion of those from whom he 
 derived it, and which is still retained by his succes- 
 sors, though the avowed enemies of those opinions, 
 by contending for which he merited that honourable 
 Luther^ distinction. Luther, who was not overawed, either 
 by the authority of the university, or the dignity of 
 the monarch, soon published his animadversions on 
 both, in a style no less vehement and severe than he 
 would have used in confuting his meanest antagonist. 
 This indecent boldness, instead of shocking his con- 
 temporaries, was considered by them as a new proof 
 of his undaunted spirit. A controversy managed by 
 disputants so illustrious drew universal attention ; 
 and such was the contagion of the spirit of innov- 
 ation, diffused through Europe in that age, and so 
 powerful the evidence which accompanied the doc- 
 trines of the reformers on their first publication, that, 
 m spite both of the civil and ecclesiastical powers 
 combined against them, they daily gained converts 
 both in France and in England. 
 
 H W desirous soev er the emperor might be to put 
 t-vecn a stop to Luther's progress, he was often obliged, 
 SET" 1 * the diet at Worms, to turn his thoughts to 
 
 l
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 61 
 
 matters still more interesting, and which demanded BOOK 
 more immediate attention. A war was ready to 
 
 break out between him and the French king in 1521 * 
 Navarre, in the Low Countries, and in Italy ; and it 
 required either great address to avert the danger, or 
 timely and wise precautions to resist it. Every cir- 
 cumstance, at that juncture, inclined Charles to prefer 
 the fonner measure. Spain was torn with intestine 
 commotions. In Italy, he had not hitherto secured 
 the assistance of any one ally. In the Low Countries, 
 his subjects trembled at the thoughts of a rupture 
 with France, the fatal effects of which on their com- 
 merce they had often experienced. From these con- 
 siderations, as well as from the solicitude of Chievres, 
 during his whole administration, to maintain peace 
 between the two monarchs, proceeded the emperor's 
 backwardness to commence hostilities. But Francis 
 and his ministers did not breathe the same pacific 
 spirit. He easily foresaw that concord could not long 
 subsist, where interest, emulation, and ambition con- 
 spired to dissolve it ; and he possessed several ad- 
 vantages which flattered him with the hopes of 
 surprising his rival, and of overpowering him before he 
 could put himself in a posture of defence. The 
 French king's dominions, from their compact situ- 
 ation, from their subjection to the royal authority, 
 from the genius of the people, fond of war, and at- 
 tached to their sovereign by every tie of duty and 
 affection, were more capable of a great or sudden 
 effort, than the larger but disunited territories of the 
 emperor, in one part of which the people were in 
 arms against his ministers, and in all his prerogative 
 was more limited than that of his rival. 
 
 The only princes, in whose power it was to have Henry 
 kept down, or to have extinguished this flame on its V0 urs the 
 first appearance, either neglected to exert themselves, e 
 or were active in kindling and spreading it. Henry
 
 gg THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK VIII., though he affected to assume the name of me- 
 diator, and both parties made frequent appeals to 
 1521 - him, had laid aside the impartiality which suited that 
 character. Wolsey, by his artifices, had estranged 
 himself so entirely from the French king, that he 
 secretly fomented the discord which he ought to have 
 composed, and waited only for some decent pretext 
 to join his arms to those of the emperor." 
 Leohesi. Leo's endeavours to excite discord between the 
 twelntiie emperor and Francis were more avowed, and had 
 rivais * greater influence. Not only his duty, as the common 
 father of Christendom, but his interest as an Italian 
 potentate, called upon the pope to act as the guardian 
 of the public tranquillity, and to avoid any measure 
 that might overturn the system, which, after much 
 bloodshed, and many negotiations, was now esta- 
 blished in Italy. Accordingly Leo, who instantly dis- 
 cerned the propriety of this conduct, had formed a 
 scheme, upon Charles's promotion to the imperial 
 dignity, of rendering himself the umpire between the 
 rivals, by soothing them alternately, while he entered 
 into no close confederacy with either ; and a pontiff 
 less ambitious and enterprising might have saved 
 Europe from many calamities by adhering to this 
 plan. But this high-spirited prelate, who was still 
 in the prime of life, longed passionately to distinguish 
 his pontificate by some splendid action. He was im- 
 patient to wash away the infamy of having lost Parma 
 and Placentia, the acquisition of which reflected so 
 much lustre on the administration of his predecessor 
 Julius. He beheld, with the indignation natural to 
 Italians in that age, the dominion which the transal- 
 pine, or, as they, in imitation of the Roman arrogance, 
 denominated them, the barbarous nations, had at- 
 tained in Italy. He flattered himself that, after 
 assisting the one monarch to strip the other of his 
 
 " Herbert. Fiddes's Life of Wohey, 258.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 5 
 
 possessions in that country, he might find means of BOOK 
 driving out the victor in his turn, and acquire the IL 
 glory of restoring Italy to the liberty and happiness 1521- 
 which it had enjoyed before the invasion of Charles 
 VIII., when every state was governed by its native 
 princes, or its own laws, and unacquainted with a 
 foreign yoke. Extravagant and chimerical as this 
 project may seem, it was the favourite object of al- 
 most every Italian, eminent for genius or enterprise 
 during great part of the sixteenth century. They 
 vainly hoped that, by superior skill in the artifices and 
 refinements of negotiation, they should be able to 
 baffle the efforts of nations, less polished indeed than 
 themselves, but much more powerful and warlike. 
 JSo alluring was the prospect of this to Leo, that, not- 
 withstanding the gentleness of his disposition, and his 
 fondness for the pleasures of a refined and luxurious 
 ease, he hastened to disturb the peace of Europe, and 
 to plunge himself into a dangerous war, with an im- 
 petuosity scarcely inferior to that of the turbulent and 
 martial Julius. 
 
 It was in Leo's power, however, to choose which 
 of the monarchs he would take for his confederate 
 against the other. Both of them courted his friend- 
 ship ; he wavered for some time between them, and 
 at first concluded an alliance with Francis. The ob- 
 ject of this treaty was the conquest of Naples, which 
 the confederates agreed to divide between them. 
 The pope, it is probable, flattered himself that the 
 brisk and active spirit of Francis, seconded by the 
 same qualities in his subjects, would get the start of 
 the slow and wary councils of the emperor, and that 
 they might over-run with ease this detached portion 
 of his dominions, ill-provided for defence, and always 
 the prey of every invader. But whether the French 
 king, by discovering too openly his suspicion of Leo's 
 
 Guic. lib. xiv. p. 173.
 
 64 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK sincerity, disappointed these hopes; whether the 
 IL treaty was only an artifice of the pope's to cover the 
 1521. more serious negotiations which he was carrying on 
 with Charles ; whether he was enticed by the pros- 
 pect of reaping greater advantages from an union with 
 that prince ; or whether he was soothed by the zeal 
 which Charles had manifested for the honour of the 
 Concludes church in condemning Luther; certain it is, that he 
 *-itT y soon deserted his new ally, and made overtures of 
 Charles. friendship, though with great secrecy, to the em- 
 peror." Don John Manuel, the same man who had 
 been the favourite of Philip, and whose address had 
 disconcerted all Ferdinand's schemes, having been 
 delivered, upon the death of that monarch, from the 
 prison to which he had been confined, was now the 
 imperial ambassador at Rome, and fully capable of 
 improving this favourable disposition in the pope to 
 his master's advantage. 11 To him the conduct of this 
 negotiation was entirely committed ; and being care- 
 fully concealed from Chievres, whose aversion to a 
 war with France would have prompted him to retard 
 or to defeat it, an alliance between the pope and em- 
 May 8. peror was quickly concluded/ The chief articles in 
 this treaty, which proved the foundation of Charles's 
 grandeur in Italy, were, that the pope and emperor 
 should join their forces to expel the French out of 
 the Milanese, the possession of which should be 
 granted to Francis Sforza, a son of Ludovico the 
 Moor, who had resided at Trent since the time that 
 his brother Maximilian had been dispossessed of his 
 dominions by the French king; that Parma and Pla- 
 centia should be restored to the church; that the 
 emperor should assist the pope in conquering Fer- 
 
 f Guic.lib. xiv. p. 175. Me"m. de Bellay, Par. 1573. p. 21. 
 q Jovii Vita Leonis, lib. iv. p. 89. 
 
 ' Guic. lib.xiv. 181. Mdm. de Bellay, p. 24, Du Mont, Corps Diplom. 
 torn iv. suppl. p. 96.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 65 
 
 rara ; that the annual tribute paid by the kingdom of BOOK 
 
 Naples to the holy see should be increased ; that 1 
 
 the emperor should take the family of Medici under 1521 * 
 his protection ; that he should grant to the cardinal 
 of that name a pension of ten thousand ducats upon 
 the archbishopric of Toledo ; and should settle lands 
 in the kingdom of Naples, to the same value, upon 
 Alexander, the natural son of Lorenzo de Medici. 
 
 The transacting an affair of such moment without I)eath <* 
 
 i ... , / ~ 1 , . v , . . Chievres, 
 
 nis participation, appeared to Chievres so decisive tbeempe- 
 a proof of his having lost the ascendant which he had uritTand 
 hitherto maintained over the mind of his pupil, that minister, 
 his chagrin on this account, added to the melancholy 
 with which he was overwhelmed on taking a view of 
 the many and unavoidable calamities attending a war 
 against France, is said to have shortened his days. s But 
 though this, perhaps, may be only the conjecture of 
 historians, fond of attributing every thing that befalls 
 illustrious personages to extraordinary causes, and of 
 ascribing even their diseases and death to the effect 
 of political passions, which are more apt to disturb the 
 enjoyment than to abridge the period of life, it is 
 certain that his death, at this critical juncture, extin- 
 guished all hopes of avoiding a rupture with France. 1 
 This event, too, delivered Charles from a minister, to 
 whose authority he had been accustomed from his 
 infancy to submit with such implicit deference, as 
 checked and depressed his genius, and retained him 
 in a state of pupillage, unbecoming his years as well 
 as his rank. But this restraint being removed, the 
 native powers of his mind were permitted to unfold 
 themselves, and he began to display such great talents 
 both in council and in action, as exceeded the hopes 
 of his contemporaries", and command the admiration 
 of posterity. 
 
 * Belcarii Comment, de Reb. Gallic. 483. 
 
 * P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 11. p. 197. u P. Mart. Ep. 735. 
 
 Ch. VOL. II. F
 
 66 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK While the pope and emperor were preparing, in 
 consequence of their secret alliance, to attack Milan, 
 
 1521> hostilities commenced in another quarter. The 
 mec"ement children of John d' Albret, King of Navarre, having 
 ofhostiii- O f ten demanded the restitution of their hereditary 
 
 ties in Na- . *. 
 
 varre. dominions, in terms of the treaty of Noyon, and 
 Charles having as often eluded their requests upon 
 very frivolous pretexts, Francis thought himself au- 
 thorized by that treaty to assist the exiled family. 
 The juncture appeared extremely favourable for such 
 an enterprise. Charles was at a distance from that 
 part of his dominions ; the troops usually stationed 
 there had been called away to quell the commotions 
 in Spain ; the Spanish malecontents wannly solicited 
 him to invade Navarre x , in which a considerable 
 faction was ready to declare for the descendants of 
 their ancient monarchs. But in order to avoid, as 
 much as possible, giving offence to the emperor, or 
 King of England, Francis directed forces to be levied, 
 and the war to be carried on, not in his own name, 
 but in that of Henry d' Albret. The conduct of 
 these troops was committed to Andrew de Foix, 
 de 1'Esparre, a young nobleman, whom his near alli- 
 ance to the unfortunate king whose battles he was to 
 fight, and, what was still more powerful, the interest 
 of his sister, Madame de Chateaubriand, Francis's 
 favourite mistress, recommended to that important 
 trust, for which he had neither talents nor experience. 
 
 Process of But as there was no army in the field to oppose him, 
 
 the rrench. v i . 
 
 he became master, m a few days, of the whole king- 
 dom of Navarre, without meeting with any obstruction 
 but from the citadel of Pampeluna. The additional 
 works to this fortress, begun by Ximenes, were still 
 unfinished ; nor would its slight resistance have de- 
 served notice, if Ignatio Loyola, a Biscayan gentle- 
 man, had not been dangerously wounded in its 
 
 * P. Mart. Ep. 721.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 defence. During the progress of a lingering cure, BOOK 
 Loyola happened to have no other amusement than n * 
 
 what he found in reading the lives of the saints : the I52K 
 effect of this on his mind, naturally enthusiastic, but 
 ambitious and daring, was to inspire him with such a 
 desire of emulating the glory of these fabulous wor- 
 thies of the Roman church, as led him into the wildest 
 and most extravagant adventures, which terminated 
 at last in instituting the society of Jesuits, the most 
 political and best-regulated of all the monastic orders, 
 and from which mankind have derived more ad- 
 vantages, and received greater injury, than from any 
 other of those religious fraternities. 
 
 If, upon the reduction of Pampeluna, L'Esparre They enter 
 had been satisfied with taking proper precautions for Casule - 
 securing his conquest, the kingdom of Navarre might 
 still have remained annexed to the crown of France, 
 in reality, as well as in title. But, pushed on by 
 youthful ardour, and encouraged by Francis, who was 
 too apt to be dazzled with success, he ventured to 
 pass the confines of Navarre, and to lay siege to 
 Logrogno, a small town in Castile. This roused the 
 Castilians, who had hitherto beheld the rapid progress 
 of his arms with great unconcern, and the dissensions 
 in that kingdom (of which a full account shall be 
 given) being almost composed, both parties exerted 
 themselves with emulation in defence of their country; 
 the one, that it might efface the memory of past mis- 
 conduct by its present zeal ; the other, that it might 
 add to the merit of having subdued the emperor's re- 
 bellious subjects, that of repulsing his foreign enemies. 
 The sudden advance of their troops, together with the They are 
 gallant defence made by the inhabitants of Logrogno, ^a driven 
 obliged the French general to abandon his rash enter- 
 prise. The Spanish army, which increased every day, 
 harassing him during his retreat, he, instead of taking 
 shelter under the cannon of Pampeluna, or waiting 
 
 F 2
 
 (58 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the arrival of some troops which were marching to 
 
 " join him, attacked the Spaniards, though far superior 
 
 1521> to him in number, with great impetuosity, but with 
 
 so little conduct, that his forces were totally routed, 
 
 he himself, together with his principal officers, was 
 
 taken prisoner, and Spain recovered possession of 
 
 Navarre in still shorter time than the French had 
 
 spent in the conquest of it. y 
 
 Hostilities While Francis endeavoured to justify his invasion 
 !h?Low n f Navarre, by carrying it on in the name of Henry 
 Countries. D' Albret, he had recourse to an artifice much of the 
 same kind, in attacking another part of the emperor's 
 territories. Robert de la Mark, lord of the small but 
 independent territory of Bouillon, situated on the 
 frontiers of Luxembourg and Champagne, having 
 abandoned Charles's service on account of an en- 
 croachment which the Aulic council had made on his 
 jurisdiction, and having thrown himself upon France 
 for protection, was easily persuaded, in the heat of 
 his resentment, to send a herald to Worms, and to 
 declare war against the emperor in form. Such ex- 
 travagant insolence in a petty prince surprised Charles, 
 and appeared to him a certain proof of his having re- 
 ceived promises of powerful support from the French 
 king. The justness of this conclusion soon became 
 evident. Robert entered the dutchy of Luxembourg 
 with troops levied in France, by the king's connivance, 
 though seemingly in contradiction to his orders, and, 
 after ravaging the open country, laid siege to Vireton. 
 Of this Charles complained loudly, as a direct vio- 
 lation of the peace subsisting between the two crowns, 
 and summoned Henry VIII., in terms of the treaty 
 concluded at London in the year one thousand five 
 hundred and eighteen, to turn his arms against 
 Francis as the first aggressor. Francis pretended 
 that he was not answerable for Robert's conduct, 
 
 Mem. de Bellay, p. 21. P. Mart. Ep. 726.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 69 
 
 whose army fought under his own standards and in BOOK 
 his own quarrel ; and affirmed, that, contrary to an ' 
 express prohibition, he had seduced some subjects of 1521 ' 
 France into his service ; but Henry paid so little 
 regard to this evasion, that the French king, rather 
 than irritate a prince whom he still hoped to gain, 
 commanded De la Mark to disband his troops. z 
 
 The emperor, meanwhile, was assembling an army 
 to chastise Robert's insolence. Twenty thousand 
 men, under the Count of Nassau, invaded his little 
 territories, and in a few days became masters of every 
 place in them but Sedan. After making him feel so 
 sensibly the weight of his master's indignation, Nassau 
 advanced towards the frontiers of France ; and Charles, 
 knowing that he might presume so far on Henry's 
 partiality in his favour as not to be overawed by the 
 same fears which had restrained Francis, ordered his 
 general to besiege Mouson. The cowardice of the 
 garrison having obliged the governor to surrender 
 almost without resistance, Nassau invested Mezieres, Si gf of 
 a place at that time of no considerable strength, but by the im- 
 so advantageously situated, that, by getting possession 
 of it, the imperial army might have penetrated into 
 the heart of Champagne, in which there was hardly 
 any other town capable of obstructing its progress. 
 Happily for France, its monarch, sensible of the im- 
 portance of this fortress, and of the danger to which 
 it was exposed, committed the defence of it to the 
 Chevalier Bayard, distinguished among his contem- 
 poraries by the appellation of The knight without 
 fear, and without reproach. a This man, whose 
 prowess in combat, whose punctilious honour and 
 formal gallantry, bear a nearer resemblance, than any 
 thing recorded in history, to the character ascribed to 
 the heroes of chivalry, possessed all the talents which 
 
 * M6m. de Bellay, p. 22, &c. M&n. de Fleuranges, p. 335, &c, 
 " OEuvres de Bran tome, torn. vi. 114. 
 
 F 3
 
 70 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK form a great general. These he had many occasions 
 ' of exerting in the defence of Mezieres ; partly by his 
 
 1521< valour, partly by his conduct, he protracted the siege 
 to a great length, and in the end obliged the im- 
 
 raised - perialists to raise it, with disgrace and loss. b Francis, 
 at the head of a numerous army, soon retook Mouson, 
 and, entering the Low Countries, made several con- 
 quests of small importance. In the neighbourhood of 
 Valenciennes, through an excess of caution, an error 
 with which he cannot be often charged, he lost an op- 
 portunity of cutting off the whole imperial army c ; 
 and, what was still more unfortunate, he disgusted 
 Charles Duke of Bourbon, high constable of France, 
 by giving the command of the van to the Duke 
 d'Ale^on, though this post of honour belonged to 
 Bourbon, as a prerogative of his office. 
 
 During these operations in the field, a congress was 
 
 Calais un - held at Calais, under the mediation of Henry VIII., 
 diation f e " m or der to bring all differences to an amicable issue ; 
 England, an( [ [f tne intentions of the mediator had corresponded 
 in any degree to his professions, it could hardly have 
 failed of producing some good effect. But Henry 
 committed the sole management of the negotiation, 
 with unlimited powers, to Wolsey; and this choice 
 alone was sufficient to have rendered it abortive. 
 That prelate, bent on attaining the papal crown, the 
 great object of his ambition, and ready to sacrifice 
 every thing in order to gain the emperor's interest, 
 was so little able to conceal his partiality, that, if 
 Francis had not been well acquainted with his haughty 
 and vindictive temper, he would have declined his 
 mediation. Much time was spent in inquiring who 
 had begun hostilities, which Wolsey affected to re- 
 present as the principal point ; and by throwing the 
 blame of that on Francis, he hoped to justify, by the 
 
 de Bellay, p. 25, &c. 
 c P. Mart. Ep. 747. M^m. de Bellay, 35.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 71 
 
 treaty of London, any alliance into which his master BOOK 
 should enter with Charles. The conditions on which IL 
 hostilities might be terminated came next to be con- 152K 
 sidered ; but with regard to these, the emperor's any 'effect, 
 proposals were such as discovered either that he was 
 utterly averse to peace, or that he knew Wolsey would 
 approve of whatever terms should be offered in his 
 name. He demanded the restitution of the dutchy 
 of Burgundy, a province, the possession of which 
 would have given him access into the heart of France, 
 and required to be released from the homage due to 
 the crown of France for the counties of Flanders and 
 Artois, which none of his ancestors had ever refused, 
 and which he had bound himself by the treaty of 
 Noyon to renew. These terms, to which a high- 
 spirited prince would scarcely have listened, after the 
 disasters of an unfortunate war, Francis rejected with 
 great disdain ; and Charles shewing no inclination to 
 comply with the more equal and moderate propositions 
 of the French monarch, that he should restore Navarre 
 to its lawful prince, and withdraw his troops from the 
 siege of Tournay, the congress broke up without any 
 other effect than that which attends unsuccessful ne- 
 gotiations, the exasperating of the parties whom it 
 was intended to reconcile.* 1 
 
 During the continuance of the congress, Wolsey, on League 
 pretence that the emperor himself would be more will- p?* 1 "** ^ 
 ing to make reasonable concessions than his ministers, tween the 
 
 i T> i i emperor 
 
 made an excursion to Bruges, to meet that monarch. a nd Henry 
 He was received by Charles, who knew his vanity, with VIIIi 
 as much respect and magnificence as if he had been 
 king of England. But instead of advancing the 
 treaty of peace by this interview, Wolsey, in his mas- 
 ter's name, concluded a league with the emperor 
 against Francis ; in which it was - stipulated, that 
 Charles should invade France on the side of Spain, 
 
 d P. Mart. Ep. 739. Herbert. 
 F 4
 
 72 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and Henry in Picardy, each with an army of forty 
 
 !i_ thousand men; and that, in order to strengthen their 
 
 1521< union, Charles should espouse the princess Mary, 
 Henry's only child, and the apparent heir of his do- 
 minions. 6 Henry produced no better reasons for this 
 measure, equally unjust and impolitic, than the article 
 in the treaty of London, by which he pretended that he 
 was bound to take arms against the French king as the 
 first aggressor; and the injury which he alleged Francis 
 had done him, in permitting the Duke of Albany, 
 the head of a faction in Scotland, which opposed the 
 interest of England, to return into that kingdom. 
 He was influenced, however, by other considerations. 
 The advantages which accrued to his subjects from 
 maintaining an exact neutrality, or the honour that 
 resulted to himself from acting as the arbiter between 
 the contending princes, appeared to his youthful ima- 
 gination so inconsiderable, when compared with the 
 glory which might be reaped from leading armies or 
 conquering provinces, that he determined to remain 
 no longer in a state of inactivity. Having once taken 
 this resolution, his inducements to prefer an alliance 
 with Charles were obvious. He had no claim upon 
 any part of that prince's dominions, most of which 
 were so situated, that he could not attack them with- 
 out great difficulty and disadvantage ; whereas, several 
 maritime provinces of France had been long in the 
 hands of the English monarchs, whose pretensions 
 even to the crown of that kingdom, were not as yet 
 altogether forgotten ; and the possession of Calais 
 not only gave him easy access into some of those 
 provinces, but, in case of any disaster, afforded him a 
 secure retreat. While Charles attacked France on 
 one frontier, Henry flattered himself that he should 
 find little resistance on the other, and that the glory 
 of re-annexing to the crown of England the ancient 
 
 e Rymer, Feeder, xiii. Herbert.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 73 
 
 inheritance of its monarchs on the continent, was BOOK 
 reserved for his reign. Wolsey artfully encouraged IL 
 these vain hopes, which led his master into such mea- 1521> 
 sures as were most subservient to his own secret 
 schemes ; and the English, whose hereditary animo- 
 sity against the French was apt to rekindle on every 
 occasion, did not disapprove of the martial spirit of 
 their sovereign. 
 
 Meanwhile, the league between the pope and the Hostilities 
 emperor produced great effects in Italy, and rendered 
 Lombardy the chief theatre of war. There was, at 
 that time, such contrariety between the character of 
 the French and the Italians, that the latter submitted 
 to the government of the former with greater impa- 
 tience than they expressed under the dominion of 
 other foreigners. The phlegm of the Germans, and 
 gravity of the Spaniards, suited their jealous temper 
 and ceremonious manners better than the French 
 gaiety, too prone to gallantry, and too little attentive 
 to decorum. Louis XII. however, by the equity 
 and gentleness of his administration, and by granting 
 the Milanese more extensive privileges than those 
 they had enjoyed under their native princes, had 
 overcome, in a great measure, their prejudices, and 
 reconciled them to the French government. Francis, 
 on recovering that dutchy, did not imitate the exam- 
 ple of his predecessor. Though too generous himself 
 to oppress his people, his boundless confidence in his 
 favourites, and his negligence in examining into the 
 conduct of those whom he intrusted with power, em- 
 boldened them to venture upon any acts of oppres- 
 sion. The government of Milan was committed by 
 him to Odet de Foix, Marechal de Lautrec, another 
 brother of Madame de Chateaubriand, an officer of 
 great experience and reputation, but haughty, impe- 
 rious, rapacious, and incapable either of listening to 
 advice or of bearing contradiction. His insolence
 
 74 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and exactions totally alienated the affections of the 
 
 ii 
 ! Milanese from France, drove many of the consider- 
 
 1521 ' able citizens into banishment, and forced others to 
 
 The Milan- . . _ . , , 
 
 ese disgust- retire for their own safety. Among the last was 
 fteTcib go- Jerome Morone, vice-chancellor of Milan, a man 
 vernmenc wn ose genius for intrigue and enterprise distinguished 
 him in an age and country, where violent factions, as 
 well as frequent revolutions, affording great scope for 
 such talents, produced or called them forth in great 
 abundance. He repaired to Francis Sforza, whose 
 brother Maximilian he had betrayed ; and suspecting 
 the pope's intention of attacking the Milanese, al- 
 though his treaty with the emperor was not yet made 
 public, he proposed to Leo, in the name of Sforza, a 
 scheme for surprising several places in that dutchy 
 by means of the exiles, who, from hatred to the 
 French, and from attachment to their former mas- 
 ters, were ready for any desperate enterprise. Leo 
 not only encouraged the attempt, but advanced a con- 
 siderable sum towards the execution of it ; and when, 
 through unforeseen accidents, it failed of success in 
 every part, he allowed the exiles, who had assembled 
 in a body, to retire to Reggio, which belonged at that 
 time to the church. The Marechal de Foix, who 
 commanded at Milan in absence of his brother Lau- 
 trec, who was then in France, tempted with the hopes 
 of catching at once, as in a snare, all the avowed ene- 
 mies of his master's government in that country, ven- 
 irune 24. tured to march into the ecclesiastical territories, and 
 to invest Reggio. But the vigilance and good con- 
 duct of Guicciardini, the historian, governor of that 
 place, obliged the French general to abandon the en- 
 ^pope terprise with disgrace/ Leo, on receiving this intel- 
 ^ainst ligence, with which he was highly pleased, as it fur- 
 
 /' I HI) CIS. * V 1 1_ " 1 ' * 
 
 mshed him a decent pretence for a rupture with 
 France, immediately assembled the consistory of car- 
 
 ' <Juic. lib. xiv. 183. Me"ro. de Bellay, p. 38, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 75 
 
 dinals. After complaining bitterly of the hostile in- BOOK 
 
 tentions of the French king, and magnifying the em 
 
 peror's zeal for the church, of which he had given a 
 recent proof by his proceedings against Luther, he 
 declared that he was constrained in self-defence, and 
 as the only expedient for the security of the ecclesias- 
 tical state, to join his arms to those of that prince. 
 For this purpose, he now pretended to conclude a 
 treaty with Don John Manuel, although it had really 
 been signed some months before this time ; and he 
 publicly excommunicated De Foix, as an impious 
 invader of St. Peter's patrimony. 
 
 Leo had already begun preparations for war by War in the 
 taking into pay a considerable body of Swiss ; but the 
 imperial troops advanced so slowly from Naples and 
 Germany, that it was the middle of autumn before the 
 army took the field under the command of Prosper 
 Colonna, the most eminent of the Italian generals, 
 whose extreme caution, the effect of long experience 
 in the art of war, was opposed with great propriety to 
 the impetuosity of the French. In the mean time, 
 De Foix dispatched courier after courier to inform 
 the king of the danger which was approaching. 
 Francis, whose forces were either employed in the 
 Low Countries, or assembling on the frontiers of 
 Spain, and who did not expect so sudden an attack in 
 that quarter, sent ambassadors to his allies the Swiss, 
 to procure from them the immediate levy of an 
 additional body of troops ; and commanded Lautrec 
 to repair forthwith to his government. That general, 
 who was well acquainted with the great neglect of* 
 economy in the administration of the king's finances, 
 and who knew how much the troops in the Milanese 
 had already suffered from the want of their pay, 
 refused to set out, unless the sum of three hundred 
 thousand crowns was immediately put into his hands* 
 But the king, Louise of Savoy, his mother, and Senv
 
 g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK blancy, the superintendant of finances, having pro- 
 IL mised, even with an oath, that on his arrival at Milan 
 l521 ' he should find remittances for the sum which he de- 
 manded ; upon the faith of this, he departed. Unhap- 
 pily for France, Louise, a woman deceitful, vindictive, 
 rapacious, and capable of sacrificing any thing to the 
 gratification of her passions, but who had acquired an 
 absolute ascendant over her son by her maternal ten- 
 derness, her care of his education, and her great 
 abilities, was resolved not to perform this promise. 
 Lautrec having incurred her displeasure by his 
 haughtiness in neglecting to pay court to her, and by 
 the freedom with which he had talked concerning some 
 of her adventures in gallantry, she, in order to deprive 
 him of the honour which he might have gained by a 
 successful defence of the Milanese, seized the three 
 hundred thousand crowns destined for that service, and 
 detained them for her own use. 
 
 Progress of Lautrec, notwithstanding this cruel disappointment, 
 found means to assemble a considerable army, though 
 far inferior in number to that of the confederates. He 
 adopted the plan of defence most suitable to his situ- 
 ation, avoiding a pitched battle with the greatest care, 
 while he harassed the enemy continually with his light 
 troops, beat up their quarters, intercepted their con- 
 voys, and covered or relieved every place which they 
 attempted to attack. By this prudent conduct, he 
 not only retarded their progress, but would have soon 
 wearied out the pope, who had hitherto defrayed 
 almost the whole expence of the war, as the emperor, 
 whose revenues in Spain were dissipated during the 
 commotions in that country, and who was obliged to 
 support a numerous army in the Netherlands, could 
 not make any considerable remittances into Italy. 
 But an unforeseen accident disconcerted all his mea- 
 sures, and occasioned a fatal reverse in the French 
 affairs. A body of twelve thousand Swiss served in
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 77 
 
 Lautrec's army under the banners of the republic, BOOK 
 with which France was in alliance. In consequence IL 
 of a law, no less political than humane, established 1521> 
 among the cantons, their troops were never hired out 
 by public authority to both the contending parties in 
 any war. This law, however, the love of gain had 
 sometimes eluded, and private persons had been 
 allowed to enlist in what service they pleased, though 
 not under the public banners, but under those of 
 their particular officers. The Cardinal of Sion, who 
 still preserved his interest among his countrymen, 
 and his enmity to France, having prevailed on them 
 to connive at a levy of this kind, twelve thousand 
 Swiss, instigated by him, joined the army of the con- 
 federates. But the leaders in the cantons, when they 
 saw so many of their countrymen marching under the 
 hostile standards, and ready to turn their arms against 
 each other, became so sensible of the infamy to which 
 they would be exposed, by permitting this, as well as 
 the loss they might suffer, that they dispatched 
 couriers, commanding their people to leave both 
 armies, and to return forthwith into their own 
 country. The Cardinal of Sion, however, had the 
 address, by corrupting the messengers appointed to 
 carry this order, to prevent it from being delivered to 
 the Swiss in the service of the confederates ; but 
 being intimated in due form to those in the French 
 army, they, fatigued with the length of the campaign, 
 and murmuring for want of pay, instantly yielded 
 obedience, in spite of Lautrec's remonstrances and 
 entreaties. 
 
 After the desertion of a body which formed the 
 strength of his army, Lautrec durst no longer face 
 the confederates. He retired towards Milan, en- 
 camped on the banks of the Adda, and placed his chief 
 hopes of safety in preventing the enemy from passing 
 that river ; an expedient for defending a country so
 
 73 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK precarious, that there are few instances of its being 
 IL employed with success against any general of expe- 
 i52i. Hence or abilities. Accordingly Colonna, notwith- 
 ^s e of standing Lautrec's vigilance and activity, passed the 
 Milan. Adda with little loss, and obliged him to shut himself 
 up within the walls of Milan, which the confederates 
 were preparing to besiege, when an unknown person, 
 who never afterwards appeared either to boast of this 
 service, or to claim a reward for it, came from the city, 
 and acquainted Morone that if the army would advance 
 that night, the Ghibelline or imperial faction would 
 put them in possession of one of the gates. Colonna, 
 though no friend to rash enterprises, allowed the 
 Marquis de Pescara to advance with the Spanish 
 infantry, and he himself followed with the rest of his 
 troops. About the beginning of night, Pescara ar- 
 riving at the Roman gate in the suburbs, surprised 
 the soldiers whom he found there ; those posted in 
 the fortifications adjoining to it, immediately fled ; 
 the marquis seizing the works which they abandoned, 
 and pushing forward incessantly, though with no less 
 caution than vigour, became master of the city with 
 little bloodshed, and almost without resistance ; the 
 victors being as much astonished as the vanquished at 
 the facility and success of the attempt. Lautrec 
 retired precipitately towards the Venetian territories 
 with the remains of his shattered army ; the cities of 
 the Milanese, following the fate of the capital, sur- 
 rendered to the confederates ; Parma and Placentia 
 were united to the ecclesiastical state, and of all their 
 conquests in Lombardy only the town of Cremona, 
 the castle of Milan, and a few inconsiderable forts, 
 remained in the hands of the French. 8 
 Death of Leo received the accounts of this rapid succession 
 
 T^r Y /, -11 
 
 ot prosperous events with such transports of joy, as 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xiv. 190, &c. M<5m. de Bellay, 42, &c. Galeacii Capella de Reb. 
 gest. pro restitut. Fran. Sfortiae Comment, ap. Scardium, vol.ii. 180, &c. 
 
 LeoX.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. -79 
 
 brought on (if we may believe the French historians) BOOK 
 a slight fever, which, being neglected, occasioned his 
 
 death on the second of December, while he was still 1521m 
 of a vigorous age and at the height of his glory. By 
 this unexpected accident, the spirit of the confederacy 
 was broken, and its operation suspended. The car- 
 dinals of Sion and Medici left the army, that they 
 might be present in the conclave ; the Swiss were re- 
 called by their superiors ; some other mercenaries 
 disbanded for want of pay ; and only the Spaniards, 
 and a few Germans in the emperor's service, re- 
 mained to defend the Milanese. But Lautrec, de- 
 stitute both of men and of money, was unable to 
 improve this favourable opportunity in the manner 
 which he would have wished. The vigilance of 
 Morone, and the good conduct of Colonna, disap- '522. 
 pointed his feeble attempts on the Milanese. Guic- 
 ciardini, by his address and valour, repulsed a bolder 
 and more dangerous attack which he made on 
 Parma. h 
 
 Great discord prevailed in the conclave, which fol- Adrian 
 
 plpctpfi 
 
 lowed upon Leo's death, and all the arts natural to pope, 
 men grown old in intrigue, when contending for the 
 highest prize an ecclesiastic can obtain, were prac- 
 tised. Wolsey's name, notwithstanding all the em- 
 peror's magnificent promises to favour his pretensions, 
 of which that prelate did not fail to remind him, was 
 hardly mentioned in the conclave. Julio Cardinal de 
 Medici, Leo's nephew, who was more eminent than 
 any other member of the sacred college for his abili- 
 ties, his wealth, and his experience in transacting 
 great affairs, had already secured fifteen voices, a 
 number sufficient, according to the forms of the 
 conclave, to exclude any other candidate, though not 
 to carry his own election. As he was still in the 
 prime of life, all the aged cardinals combined against 
 
 " Guic. lib. xiv. 214.
 
 80 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK him, without being united in favour of any other 
 person. While these factions Were endeavouring to 
 
 1522 * gain, to corrupt, or to weary out each other, Medici 
 and his adherents voted one morning at the scrutiny, 
 which, according to form was made every day, for 
 Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, who at that time go- 
 verned Spain in the emperor's name. This they did 
 merely to protract time. But the adverse party in- 
 stantly closing with them, to their own amazement 
 and that of all Europe, a stranger to Italy, unknown 
 to the persons who gave their suffrages in his favour, 
 and unacquainted with the manners of the people, or 
 the interest of the state, the government of which 
 they conferred upon him, was unanimously raised to 
 January 9. the papal throne, at a juncture so delicate and critical, 
 as would have demanded all the sagacity and expe- 
 rience of one of the most able prelates in the sacred 
 college. The cardinals themselves, unable to give a 
 reason for this strange choice, on account of which, 
 as they marched in procession from the conclave, 
 they were loaded with insults and curses by the Roman 
 people, ascribed it to an immediate impulse of the 
 Holy Ghost. It may be imputed with greater cer- 
 tainty to the influence of Don John Manuel, the 
 imperial ambassador, who by his address and in- 
 trigues facilitated the election of a person devoted to 
 his master's service, from gratitude, from interest, 
 and from inclination. 1 
 
 nTwedhi Beside the influence which Charles acquired by 
 the Milan- Adrian's promotion, it threw great lustre on his ad- 
 ministration. To bestow on his preceptor such a 
 noble recompense, and to place on the papal throne 
 one whom he had raised from obscurity, were acts of 
 uncommon magnificence and power. Francis ob- 
 served, with the sensibility of a rival, the pre-eminence 
 
 1 Hertn. Moringi Vita Hadriani, ap. Casp. Burman. in Analect. de Hadr. 
 p. 52. Conclave Hadr. Ibid. p. 144, & c .
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 which the emperor was gaining, and resolved to exert 
 himself with fresh vigour, in order to wrest from him 
 his late conquests in Italy. The Swiss, that they 
 might make some reparation to the French king, for 
 having withdrawn their troops from his army so* 
 unseasonably, as to occasion the loss of the Milanese, 
 permitted him to levy ten thousand men in the re- 
 public. Together with this reinforcement, Lautrec 
 received from the king a small sum of money, which 
 enabled him once more to take the field ; and after 
 seizing by surprise, or force, several places in the 
 Milanese, to advance within a few miles of the 
 capital. The confederate army was in no condition 
 to obstruct his progress ; for though the inhabitants . 
 of Milan, by the artifices of Morone, and by the 
 popular declamations of a monk whom he employed, 
 were inflamed with such enthusiastic zeal against the 
 French government, that they consented to raise ex- 
 traordinary contributions, Colonna must soon have 
 abandoned the advantageous camp which he had 
 chosen at Bicocca, and have dismissed his troops for 
 want of pay, if the Swiss in the French service had 
 not once more extricated him out of his difficulties. 
 
 The insolence or caprice of those mercenaries were The French 
 often no less fatal to their friends, than their valour ^j^Jj} e 1 ^ 
 and discipline were formidable to their enemies. B*ca. 
 Having now served some months without pay, of 
 which they complained loudly, a sum destined for 
 their use was sent from France under a convoy of 
 horse ; but Morone, whose vigilant eye nothing 
 escaped, posted a body of troops in their way, so 
 that the party which escorted the money durst not 
 advance. On receiving intelligence of this, the Swiss 
 lost all patience, and officers as well as soldiers, 
 crowding around Lautrec, threatened with one voice 
 instantly to retire, if he did not either advance the 
 pay which was due, or promise to lead them next 
 
 Ch. VOL. ii. G
 
 BOOK morning to battle. In vain did Lautrec remonstrate 
 IL against these demands, representing to them the im- 
 1522 - possibility of the former, and the rashness of the 
 latter, which must be attended with certain destruc- 
 tion, as the enemy occupied a camp naturally of 
 great strength, and which by art they had rendered 
 almost inaccessible. The Swiss, deaf to reason, and 
 persuaded that their valour was capable of surmount- 
 ing every obstacle, renewed their demand with great 
 fierceness, offering themselves to form the vanguard, 
 and to begin the attack. Lautrec, unable to over- 
 come their obstinacy, complied with their request, 
 hoping, perhaps, that some of those unforeseen ac- 
 cidents which so often determine the fate of battles 
 might crown this rash enterprise with undeserved 
 success ; and, convinced that the effects of a defeat 
 could not be more fatal than those which would 
 certainly follow upon the retreat of a body which 
 May. composed one half of his army. Next morning the 
 Swiss were early in the field, and marched with the 
 greatest intrepidity against an enemy deeply in- 
 trenched on every side, surrounded with artillery, 
 and prepared to receive them. As they advanced, 
 they sustained a furious cannonade with great firm- 
 ness ; and, without waiting for their own artillery, 
 rushed impetuously upon the intrenchments. But 
 after incredible efforts of valour, which were seconded 
 with great spirit by the French, having lost their 
 bravest officers and best soldiers, and finding that 
 they could make no impression on the enemy's works, 
 they sounded a retreat ; leaving the field of battle, 
 however, like men repulsed, but not vanquished, in 
 close array, and without receiving any molestation 
 from the enemy. 
 
 Driven put Next day, such as survived set out for their own 
 
 ^ e ' country ; and Lautrec, despairing of being able to 
 
 make any farther resistance, retired into France, after
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 83 
 
 throwing garrisons into Cremona and a few other BOOK 
 places; all which, except the citadel of Cremona, IL _ 
 Colonna soon obliged to surrender. 1522> 
 
 Genoa, however, and its territories, remaining Lose 
 subject to France, still gave Francis considerable 
 footing in Italy, and made it easy for him to execute 
 any scheme for the recovery of the Milanese. But 
 Colonna, rendered enterprising by continual success, 
 and excited by the solicitations of the faction of the 
 Adorni, the hereditary enemies of the Fregosi, who, 
 under the protection of France, possessed the chief 
 authority in Genoa, determined to attempt the re- 
 duction of that state ; and accomplished it with 
 amazing facility. He became master of Genoa, by 
 an accident as unexpected as that which had given 
 him possession of Milan ; and, almost without oppo- 
 sition or bloodshed, the power of the Adorni, and 
 the authority of the emperor, were establishe4 in 
 Genoa." 
 
 Such a cruel succession of misfortunes affected Henry 
 Francis with deep concern, which was not a little ciares'war 
 augmented by the unexpected arrival of an English ^"* 
 herald, who, in the name of his sovereign, declared May 29. 
 war in form against France. This step was taken in 
 consequence of the treaty which Wolsey had con- 
 cluded with the emperor at Bruges, and which had 
 hitherto been kept secret. Francis, though he had 
 reason to be surprised with this denunciation, after 
 having been at such pains to soothe Henry and to 
 gain his minister, received the herald with great 
 composure and dignity 1 ; and, without abandoning 
 any of the schemes which he was forming against the 
 emperor, began vigorous preparations for resisting this 
 new enemy. His treasury, however, being exhausted 
 by the efforts which he had already made, as well 
 
 k Jovii Vita Ferdin. Davali, p. 344. Guic. lib. xiv. 233. 
 1 Journal de Louise de Savoie, p. 119. 
 G 2
 
 BOOK as by the sums he expended on his pleasures, he had 
 IL recourse to extraordinary expedients for supplying it. 
 1522. Several new offices were created and exposed to sale ; 
 the royal demesnes were alienated; unusual taxes 
 were imposed ; and the tomb of St. Martin was 
 stripped of a rail of massive silver, with which 
 Louis XL, in one of his fits of devotion, had en- 
 circled it. By means of these expedients he was 
 enabled to levy a considerable army, and to put the 
 frontier towns in a good posture of defence. 
 Charles The emperor, meanwhile, was no less solicitous 
 
 land! " to draw as much advantage as possible from the ac- 
 cession of such a powerful ally ; and the prosperous 
 situation of his affairs at this time permitting him to 
 set out for Spain, where his presence was extremely 
 necessary, he visited the court of England in his way 
 to that country. He proposed by this interview not 
 only to strengthen the bonds of friendship which 
 united him with Henry, and to excite him to push the 
 war against France with vigour, but hoped to remove 
 any disgust or resentment that Wolsey might have 
 conceived on account of the mortifying disappoint- 
 jei ment which he had met with in the late conclave. 
 His success exceeded his most sanguine expectations ; 
 and, by his artful address, during a residence of six 
 weeks in England, he gained not only the king and 
 the minister, but the nation itself. Henry, whose 
 vanity was sensibly flattered by such a visit, as well as 
 by the studied respect with which the emperor treated 
 him on every occasion, entered warmly into all his 
 schemes. The cardinal foreseeing, from Adrian's 
 age and infirmities, a sudden vacancy in the papal 
 see, dissembled or forgot his resentment; and as 
 Charles, besides augmenting the pensions which he 
 had already settled on him, renewed his promise of 
 favouring his pretensions to the papacy, with all his 
 interest, he endeavoured to merit the former, and to
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 85 
 
 secure the accomplishment of the latter, by fresh BOOK 
 
 services. The nation, sharing in the glory of its __ 
 
 monarch, and pleased with the confidence which the 1522 * 
 emperor placed in the English, by creating the Earl 
 of Surrey his high-admiral, discovered no less inclin- 
 ation to commence hostilities than Henry himself. 
 
 In order to give Charles, before he left England, ^ ?n- 
 a proof of this general ardour, Surrey sailed with such France, 
 forces as were ready, and ravaged the coasts of Nor- 
 mandy. He then made a descent on Bretagne, where 
 he plundered and burnt Morlaix, and some other 
 places of less consequence. After these slight ex- 
 cursions, attended with greater dishonour than damage 
 to France, he repaired to Calais, and took the com- 
 mand of the principal army, consisting of sixteen 
 thousand men ; with which, having joined the Flemish 
 troops under the Count de Buren, he advanced into 
 Picardy. The army which Francis had assembled 
 was far inferior in number to these united bodies ; but, 
 during; the long wars between the two nations, the withli 'ttic 
 
 success. 
 
 French had discovered the proper method of defend- 
 ing their country against the English. They had 
 been taught by their misfortunes to avoid a pitched 
 battle with the utmost care, and to endeavour, by 
 throwing garrisons into every place capable of resist- 
 ance, by watching all the enemy's motions, by inter- 
 cepting their convoys, attacking their advanced posts, 
 and harassing them continually with their numerous 
 cavalry, to ruin them with the length of the war, or 
 to beat them by piece-meal. This plan the Duke of 
 Vendome, the French general in Picardy, pursued 
 with no less prudence than success, and not only 
 prevented Surrey from taking any town of importance, 
 but obliged him to retire with his army, greatly re- 
 duced by fatigue, by want of provisions, and by the 
 loss which it had sustained in several unsuccessful 
 skirmishes. 
 
 G 3
 
 g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Thus ended the second campaign, in a war the 
 IL most general that had hitherto been kindled in Eu- 
 1522. r ope; and though Francis, by his mother's ill-timed 
 resentment, by the disgusting insolence of his general, 
 and the caprice of the mercenary troops which he 
 employed, had lost his conquests in Italy, yet all the 
 powers combined against him had not been able to 
 make any impression on his hereditary dominions ; 
 and wherever they either intended or attempted an 
 attack, he was well prepared to receive them. 
 Soiman-s While the Christian princes were thus wasting 
 each other's strength, Solyman the Magnificent en- 
 tered Hungary with a numerous army, and investing 
 Belgrade, which was deemed the chief barrier of that 
 kingdom against the Turkish arms, soon forced it to 
 surrender. Encouraged by this success, he turned 
 his victorious arms against the island of Rhodes, the 
 seat, at that time, of the Knights of St. John of 
 Jerusalem. This small state he attacked with such a 
 numerous army, as the lords of Asia have been accus- 
 tomed, in every age, to bring into the field. Two 
 hundred thousand men, and a fleet of four hundred 
 sail, appeared against a town defended by a garrison 
 consisting of five thousand soldiers, and six hundred 
 knights, under the command of Villiers de L'Isle 
 Adam, the grand-master, whose wisdom and valour 
 rendered him worthy of that station at such a dan- 
 gerous juncture. No sooner did he begin to suspect 
 the destination of Solyman's vast armaments, than he 
 dispatched messengers to all the Christian courts, 
 imploring their aid against the common enemy. 
 But though every prince in that age acknowledged 
 Rhodes to be the great bulwark of Christendom in 
 the East, and trusted to the gallantry of its knights as 
 the best security against the progress of the Ottoman 
 arms ; though Adrian, with a zeal which became the 
 head and father of the church, exhorted the contend-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 87 
 
 ing powers to forget their private quarrels, and, by BOOK 
 uniting their arms, to prevent the infidels from de- IL 
 stroying a society which did honour to the Christian 1522 - 
 name, yet so violent and implacable was the animo- 
 sity of both parties, that, regardless of the danger to 
 which they exposed all Europe, and unmoved by the 
 entreaties of the grand-master, or the admonitions 
 of the pope, they suffered Solyman to carry on 
 his operations against Rhodes without disturbance. 
 The grand-master, after incredible efforts of cour- 
 age, of patience, and of military conduct, during 
 a siege of six months ; after sustaining many as- 
 saults, and disputing every post with amazing obsti- 
 nacy, was obliged at last to yield to numbers; and, 
 having obtained an honourable capitulation from the 
 sultan, who admired and respected his virtue, he sur- 
 rendered the town, which was reduced to a heap of 
 rubbish, and destitute of every resource. 111 Charles 
 and Francis, ashamed of having occasioned such a 
 loss to Christendom by their ambitious contests, en- 
 deavoured to throw the blame of it on each other, 
 while all Europe, with greater justice, imputed it 
 equally to both. The emperor, by way of repara- 
 tion, granted the knights of St. John the small island 
 of Malta, in which they fixed their residence, retain- 
 ing, though with less power and splendour, their 
 ancient spirit, and implacable enmity to the infidels, 
 
 m Fontanus de Bello Rhodio, ap. Scard. Script. Rer. German. ?ol. ii. 
 p. 88. P. Barre. Hist. d'Allem. tome yiii. 57. 
 
 o 4
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 1522> CHARLES, having had the satisfaction of seeing hos- 
 m tilities begun between France and England, took 
 leave of Henry, and arrived in Spain on the seven- 
 teenth of June. He found that country just begin- 
 ning to recover order and strength after the miseries 
 of a civil war, to which it had been exposed during 
 his absence ; an account of the rise and progress of 
 which, as it was but little connected with the other 
 events which happened in Europe, hath been reserved 
 to this place. 
 
 insurrec- No sooner was it known that the cortes assembled 
 1^0 in Galicia had voted the emperor a, free gift, without 
 obtaining the redress of any one grievance, than it 
 May, 1520. excited universal indignation. The citizens of To- 
 ledo, who considered themselves, on account of the 
 great privileges which they enjoyed, as guardians of 
 the liberties of the Castilian commons, finding that 
 no regard was paid to the remonstrances of their de- 
 puties against that unconstitutional grant, took arms 
 with tumultuary violence, and, seizing the gates of the 
 city, which were fortified, attacked the alcazar, or
 
 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. g 
 
 castle, which they soon obliged the governor to sur- BOOK 
 render. Emboldened by this success, they deprived IIL ._ 
 of all authority every person whom they suspected of 1522 * 
 any attachment to the court, established a popular 
 form of government, composed of deputies from the 
 several parishes in the city, and levied troops in their 
 own defence. The chief leader of the people in 
 these insurrections was Don John de Padilla, the 
 eldest son of the commendator of Castile, a young 
 nobleman of a generous temper, of undaunted cour- 
 age, and possessed of the talents, as well as of the 
 ambition, which, in times of civil discord, raise men 
 to power and eminence. 9 
 
 The resentment of the citizens of Segovia produced of SegoYU 
 effects still more fatal. Tordesillas, one of their re- 
 presentatives in the late cortes, had voted for the 
 donative, and being a bold and haughty man, ven- 
 tured, upon his return, to call together his fellow- 
 citizens in the great church, that he might give them, 
 according to custom, an account of his conduct in 
 that assembly. But the multitude, unable to bear his 
 insolence, in attempting to justify what they thought 
 inexcusable, burst open the gates of the church with 
 the utmost fury, and seizing the unhappy Tordesil- 
 las, dragged him through the streets, with a thousand 
 curses and insults, towards the place of public exe- 
 cution. In vain did the dean and canons come forth 
 in procession with the holy sacrament in order to ap- 
 pease their rage. In vain did the monks of those 
 monasteries by which they passed, conjure them on 
 their knees to spare his life, or at least to allow him 
 time to confess, and to receive absolution of his sins. 
 Without listening to the dictates either of humanity 
 or religion, they cried out, " That the hangman 
 alone could absolve such a traitor to his country:" 
 they then hurried him along with greater violence ; 
 
 m Sandov. p. 77.
 
 90 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and perceiving that he had expired under their hands, 
 they hung him up with his head downwards on the 
 
 1-522. common gibbet. b The same spirit seized the inha- 
 bitants of Burgos, Zamora, and several other cities ; 
 and though their representatives, taking warning 
 from the fate of Tordesillas, had been so wise as to 
 save themselves by a timely flight, they were burnt 
 in effigy, their houses razed to the ground, and their 
 effects consumed with fire ; and such was the horror, 
 which the people had conceived against them, as be- 
 trayers of the public liberty, that not one in those 
 licentious multitudes would touch any thing, however 
 valuable, which had belonged to them. 
 Measures Adrian, at that time Regent of Spain, had scarcely 
 fixec * the seat f nis government at Valladolid, when 
 
 punish he was alarmed with an account of these insurrec- 
 june 5, tions. He immediately assembled the privy council to 
 deliberate concerning the proper method of suppress- 
 ing them. The counsellors differed in opinion ; 
 some insisting that it was necessary to check this 
 audacious spirit in its infancy by a severe execution 
 of justice ; others advising to treat with lenity a peo- 
 ple who had some reason to be incensed, and not to 
 drive them beyond all the bounds of duty by an ill- 
 timed rigour. The sentiments of the former being 
 warmly supported by the Archbishop of Granada, pre- 
 sident of the council, a person of great authority, but 
 choleric and impetuous, were approved by Adrian, 
 whose zeal to support his master's authority hurried 
 him into a measure, to which, from his natural cau- 
 tion and timidity, he would otherwise have been 
 averse. He commanded Ronquillo, one of the king's 
 judges, to repair instantly to Segovia, which had set 
 the first example of mutiny, and to proceed against 
 the delinquents according to law ; and, lest the peo- 
 ple should be so outrageous as to resist his authority, 
 
 b P - Mart - E P- 671 - c Sandov. 103. P. Mart. Ep. 674.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 9 
 
 a considerable body of troops was appointed to at- BOOK 
 
 ti-nd him. The Segovians, foreseeing what they 
 
 might expect from a judge so well known for his au- 1522< 
 stere and unforgiving temper, took arms with one 
 consent, and having mustered twelve thousand men, 
 shut their gates against him. Ronquillo, enraged at 
 this insult, denounced them rebels and outlaws, and, 
 his troops seizing all the avenues to the town, hoped 
 that it would soon be obliged to surrender for want 
 of provisions. The inhabitants, however, defended 
 themselves with vigour, and having received a consi- 
 derable reinforcement from Toledo, under the com- 
 mand of Padilla, attacked Ronquillo, and forced him 
 to retire with the loss of his baggage and military 
 chest. d 
 
 Upon this, Adrian ordered Antonio de Fonseca, and at Me - 
 
 11 f de ^ 
 
 whom the emperor had appointed commander in chief Campo. 
 
 of the forces in Castile, to assemble an army, and to be- 
 siege Segovia in form. But the inhabitants of Medina 
 del Campo, where Cardinal Ximenes had established 
 a vast magazine of military stores, would not suffer 
 him to draw from it a train of battering cannon, or 
 to destroy their countrymen with those arms which 
 had been prepared against the enemies of the king- 
 dom. Fonseca, who could not execute his orders 
 without artillery, determined to seize the magazine 
 by force ; and the citizens standing on their defence, 
 he assaulted the town with great briskness ; but his 
 troops were so warmly received, that, despairing of 
 carrying the place, he set fire to some of the houses, Aug. 21. 
 in hopes that the citizens would abandon the walls, in 
 order to save their families and effects. Instead of 
 that, the expedient to which he had recourse served 
 only to increase their fury, and he was repulsed with 
 great disgrace; while the flames, spreading from 
 street to street, reduced to ashes almost the whole 
 
 d Sandov. 112. P. Mart. Ep. p. 679. Miniana, Contin. p. 15.
 
 92 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK town, one of the most considerable at that time in 
 
 1_ Spain, and the great mart for the manufactories of 
 
 1522. Segovia and several other cities. As the warehouses 
 were then filled with goods for the approaching fair, 
 the loss was immense, and was felt universally. This, 
 added to the impression which such a cruel action 
 made on a people long unaccustomed to the horrors 
 of civil war, enraged the Castilians almost to madness. 
 Fonseca became the object of general hatred, and was 
 branded with the name of incendiary, and enemy to 
 his country. Even the citizens of Valladolid, whom 
 the presence of the cardinal had hitherto restrained, 
 declared that they could no longer remain inactive 
 spectators of the sufferings of their countrymen. 
 Taking arms with no less fury than the other cities, 
 they burnt Fonseca's house to the ground, elected new 
 magistrates, raised soldiers, appointed officers to com- 
 mand them, and guarded their walls with as much 
 diligence as if an enemy had been ready to attack 
 them. 
 
 Adrian dis- The cardinal, though virtuous and disinterested, 
 troop*. S an d capable of governing the kingdom with honour 
 in times of tranquillity, possessed neither the courage 
 nor the sagacity necessary at such a dangerous junc- 
 ture. Finding himself unable to check these outrages 
 committed under his own eye, he attempted to appease 
 the people, by protesting that Fonseca had exceeded 
 his orders, and had by his rash conduct offended him, 
 as much as he had injured them. This condescen- 
 sion, the effect of irresolution and timidity, rendered 
 the malecontents bolder and more insolent ; and the 
 cardinal having soon after recalled Fonseca, and dis- 
 missed his troops, which he could no longer afford to 
 pay, as the treasury, drained by the rapaciousness of 
 the Flemish ministers, had received no supply from 
 the great cities, which were all in anns, the people 
 were left at full liberty to act without control, and
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 93 
 
 scarcely any shadow of power remained in his BOOK 
 hands. IIL 
 
 Nor were the proceedings of the commons the 1*22. 
 effect merely of popular and tumultuary rage ; they ^ e "*** 
 aimed at obtaining redress of their political grievances, sions of the 
 and an establishment of public liberty on a secure basis, of Castile, 
 objects worthy of all the zeal which they discovered 
 in contending for them. The feudal government 
 in Spain was at that time in a state more favourable 
 to liberty than in any other of the great European 
 kingdoms. This was owing chiefly to the number 
 of great cities in that country, a circumstance I 
 have already taken notice of, and which contributes 
 more than any other to mitigate the rigour of the 
 feudal institutions, and to introduce a more liberal 
 and equal fonn of government. The inhabitants of 
 every city formed a great corporation, with valuable 
 immunities and privileges ; they were delivered from 
 a state of subjection and vassalage ; they were ad- 
 mitted to a considerable share in the legislature ; they 
 had acquired the arts of industry, without which 
 cities cannot subsist ; they had accumulated wealth, by 
 engaging in commerce ; and, being free and inde- 
 pendent themselves, were ever ready to act as the 
 guardians of the public freedom and independence. 
 The genius of the internal government established 
 among the inhabitants of cities, which, even in coun- 
 tries where despotic power prevails most, is demo- 
 crat ical and republican, rendered the idea of liberty 
 familiar and dear to them. Their representatives in 
 the cortes were accustomed, with equal spirit, to 
 check the encroachments of the king and the oppres- 
 sion of the nobles. They endeavoured to extend the 
 privileges of their own order ; they laboured to shake 
 off the remaining incumbrances with which the spirit 
 of feudal policy, favourable only to the nobles, had 
 burdened them ; and conscious of being one of the
 
 )4> THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK mos t considerable orders in the state, were ambitious 
 of becoming the most powerful. 
 
 1522. rpjjg p resen t juncture appeared favourable for push- 
 
 Thcir con- , , . ,-, . . i f 
 
 federacy by ing any new claim. Their sovereign was absent from 
 the holy 6 f ms dominions ; by the ill conduct of his ministers he 
 junta. had l os t the esteem and affection of his subjects ; 
 the people, exasperated by many injuries, had taken 
 anns, though without concert, almost by general con- 
 sent ; they were animated with rage capable of carry- 
 ing them to the most violent extremes ; the royal 
 treasury was exhausted, the kingdom destitute of 
 troops, and the government committed to a stranger, 
 of great virtue, indeed, but of abilities unequal to 
 such a trust. The first care of Padilla, and the other 
 popular leaders who observed and determined to im- 
 prove these circumstances, was to establish some form 
 of union or association among the malecontents, that 
 they might act with greater regularity, and pursue one 
 common end ; and as the different cities had been 
 prompted to take arms by the same motives, and 
 were accustomed to consider themselves as a distinct 
 body from the rest of the subjects, they did not find 
 this difficult. A general convention was appointed 
 to be held at Avila. Deputies appeared there in 
 name of almost all the cities entitled to have repre- 
 sentatives in the cortes. They all bound them- 
 selves, by solemn oath, to live and die in the sen-ice 
 of the king, and in defence of the privileges of their 
 order ; and assuming the name of the * holy junta,' 
 or association, proceeded to deliberate concerning 
 the state of the nation, and the proper method of 
 Theydis- redressing its grievances. The first that naturally 
 Aden's presented itself was the nomination of a foreigner to 
 authority, be regent ; this they declared with one voice to be a 
 violation of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, 
 
 O 
 
 and resolved to send a deputation of their members 
 to Adrian, requiring him in their name to lay aside
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 95 
 
 all the ensigns of his office, and to abstain for the BOOK 
 
 in 
 future from the exercise of a jurisdiction which they 
 
 had pronounced illegal. 6 1522< 
 
 While they were preparing to execute this bold Get 
 
 i- T Tii TIT ~, sion of 
 
 resolution, radilla accomplished an enterprise of the Queen 
 greatest advantage to the cause. After relieving 
 Segovia, he marched suddenly to Tordesillas, the place 
 where the unhappy Queen Joanna had resided since 
 the death of her husband, and, being favoured by the 
 inhabitants, was admitted into the town, and became 
 master of her person, for the security of which Adrian 
 had neglected to take proper precautions/ Padilla 
 waited immediately upon the queen, and, accosting 
 her with that profound respect, which she exacted 
 from the few persons whom she deigned to admit 
 into her presence, acquainted her at large with the 
 miserable condition of her Castilian subjects under the 
 government of her son, who, being destitute of ex- 
 perience himself, permitted his foreign ministers to 
 treat them with such rigour as had obliged them to 
 take arms in defence of the liberties of their country. 
 The queen, as if she had been awakened out of a 
 lethargy, expressed great astonishment at what he 
 said, and told him, that as she had never heard, until 
 that moment, of the death of her father, or known the 
 sufferings of her people, no blame could be imputed 
 to her, but that now she would take care to provide a 
 sufficient remedy ; " and in the mean time," added she, 
 " let it be your concern to do what is necessary for the 
 public welfare." Padilla, too eager in forming a con- 
 clusion agreeable to his wishes, mistook this lucid 
 interval of reason for a perfect return of that faculty ; 
 and, acquainting the junta with what had happened, 
 advised them to remove to Tordesillas, and to hold 
 
 c P. Mart. Ep. 691. 
 
 f Vita dull* Imper. Carl. V. dell' Alf. Ulloa. Yen. 1509, p. 67. Miniana, 
 Contin. p. 17.
 
 96 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK their meetings in that place. This was instantly 
 
 IIT ' done; but though Joanna received very graciously 
 
 1522t an address of the junta, beseeching her to take upon 
 
 herself the government of the kingdom, and, in token 
 
 of her compliance, admitted all the deputies to kiss 
 
 her hand ; though she was present at a tournament 
 
 held on that occasion, and seemed highly satisfied 
 
 with both these ceremonies, which were conducted 
 
 with great magnificence in order to please her, she 
 
 soon relapsed into her former melancholy and sullen- 
 
 ness, and could never be brought, by any arguments 
 
 or entreaties, to sign any one paper necessary for the 
 
 dispatch of business. 8 
 
 Carry on The junta, concealing as much as possible this last 
 
 govern- . . ni-ii-i i 
 
 circumstance, carried on all their deliberations in the 
 
 .name of Joanna ; and as the Castilians, who idolized 
 the memory of Isabella, retained a wonderful attach- 
 ment to her daughter, no sooner was it known that 
 she had consented to assume the reins of government, 
 than the people expressed the most universal and 
 immoderate joy ; and, believing her recovery to be 
 complete, ascribed it to a miraculous interposition 
 of heaven, in order to rescue their country from the 
 and deprive oppression of foreigners. The junta, conscious of the 
 ril pom. reputation and power which they had acquired by 
 seeming to act under the royal authority, were no 
 longer satisfied with requiring Adrian to resign the 
 office of regent ; they detached Padilla to Valladolid 
 with a considerable body of troops, ordering him to 
 seize such members of the council as were still in that 
 city, to conduct them to Tordesillas, and to bring 
 . away the seals of the kingdom, the public archives, 
 and treasury books. Padilla, who was received by 
 the citizens as the deliverer of his country, executed 
 his commission with great exactness ; permitting 
 Adrian, however, still to reside in Valladolid, though 
 
 B Sandov. 1 64. P. Mart. Ep. 685, 686.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 97 
 
 only as a private person, and without any shadow of BOOK 
 power." m r 
 
 The emperor, to whom frequent accounts of these 1522> 
 transactions were transmitted while he was still in 
 Flanders, was sensible of his own imprudence and 
 that of his ministers, in having despised too long the 
 murmurs and remonstrances of the Castilians. He 
 beheld, with deep concern, a kingdom, the most 
 valuable of any he possessed, and in which lay the 
 strength and sinews of his power, just ready to disown 
 his authority, and on the point of being plunged in all 
 the miseries of civil war. But though his presence 
 might have averted this calamity, he could not, at that 
 time, visit Spain without endangering the imperial 
 crown, and allowing the French king full leisure to 
 execute his ambitious schemes. The only point now 
 to be deliberated upon, was, whether he should at- 
 tempt to gain the malecontents by indulgence and 
 concessions, or prepare directly to suppress them by 
 force ; and he resolved to make trial of the fonner, 
 while, at the same time, if that should fail of success, 
 he prepared for the latter. For this purpose, he issued 
 circular letters to all the cities of Castile, exhorting 
 them in most gentle terms, and with assurances of 
 full pardon, to lay down their arms ; he promised such 
 cities as had continued faithful, not to exact from 
 them the subsidy granted in the late cortes, and 
 offered the same favour to such as returned to their 
 duty ; he engaged that no office should be conferred 
 for the future upon any but native Castilians. On 
 the other hand, he wrote to the nobles, exciting them 
 to appear with vigour in defence of their own rights, 
 and those of the crown, against the exorbitant claims 
 of the commons ; he appointed the high admiral, Don 
 Fadrique Enriques, and the High Constable of Cas- 
 tile, Don Inigo de Valasco, two noblemen of great 
 
 h Sandov. 174. P. Mart. Ep. 791. 
 Ch. VOL. II. H
 
 98 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK abilities as well as influence, regents of the kingdom 
 in conjunction with Adrian ; and he gave them full 
 
 1522> power and instructions, if the obstinacy of the male- 
 contents should render it necessary, to vindicate the 
 royal authority by force of arms.' 
 The large These concessions, which, at the time of his leaving 
 
 remon- 
 strance of Spain, would have fully satisfied the people, came 
 
 now too late to produce any effect. The junta, re- 
 griev- lying on the unanimity with which the nation sub- 
 
 . * T 
 
 mitted to their authority, elated with the success 
 which hitherto had accompanied all their undertak- 
 ings, and seeing no military force collected to defeat 
 or obstruct their designs, aimed at a more thorough 
 reformation of political abuses. They had been em- 
 ployed for some time in preparing a remonstrance, 
 containing a large enumeration, not only of the 
 grievances of which they craved redress, but of such 
 new regulations as they thought necessary for the 
 security of their liberties. This remonstrance, which 
 is divided into many articles, relating to all the dif- 
 ferent members of which the constitution was com- 
 posed, as well as the various departments in the 
 administration of government, furnishes us with more 
 authentic evidence concerning the intentions of the 
 junta, than can be drawn from the testimony of the 
 later Spanish historians, who lived in times when it 
 became fashionable, and even necessary, to represent 
 the conduct of the malecontents in the worst light, 
 
 o ' 
 
 and as flowing from the worst motives. After a long 
 preamble concerning the various calamities under 
 which the nation groaned, and the errors and cor- 
 ruption in government to which these were to be 
 imputed, they take notice of the exemplary patience 
 wherewith the people had endured them, until self- 
 preservation, and the duty which they owed to their 
 country, had obliged them to assemble, in order to 
 
 ' P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 6. p. 188.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 99 
 
 provide in a legal manner for their own safety, and BOOK 
 
 that of the constitution : For this purpose they de- 
 
 manded that the king would be pleased to return to 1522> 
 his Spanish dominions and reside there, as all their 
 former monarchs had done ; that he would not marry 
 but with consent of the cortes ; that if he should be 
 obliged at any time to leave the kingdom, it shall not 
 be lawful to appoint any foreigner to be regent ; that 
 the present nomination of Cardinal Adrian to that 
 office shall instantly be declared void ; that he would 
 not, at his return, bring along with him any Flemings 
 or other strangers j that no foreign troops shall, on 
 any pretence whatever, be introduced into the king- 
 dom ; that none but natives shall be capable of 
 holding any office or benefice either in church or 
 state ; that no foreigner shall be naturalized ; that 
 free quarters shall not be granted to soldiers, nor to 
 the members of the king's household, for any longer 
 time than six days, and that only when the court is 
 in a progress ; that all the taxes shall be reduced to 
 the same state they were in at the death of Queen 
 Isabella ; that all alienations of the royal demesnes 
 or revenues since the queen's death shall be resumed ; 
 that all new offices created since that period shall be 
 abolished; that the subsidy granted by the late 
 cortes in Galicia shall not be exacted ; that in all 
 future cortes each city shall send one representative 
 of the clergy, one of the gentry, and one of the com- 
 mons, each to be elected by his own order ; that the 
 crown shall not influence or direct any city with 
 regard to the choice of its representatives ; that no 
 member of the cortes shall receive an office or pension 
 from the king, either for himself or for any of his 
 family, under pain of death, and confiscation of his 
 goods ; that each city or community shall pay a 
 competent salary to its representative for his main- 
 tenance during his attendance on the cortes ; that 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the cortes shall assemble once in three years at least, 
 
 TT T 
 
 !_ whether summoned by the king or not, and shall 
 
 1522 ' then enquire into the observation of the articles now 
 agreed upon, and deliberate concerning public affairs ; 
 that the rewards which have been given or promised 
 to any of the members of the cortes held in Galicia 
 shall be revoked ; that it shall be declared a capital 
 crime to send gold, silver, or jewels out of the king- 
 dom ; that judges shall have fixed salaries assigned 
 them, and shall not receive any share of the fines and 
 forfeitures of persons condemned by them ; that no 
 grant of the goods of persons accused shall be valid, 
 if given before sentence was pronounced against them ; 
 that all privileges which the nobles have at any time 
 obtained, to the prejudice of the commons, shall be 
 revoked ; that the government of cities or towns shall 
 not be put into the hands of noblemen ; that the 
 possessions of the nobility shall be subject to all public 
 taxes in the same manner as those of the commons ; 
 that an enquiry be made into the conduct of such as 
 have been intrusted with the management of the royal 
 patrimony since the accession of Ferdinand ; and if 
 the king do not within thirty days appoint persons 
 properly qualified for that service, it shall be lawful 
 for the cortes to nominate them ; that indulgences 
 shall not be preached or dispersed in the kingdom 
 until the cause of publishing them be examined and 
 approved of by the cortes ; that all the money arising 
 from the sale of indulgences shall be faithfully em- 
 ployed in carrying on war against the infidels ; that 
 such prelates as do not reside in their dioceses six 
 months in the year, shall forfeit their revenues during 
 the time they are absent ; that the ecclesiastical judges 
 and their officers shall not exact greater fees than 
 those which are paid in the secular courts ; that the 
 present Archbishop of Toledo, being a foreigner, be 
 compelled to resign that dignity, which shall be con-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 10 1 
 
 ferred upon a Castilian ; that the king shall ratify BOOK 
 and hold, as good service done to him and to the IIL 
 kingdom, all the proceedings of the junta, and 1522< 
 pardon any irregularities which the cities may have 
 committed from an excess of zeal in a good cause : 
 that he shall promise and swear in the most solemn 
 manner to observe all these articles, and on no oc- 
 casion attempt either to elude or to repeal them ; 
 and that he shall never solicit the pope or any other 
 prelate to grant him a dispensation or absolution 
 from this oath and promise. k 
 
 Such were the chief articles presented by the junta The p'nt 
 to their sovereign. As the feudal institutions in the S!h i? 
 several kingdoms of Europe were originally the same, breathed 
 the genius of those governments which arose from 
 them bore a strong resemblance to each other, and 
 the regulations which the Castilians attempted to 
 establish on this occasion, differ little from those 
 which other nations have laboured to procure in their 
 struggles with their monarch s for liberty. The 
 grievances complained of, and the remedies proposed 
 by the English commons in their contests with the 
 princes of the house of Stuart, particularly resemble 
 those upon which the junta now insisted. But the 
 principles of liberty seem to have been better under- 
 stood, at this period, by the Castilians, than by any 
 other people in Europe ; they had acquired more 
 liberal ideas with respect to their own rights and 
 privileges ; they had formed more bold and generous 
 sentiments concerning government ; and discovered 
 an extent of political knowledge to which the English 
 themselves did not attain until more than a century 
 afterwards. 
 
 It is not improbable, however, that the spirit of re- 
 formation among the Castilians, hitherto unrestrained 
 by authority, and emboldened by success, became too 
 
 k Sandov. 206. T. Mart. Ep. 686. 
 H 3
 
 102 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK impetuous, and prompted the junta to propose inno- 
 IIL . vations which, by alarming the other members of the 
 1522> constitution, proved fatal to their cause. The nobles, 
 who, instead of obstructing, had favoured or connived 
 at their proceedings, while they confined their de- 
 mands of redress to such grievances as had been oc- 
 casioned by the king's want of experience, and by 
 the imprudence and rapaciousness of his foreign 
 
 irritates ministers, were filled with indignation when the junta 
 began to touch the privileges of their order, and 
 plainly saw that the measures of the commons tended 
 no less to break the power of the aristocracy, than to 
 limit the prerogatives of the crown. The resentment 
 which they had conceived on account of Adrian's pro- 
 motion to the regency, abated considerably upon the 
 emperor's raising the constable and admiral to joint 
 power with him in that office ; and as their pride and 
 dignity were less hurt by suffering the prince to 
 possess an extensive prerogative, than by admitting 
 the high pretensions of the people, they determined 
 to give their sovereign the assistance which he had 
 demanded of them, and began to assemble their 
 vassals for that purpose. 
 
 '^ ie J unta meanwhile, expected with impatience 
 
 junta dare the emperor's answer to their remonstrance, which 
 they had appointed some of their number to present. 
 ^ e membei% s intrusted with this commission set out 
 immediately for Germany; but having received at 
 different places certain intelligence from court, that 
 they could not venture to appear there without en- 
 dangering their lives, they stopped short in their jour- 
 ney, and acquainted the junta of the information which 
 had been given them. 1 This excited such violent 
 passions as transported the whole party beyond all 
 bounds of prudence or of moderation. That a king 
 of Castile should deny his subjects access into his 
 
 1 Saadov. 143.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 103 
 
 presence, or refuse to listen to their humble petitions, BOOK 
 was represented as an act of tyranny so unprece- 
 dented and intolerable, that nothing now remained 1522< 
 but with arms in their hands to drive away that 
 ravenous band of foreigners which encompassed the 
 throne, who, after having devoured the wealth of the 
 kingdom, found it necessary to prevent the cries of 
 an injured people from reaching the ears of their 
 sovereign. Many insisted warmly on approving a Violent 
 motion which had formerly been made, for depriving fbn^ofthe 
 Charles, during the life of his mother, of the regal J unta> 
 titles and authority which had been too rashly con- 
 ferred upon him, from a false supposition of her total 
 inability for government. Some proposed to provide 
 a proper person to assist her in the administration of 
 public affairs, by marrying the queen to the prince of 
 Calabria, the heir of the Aragonese kings of Naples, 
 who had been detained in prison since the time that 
 Ferdinand had dispossessed his ancestors of their 
 crown. All agreed that, as the hopes of obtaining 
 redress and security merely by presenting their re- 
 quests to their sovereign, had kept them too long in 
 a state of inaction, and prevented them from taking 
 advantage of the unanimity with which the nation 
 declared in their favour, it was now necessary to col- 
 lect their whole force, and to exert themselves with 
 vigour, in opposing this fatal combination of the king 
 and the nobility against their liberties." 1 
 
 They soon took the field with twenty thousand They take 
 
 ' . J . thetield. 
 
 men. Violent disputes arose concerning the com- 
 mand of this army. Padilla, the darling of the 
 people and soldiers, was the only person whom they 
 thought worthy of this honour. But Don Pedro de 
 Giron, the eldest son of the Conde de Uruena, a 
 young nobleman of the first order, having lately 
 joined the commons out of private resentment against 
 
 m P. Mart. Ep. 688. 
 H 4-
 
 10 4, THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the emperor, the respect due to his birth, together 
 IIL with a secret desire of disappointing Padilla, of whose 
 1522 - popularity many members of the junta had become 
 NOT * 23 ' jealous, procured him the office of general ; though 
 he soon gave them a fatal proof that he possessed nei- 
 ther the experience, the abilities, nor the steadiness 
 which that important station required. 
 
 The regenu The regents, meanwhile, appointed Rioseco as the 
 d nobles ^^ of ren a ez vous for their troops, which, though 
 far inferior to those of the commons in number, ex- 
 celled them greatly in discipline and in valour. They 
 had drawn a considerable body of regular and ve- 
 teran infantry out of Navarre. Their cavalry, which 
 formed the chief strength of their army, consisted 
 mostly of gentlemen accustomed to the military 
 life, and animated with the martial spirit pecu- 
 liar to their order in that age. The infantry of 
 the junta was formed entirely of citizens and mecha- 
 nics, little acquainted with the use of arms. The 
 small body of cavalry which they had been able to 
 raise, was composed of persons of ignoble birth, and 
 perfect strangers to the service into which they entered. 
 The character of the generals differed no less than 
 that of their troops. The royalists were commanded 
 by the Conde de Haro, the constable's eldest son, 
 an officer of great experience and of distinguished 
 abilities. 
 
 impru- Giron marched with his army directly to Rioseco, 
 
 m "roccess an ^ se i zm g the villages and passes around it, hoped 
 of the gene- that the royalists would be obliged either to surrender 
 
 ralofthe r "L . . _, . . .. , 
 
 junta. for want or provisions, or to fight with disadvantage 
 before all their troops were assembled. But he had 
 not the abilities, nor his troops the patience and dis- 
 cipline, necessary for the execution of such a scheme. 
 The Conde de Haro found little difficulty in con- 
 ducting a considerable reinforcement through all his 
 posts into the town ; and Giron, despairing of being
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. -, 05 
 
 able to reduce it, advanced suddenly to Villapanda, BOOK 
 a place belonging to the constable, in which the IIL 
 enemy had their chief magazine of provisions. By this 1522 - 
 ill-judged motion, he left Tordesillas open to the 
 royalists, whom the Conde de Haro led thither in the 
 night with the utmost secrecy and dispatch ; and Decem. 5. 
 attacking the town in which Giron had left no other 
 garrison than a regiment of priests raised by the 
 Bishop of Zamora, he, by break of day, forced his 
 way into it, after a desperate resistance, became mas- 
 ter of the queen's person, took prisoners many mem- 
 bers of the junta, and recovered the great seal, with 
 the other ensigns of government. 
 
 By this fatal blow, the junta lost all the reputation 
 and authority which they had derived from seeming 
 to act by the queen's commands ; such of the nobles as 
 had hitherto been wavering or undetermined in their 
 choice, now joined the regents, with all their forces ; 
 and an universal consternation seized the partisans of 
 the commons. This was much increased by the sus- 
 picions they began to entertain of Giron, whom they 
 loudly accused of having betrayed Tordesillas to the 
 enemy ; and though that charge seems to have been 
 destitute of foundation, the success of the royalists 
 being owing to Giron's ill conduct, rather than to his 
 treachery, he so entirely lost credit with his party, 
 that he resigned his commission, and retired to one 
 of his castles. " 
 
 Such members of the junta as had escaped the The junta 
 enemy's hands at Tordesillas, fled to Valladolid ; and 
 as it would have required long time to supply the tem> 
 places of those who were prisoners by a new election, 
 they made choice among themselves of a small num- 
 ber of persons, to whom they committed the supreme 
 direction of affairs. Their army, which grew stronger 
 every day by the arrival of troops from different parts 
 
 Miscellaneous Tracts by Dr. Midi. Geddes, vol. i. p. 278. _,
 
 106 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK of the kingdom, marched likewise to Valladolid ; and 
 IIL Padilla being appointed commander-in-chief, the spi- 
 1S22 * rits of the soldiery revived, and the whole party, for- 
 getting the late misfortune, continued to express the 
 same ardent zeal for the liberties of their country, 
 and the same implacable animosity against their op- 
 pressors. 
 
 Their pe- What they stood most in need of was money to 
 raiSig ' pay their troops. A great part of the current coin 
 money. |j a( j fe^ carr i e d out of the kingdom by the Flem- 
 ings ; the stated taxes levied in times of peace were 
 inconsiderable ; commerce of every kind being inter- 
 rupted by the war, the sum which it yielded decreased 
 daily ; and the junta were afraid of disgusting the 
 people by burdening them with new impositions, to 
 which, in that age, they were little accustomed. But 
 from this difficulty they were extricated by Donna 
 Maria Pacheco, Padilla's wife, a woman of noble 
 birth, of great abilities, of boundless ambition, and 
 animated with the most ardent zeal in support of the 
 cause of the junta. She, with a boldness superior to 
 those superstitious fears which often influence her 
 sex, proposed to seize all the rich and magnificent 
 ornaments in the cathedral of Toledo ; but lest that 
 action, by its appearance of impiety, might offend the 
 people, she and her retinue marched to the church in 
 solemn procession, in mourning habits, with tears in 
 their eyes, beating their breasts, and, falling on their 
 knees, implored the pardon of the saints whose 
 shrines she was about to violate. By this artifice, 
 which screened her from the imputation of sacrilege, 
 and persuaded the people that necessity and zeal for 
 a good cause had constrained her, though with re- 
 luctance, to venture upon this action, she stripped the 
 cathedral of whatever was valuable, and procured a 
 considerable sum of money for the junta. The 
 
 Sandov. 308. Diet, de Bayle, art. Padilla.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 regents, no less at a loss how to maintain their troops, BOOK 
 the revenues of the crown having either been dissi- 
 pated by the Flemings or seized by the commons, 1522 - 
 were obliged to take the queen's jewels, together with 
 the plate belonging to the nobility, and apply them to 
 that purpose ; and when those failed, they obtained 
 a small sum by way of loan from the King of Por- 
 tugal. 13 
 
 The nobility discovered great unwillingness to Lose time 
 proceed to extremities with the junta. They were l" n s e *iuT 
 animated with no less hatred than the commons the nobility, 
 against the Flemings ; they approved much of several 
 articles in the remonstrance ; they thought the junc- 
 ture favourable, not only for redressing past grievances, 
 but for rendering the constitution more perfect and 
 secure by new regulations ; they were afraid, that 
 while the two orders, of which the legislature was 
 composed, wasted each other's strength by mutual 
 hostilities, the crown would rise to power on the ruin 
 or weakness of both, and encroach no less on the 
 independence of the nobles, than on the privileges of 
 the commons. To this disposition were owing the 
 frequent overtures of peace which the regents made 
 to the junta, and the continual negotiations they car- 
 ried on during the progress of their military operations. 
 Nor were the terms which they offered unreasonable ; 
 for, on condition that the junta would pass from a few 
 articles most subversive of the royal authority, or in- 
 consistent with the rights of the nobility, they engaged 
 to procure the emperor's consent to their other de- 
 mands, which, if he, through the influence of evil 
 counsellors, should refuse, several of the nobles pro- 
 mised to join with the commons in their endeavours 
 to extort it. q Such divisions, however, prevailed 
 among the members of the junta, as prevented their 
 
 p P. Mart. Ep. 718. 
 
 q P. Mart. Ep. 695. 713. Geddes's Tracts, i. 261.
 
 108 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK deliberating calmly, or judging with prudence. Some 
 IL of the cities which had entered into the confederacy 
 
 1522. were u ec i w ith that m ean jealousy and distrust of 
 each other, which rivalship in commerce or in grandeur 
 is apt to inspire ; the constable, by his influence and 
 promises, had prevailed on the inhabitants of Burgos 
 to abandon the junta, and other noblemen had shaken 
 the fidelity of some of the lesser cities ; no person 
 had arisen among the commons of such superior abili- 
 ties or elevation of mind as to acquire the direction 
 of their affairs ; Padilla, their general, was a man of 
 popular qualities, but distrusted for that reason by 
 those of highest rank who adhered to the junta ; the 
 conduct of Giron led the people to view with sus- 
 picion every person of noble birth who joined their 
 party ; so that the strongest marks of irresolution, 
 mutual distrust, and mediocrity of genius, appeared 
 in all their proceedings at this time. After many 
 consultations held concerning the terms proposed by 
 the regents, they suffered themselves to be so carried 
 away by resentment against the nobility, that, rejecting 
 all thoughts of accommodation, they threatened to 
 strip them of the crown lands, which they or their 
 ancestors had usurped, and to re-annex these to the 
 royal domain. Upon this preposterous scheme, which 
 would at once have annihilated all the liberties for 
 which they had been struggling, by rendering the 
 kings of Castile absolute and independent on their 
 subjects, they were so intent, that they now exclaimed 
 with less vehemence against the exactions of the 
 foreign ministers, than against the exorbitant power 
 and wealth of the nobles, and seemed to hope that 
 they might make peace with Charles, by offering to 
 enrich him with their spoils. 
 
 Sit* The success which Padilla had met with in several 
 small rencounters, and in reducing some inconsiderable 
 
 re!Tcoun- a towns > helped to precipitate the members of the junta 
 
 ters.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 into this measure, filling them with such confidence in BOOK 
 the valour of their troops, that they hoped for an easy 
 victory over the royalists. Padilla, that his army J522 - 
 might not remain inactive while flushed with good 
 fortune, laid siege to Torrelobaton, a place of greater 
 strength and importance than any that he had hitherto 
 ventured to attack, and which was defended by a suf- 
 ficient garrison ; and though the besieged made a 
 desperate resistance, and the admiral attempted to 
 relieve them, he took the town by storm, and gave it March i. 
 up to be plundered by his soldiers. If he had marched 152K 
 instantly with his victorious army to Tordesillas, the 
 head-quarters of the royalists, he could hardly have 
 failed of making an effectual impression on their 
 troops, whom he would have found in astonishment 
 at the briskness of his operations, and far from being 
 of sufficient strength to give him battle. But the 
 fickleness and imprudence of the junta prevented his 
 taking this step. Incapable, like all popular associa- i mpru _ 
 tions, either of carrying on war or of making peace, d L ei ! ce of . 
 
 9 , J i theircon-, 
 
 they listened again to overtures 01 accommodation, duct, 
 and even agreed to a short suspension of arms. This 
 negotiation terminated in nothing ; but while it was 
 carrying on, many of Padilla's soldiers, unacquainted 
 with the restraints of discipline, went off with the 
 booty which they had got at Torrelobaton ; and 
 others, wearied out by the unusual length of the 
 campaign, deserted/ The constable, too, had leisure 
 to assemble his forces at Burgos, and to prepare every 
 thing for taking the field ; and as soon as the truce 
 expired, he effected a junction with the Conde de Haro, 
 in spite of all Padillo's efforts to prevent it. They 
 advanced immediately towards Torrelobaton ; and 
 Padilla, findingthe number of his trooops so diminished 
 that he durst not risk a battle, attempted to retreat to 
 Toro, which if he could have accomplished, the inva- 
 
 ' Sandov. 336.
 
 110 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK sion of Navarre at that juncture by the French, and 
 IIL ___ the necessity which the regents must have been under 
 1522. O f detaching men to that kingdom, might have saved 
 SckS* nim fr m danger. But Haro, sensible how fatal the 
 army of the consequences would be of suffering him to escape, 
 J Aprii'23. marched with such rapidity at the head of his cavalry, 
 that he came up with him near Villalar, and, without 
 waiting for his infantry, advanced to the attack. 
 Padilla's army, fatigued and disheartened by their 
 precipitate retreat, which they could not distinguish 
 from a flight, happened at that time to be passing over 
 a ploughed field, on which such a violent rain had 
 fallen, that the soldiers sunk almost to the knees at 
 every step, and remained exposed to the fire of some 
 field-pieces which the royalists had brought along with 
 them. All these circumstances so disconcerted and 
 intimidated raw soldiers, that, without facing the 
 and defeat enem y or making any resistance, they fled in the 
 it- utmost confusion. Padilla exerted himself with ex- 
 
 traordinary courage and activity in order to rally them, 
 though in vain ; fear rendering them deaf both to his 
 threats and entreaties. Upon which, finding matters 
 irretrievable, and resolving not to survive the disgrace 
 of that day, and the ruin of his party, he rushed into 
 the thickest of the enemy ; but being wounded and 
 dismounted, he was taken prisoner. His principal 
 officers shared the same fate ; the common soldiers 
 were allowed to depart unhurt, the nobles being too 
 generous to kill men who threw down their arms. 5 
 
 The resentment of his enemies did not suffer Pa- 
 dilla to linger long in expectation of what should 
 befall him. Next day he was condemned to lose his 
 head, though without any regular trial, the notoriety 
 of the crime being supposed sufficient to supersede 
 
 ' Sandov. 345., &c. P. Mart. Ep. 720. Miniana, Contin. p. 26. Epi- 
 tome de la Vida y Hechos del Emper. Carlos V. por D. Juan, Anton, de- 
 Vera y Zuniga, 4to. Madr. 1C27. p. 19.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 the formality of a legal process. He was led in- BOOK 
 stantly to execution, together with Don John Bravo, m * 
 and Don Francis Maldonada, the former commander 1522 - 
 of the Segovians, and the latter of the troops of 
 Salamanca. Padilla viewed the approach of death with 
 calm but undaunted fortitude ; and when Bravo, his 
 fellow-sufferer, expressed some indignation at hearing 
 himself proclaimed a traitor, he checked him, by ob- 
 serving, " That yesterday was the time to have dis- 
 played the spirit of gentlemen, this day to die with 
 the meekness of Christians." Being permitted to 
 write to his wife and to the community of Toledo, 
 the place of his nativity, he addressed the former 
 with a manly and virtuous tenderness, and the latter 
 with the exultation natural to one who considered 
 himself as a martyr for the liberties of his country.' 
 
 ' The strain of these letters is so eloquent and high-spirited, that I have 
 translated them for the entertainment of my readers : 
 
 THE LETTER OF DOW JOHN PADILLA TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Senora, 
 
 " If your grief did not afflict me more than my own death, I should deem 
 myself perfectly happy. For the end of life being certain to all men, the Al- 
 mighty confers a mark of distinguishing favour upon that person, for whom he 
 appoints a death such as mine, which, though lamented by many, is neverthe- 
 less acceptable unto him. It would require more time than I now have, to 
 write any thing that could afford you consolation. That my enemies will not 
 grant me, nor do I wish to delay the reception of that crown which I hope to 
 enjoy. You may bewail your own loss, but not my death, which, being so 
 honourable, ought not to be lamented by any. My soul, for nothing else is 
 left to me, I bequeatli to you. You will receive it, as the thing in this world 
 which you value most. I do not write to my father Pero Lopez, because I dare 
 not ; for though I have shown myself to be his son in daring to lose my life, 
 I have not been the heir of his good fortune. I will not attempt to say any 
 thing more, that I may not tire the executioner, who waits for me ; and that I 
 may not excite a suspicion, that, in order to prolong my life, I lengthen out 
 my letter. My servant, Sosia, an eye-witness, and to whom I have commu- 
 nicated my most secret thoughts, will inform you of what I cannot now write; 
 and thus I rest, expecting the instrument of your grief, and of my deliver-, 
 ance. " 
 
 HIS LETTER TO THE CITY OF TOLEDO. 
 
 " To thee, the crown of Spain, and the light of the whole world, free from 
 the time of the mighty Goths : to thee, who, by shedding the blood of strangers, 
 as well as thy own blood, hast recovered liberty for thyself and thy neighbour- 
 ing cities, thy legitimate son, Juan de Padilla, gives information, how by the 
 blood of his body thy ancient victories arc to be refreshed. If fate hath not
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK After this, he submitted quietly to his fate. Most 
 IIL O f the Spanish historians, accustomed to ideas of 
 1522. government and of regal power very different from 
 those upon which he acted, have been so eager to 
 testify their disapprobation of the cause in which he 
 was engaged, that they have neglected, or have been 
 afraid to do justice to his virtues, and, by blackening 
 his memory, have endeavoured to deprive him of 
 that pity which is seldom denied to illustrious suf- 
 ferers. 
 
 Ruin of the The victory at Villalar proved as decisive as it was 
 f&rt7 ' complete. Valladolid, the most zealous of all the 
 associated cities, opened its gates immediately to the 
 conquerors, and being treated with great clemency by 
 the regents, Medina del Campo, Segovia, and many 
 other towns, followed its example. This sudden dis- 
 solution of a confederacy, formed not upon slight dis- 
 gusts, or upon trifling motives, into which the whole 
 body of the people had entered, and which had been 
 allowed time to acquire a considerable degree of order 
 and consistence by establishing a regular plan of 
 government, is the strongest proof either of the in- 
 ability of its leaders, or of some secret discord reign- 
 ing among its members. Though part of that 
 army by which they had been subdued was obliged, 
 a few days after the battle, to march towards Navarre, 
 
 permitted my actions to be placed among your successful and celebrated ex- 
 ploits, the fault hath been in my ill fortune, not in my good will. This I re- 
 quest of thee, as of a mother, to accept, since God hath given me nothing more 
 to lose for thy sake, than that which I am now to relinquish. I am more so- 
 licitous about thy good opinion than about my own life. The shiftings of for- 
 tune, which never stand still, are many. But this I see with infinite consola- 
 tion, that I, the least of thy children, suffer death for thee ; and that thou hast 
 nursed at thy breasts such as may take vengeance for my wrongs. Many 
 tongues will relate the manner of my death, of which I am still ignorant, 
 though I know it to be near. My end will testify what was my desire. M7 
 soul I recommend to thee as to the patroness of Christianity. Of my body I 
 say nothing, for it is not mine. I can write nothing more, for at this very mo- 
 ment I feel the knife at my throat, with greater dread of thy displeasure, than 
 apprehension of my own pain." Sandov. Hist. vol. i. p. 478.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 113 
 
 in order to check the progress of the French in that BOOK 
 
 kingdom, nothing could prevail on the dejected com- - 1_ 
 
 mons of Castile to take arms again, and to embrace 1522> 
 such a favourable opportunity of acquiring those 
 rights and privileges for which they had appeared so 
 zealous. The city of Toledo alone, animated by 
 
 Donna Maria Pacheco, Padiiia's widow, who, instead f en ds Toie- 
 of bewailing her husband with a womanish sorrow, do * lth . . 
 
 ' great spirit. 
 
 prepared to revenge his death, and to prosecute that 
 cause in defence of which he had suffered, must be 
 excepted. Respect for her sex, or admiration for 
 her courage and abilities, as well as sympathy with 
 her misfortunes, and veneration for the memory of 
 her husband, secured her the same ascendant over the 
 people which he had possessed. The prudence and 
 vigour with which she acted, justified that confidence 
 they placed in her. She wrote to the French general 
 in Navarre, encouraging him to invade Castile by the 
 offer of powerful assistance. She endeavoured, by her 
 letters and emissaries, to revive the spirit and hopes 
 of the other cities. She raised soldiers, and exacted 
 a great sum from the clergy belonging to the cathe- 
 dral, in order to defray the expence of keeping them 
 on foot. u She employed every artifice that could in- 
 terest or inflame the populace. For this purpose she 
 ordered crucifixes to be used by her troops instead of 
 colours, as if they had been at war with the infidels 
 and enemies of religion ; she marched through the 
 streets of Toledo with her son, a young child, clad in 
 deep mourning, seated on a mule, having a standard 
 carried before him, representing the manner of his 
 father's execution. x By all these means she kept the 
 minds of the people in such perpetual agitation as 
 prevented their passions from subsiding, and ren- 
 dered them insensible of the dangers to which they 
 were exposed, by standing alone, in opposition to the 
 
 P. Mart Ep. 727. x Sandov. 375. 
 
 Ch. VOL. II. I
 
 114 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK royal authority. While the army was employed in 
 Navarre, the regents were unable to attempt the re- 
 
 1522. 
 
 duction of Toledo by force ; and all their endeavours, 
 either to diminish Donna Maria's credit with the 
 people, or to gain her by large promises and the so- 
 licitations of her brother, the Marquis de Mondeiar, 
 proved ineffectual. Upon the expulsion of the French 
 out of Navarre, part of the army returned into Castile, 
 and invested Toledo. Even this made no impression 
 on the intrepid and obstinate courage of Donna 
 Maria. She defended the town with vigour, her 
 troops, in several sallies, beat the royalists, and no 
 progress was made towards reducing the place, until 
 the clergy, whom she had highly offended by in- 
 vading their property, ceased to support her. As 
 soon as they received information of the death of 
 William de Croy, Archbishop of Toledo, whose pos- 
 session of that see was their chief grievance, and that 
 the emperor had named a Castilian to succeed him, 
 they openly turned against her, and persuaded the 
 people that she had acquired such influence over 
 them, by the force of enchantments ; that she was 
 assisted by a familiar demon, which attended her in 
 the form of a negro-maid ; and that by its suggestions 
 she regulated every part of her conduct. y The cre- 
 dulous multitude, whom their impatience of a long 
 blockade, and despair of obtaining succours either 
 from the cities formerly in confederacy with them, 
 or from the French, rendered desirous of peace, took 
 arms against her, and, driving her out of the city, 
 
 October 26. surrendered it to the royalists. She retired to the 
 citadel, which she defended with amazing fortitude 
 four months longer ; and, when reduced to the last 
 
 K?i522 y extreimties sne ma( ie her escape in disguise, and fled 
 to Portugal, where she had many relations. z 
 
 y P. Mart Ep. 727. 
 
 z Sandov. 875. P. Mart. Ep. 754. Ferrer, viii. 563.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 115 
 
 Upon her flight the citadel surrendered. Tran- BOOK 
 quillity was re-established in Castile ; and this bold In ' 
 attempt of the commons, like all unsuccessful insur- 1522 * 
 
 . x .. Fatal ef- 
 
 rections, contributed to confirm and extend the power fectsofthe 
 of the crown, which it was intended to moderate and 
 abridge. The cortes still continued to make a part 
 of the Castilian constitution, and was summoned to 
 meet whenever the king stood in need of money ; 
 but instead of adhering to their ancient and cautious 
 form of examining and redressing public grievances, 
 before they proceeded to grant any supply, the more 
 courtly custom of voting a donative in the first place 
 was introduced, and the sovereign, having obtained all 
 that he wanted, never allowed them to enter into any 
 inquiry, or to attempt any reformation injurious to 
 his authority. The privileges which the cities had 
 enjoyed were gradually circumscribed or abolished ; 
 their commerce began from this period to decline ; 
 and becoming less wealthy and less populous, they 
 lost that power and influence which they had ac- 
 quired in the cortes. 
 
 While Castile was exposed to the calamities of civil The pro- 
 war, the kingdom of Valencia was torn by intestine 
 commotions still more violent. The association which 
 had been formed in the city of Valencia in the year 
 one thousand five hundred and twenty, and which 
 was distinguished by the name of the Germanada, 
 continued to subsist after the emperor's departure 
 from Spain. The members of it, upon pretext of 
 defending the coasts against the descents of the 
 corsairs of Barbary, and under sanction of that per- 
 mission, which Charles had rashly granted them, re- 
 fused to lay down their arms. But as the grievances, 
 which the Valencians aimed at redressing, proceeded 
 from the arrogance and exactions of the nobility, 
 rather than from any unwarrantable exercise of the 
 royal prerogative, their resentment turned chiefly 
 
 i 2
 
 Q THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK against the former. As soon as they were allowed 
 IIL the use of amis, and became conscious of their own 
 1522 - strength, they grew impatient to take vengeance of 
 their oppressors. They drove the nobles out of most 
 of the cities, plundered their houses, wasted their 
 lands, and assaulted their castles. They then pro- 
 ceeded to elect thirteen persons, one from each com- 
 pany of tradesmen established at Valencia, and 
 committed the administration of government to them, 
 under pretext that they would reform the laws, esta- 
 blish one uniform mode of dispensing justice, without 
 partiality or regard to the distinction of ranks, and 
 thus restore men to some degree of their original 
 equality. 
 
 The nobles were obliged to take arms in self- 
 defence. Hostilities began, and were carried on 
 with all the rancour with which resentment at op- 
 pression inspired the one party, and the idea of in- 
 sulted dignity animated the other. As no person of 
 honourable birth, or of liberal education, joined the 
 Germanada, the councils as well as troops of the con- 
 federacy were conducted by low mechanics, who ac- 
 quired the confidence of an enraged multitude chiefly 
 by the fierceness of their zeal and the extravagance 
 of their proceedings. Among such men, the laws 
 introduced in civilized nations, in order to restrain 
 or moderate the violence of war, were unknown or 
 despised ; and they ran into the wildest excesses of 
 cruelty and outrage. 
 
 The emperor, occupied with suppressing the in- 
 surrection in Castile, which more immediately 
 threatened the subversion of his power and prero- 
 gative, was unable to give much attention to the 
 tumults in Valencia, and left the nobility of that 
 kingdom to fight their own battles. His viceroy, 
 the Conde de Melito, had the supreme command of 
 the forces which the nobles raised among the vassals.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 The Germanada carried on the war during the years BOOK 
 one thousand five hundred and twenty and twenty-one, IIL 
 with a more persevering courage than could have been 1522 ' 
 expected from a body so tumultuary, under the con- 
 duct of such leaders. They defeated the nobility in 
 several actions, which, though not considerable, were 
 extremely sharp. They repulsed them in their at- 
 tempts to reduce different towns. But the nobles, 
 by their superior skill in war, and at the head of 
 troops more accustomed to service, gained the ad- 
 vantage in most of the rencounters. At length they 
 were joined by a body of Castilian cavalry, which the 
 regents dispatched towards Valencia, soon after their 
 victory over Padilla at Villalar, and by their assist- 
 ance the Valencian nobles acquired such superiority 
 that they entirely broke and ruined the Germanada. 
 The leaders of the party were put to death, almost 
 without any formality of legal trial, and suffered such 
 cruel punishments, as the sense of recent injuries 
 prompted their adversaries to inflict. The govern- 
 ment of Valencia was re-established in its ancient 
 form. * 
 
 In Aragon, violent symptoms of the same spirit of 
 disaffection and sedition which reigned in the other 
 kingdoms of Spain, began to appear; but by the inAra g n - 
 prudent conduct of the viceroy, Don John de Lanusa, 
 they were so far composed, as to prevent their break- 
 ing out into any open insurrection. But in the island Fonnidbi 
 
 /*- 11 f A il. 'isunrec- 
 
 of Majorca, annexed to the crown or Aragon, the doninM 
 same causes which had excited the commotions in J0rca *- 
 Valencia, produced effects no less violent. The 
 people, impatient of the hardships which they had 
 endured under the rigid jurisdiction of the nobility, March 19* 
 took arms in a tumultuary manner ; deposed their 
 
 ' Argensola, Annales de Afagon, cap. 75. 90. 99. 1 18. Sayas, Annnles de 
 Aragon, cap. 5. 12., &c. P. Mart. Ep. lib. xxxiii. et xxxi. passim. Ferrer* 
 hist. d'Espagne, viii. 542. 564, &c. 
 
 I 3
 
 118 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 1522 - 
 
 Causes 
 which pre- 
 vented the 
 union of 
 the male- 
 contents. 
 
 BOOK viceroy; drove him out of the island ; and massacred 
 
 ^ L every gentleman who was so unfortunate as to fall 
 
 into their hands. The obstinacy with which the 
 people of Majorca persisted in their rebellion, was 
 equal to the rage with which they began it. Many 
 and vigorous efforts were requisite in order to reduce 
 them to obedience ; and tranquillity was re-established 
 in every part of Spain, before the Majorcans could be 
 brought to submit to their sovereign. b 
 
 While the spirit of disaffection was so general 
 among the Spaniards, and so many causes concurred 
 in precipitating them into such violent measures, in 
 order to obtain the redress of their grievances, it may 
 appear strange, that the malecontents in the different 
 kingdoms should have carried on their operations 
 without any mutual concert, or even any intercourse 
 with each other. By uniting their councils and 
 arms, they might have acted both with greater force 
 and with more effect. The appearance of a national 
 confederacy would have rendered it no less respectable 
 among the people than formidable to the crown ; and 
 the emperor, unable to resist such a combination, 
 must have complied with any terms which the mem- 
 bers of it should have thought fit to prescribe. Many 
 things, however, prevented the Spaniards from form- 
 ing themselves into one body, and pursuing common 
 measures. The people of the different kingdoms in 
 Spain, though they were become the subjects of the 
 same sovereign, retained, in full force, their national 
 antipathy to each other. The remembrance of their 
 ancient rivalship and hostilities was still lively, and 
 the sense of reciprocal injuries so strong as to prevent 
 them from acting with confidence and concert. Each 
 nation chose rather to depend on its own efforts, and 
 
 b Argensola, Annales de Aragon, c. 113. Ferrer. Hist. viii. 542. Sayas, 
 Annales de Aragon, cap. 7. 11. 14. 76. 81. Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, 
 Viii. 579, &c. 609.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 119 
 
 to maintain the struggle alone, than to implore the BOOK 
 aid of neighbours, whom they distrusted and hated. IIL 
 At the same time, the forms of government in the 1522> 
 several kingdoms of Spain were so different, and the 
 grievances of which they complained, as well as the 
 alterations and amendments in policy which they at- 
 tempted to introduce, so various, that it was not easy 
 to bring them to unite in any common plan. To this 
 disunion Charles was indebted for the preservation of 
 the Spanish crowns ; and while each of the kingdoms 
 followed separate measures, they were all obliged at 
 last to conform to the will of their sovereign. 
 
 The arrival of the emperor in Spain filled his sub- The empe- 
 jects who had been in arms against him with deep ap- dent lad" 
 prehensions, from which he soon delivered them by 
 
 an act of clemency, no less prudent than generous, towards the 
 
 A f i IT i i malecon- 
 
 Arter a rebellion so general, scarcely twenty persons, tents. 
 among so many criminals obnoxious to the law, had 
 been punished capitally in Castile. Though strongly 
 solicited by his council, Charles refused to shed any 
 more blood by the hands of the executioner ; and October as. 
 published a general pardon, extending to all crimes 
 committed since the commencement of the insurrec- 
 tions, from which only fourscore persons were ex- 
 cepted. Even these he seems to have named, rather 
 with an intention to intimidate others, than from any 
 inclination to seize them ; for when an officious cour- 
 tier offered to inform him where one of the most con- 
 siderable among them was concealed, he avoided it by 
 a good-natured pleasantry : " Go," says he, " I have 
 now no reason to be afraid of that man, but he has 
 some cause to keep at a distance from me ; and you 
 would be better employed in telling him that I am 
 here, than in acquainting me with the place of his 
 retreat." By this appearance of magnanimity, as 
 
 c Sandov. 377, &c. Vida del Emper. Carlos, por Don Juan Anton, de 
 Vcra y Zuniga, p. SO.
 
 120 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK well as by his care to avoid every thing which had 
 IIL _ disgusted the Castilians during his former residence 
 1522 - among them ; by his address in assuming their man- 
 ners, in speaking their language, and in complying 
 with all their humours and customs, he acquired an 
 ascendant over them which hardly any of their native 
 monarchs had ever attained, and brought them to 
 support him in all his enterprises with a zeal and 
 valour to which he owed much of his success and 
 grandeur/ 
 
 Adrian sets About the time that Charles landed in Spain, 
 RomJ and Adrian set out for Italy to take possession of his new 
 his in re- dignity. But though the Roman people longed ex- 
 tremely for his arrival, they could not on his first 
 appearance conceal their surprise and disappoint- 
 ment. After being accustomed to the princely mag- 
 nificence of Julius, and the elegant splendour of Leo, 
 they beheld with contempt an old man of an humble 
 deportment, of austere manners, an enemy to pomp, 
 destitute of taste in the arts, and unadorned with any 
 of the external accomplishments which the vulgar 
 expect in those raised to eminent stations/ Nor did 
 his political views and maxims seem less strange and 
 astonishing to the pontifical ministers* He acknow- 
 ledged and bewailed the corruptions which abounded 
 in the church, as well as in the court of Rome, and 
 prepared to reform both ; he discovered no intention 
 of aggrandizing his family ; he even scrupled at re- 
 taining such territories as some of his predecessors 
 had acquired by violence or fraud, rather than by any 
 legal title, and for that reason he invested Francesco 
 Maria de Rovere anew in the dutchy of Urbino, of 
 which Leo had stripped him, and surrendered to the 
 Duke of Ferrara several places wrested from him by 
 
 d Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., p. 85. 
 
 e Guic. lib. XT. 238. Jovii Vita Adriani^ 117. l3ellefor.Epistr.de9 
 Princ. 8'. 

 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 the church/ To men little habituated to see princes BOOK 
 regulate their conduct by the maxims of morality and 
 
 the principles of justice, these actions of the new pope 1522< 
 appeared incontestable proofs of his weakness or inex- 
 perience. Adrian, who was a perfect stranger to the 
 complex and intricate system of Italian politics, and 
 who could place no confidence in persons whose subtle 
 refinements in business suited so ill with the natural 
 simplicity and candour of his own character, being 
 often embarrassed and irresolute in his deliberations, 
 the opinion of his incapacity daily increased, until both 
 his person and government became objects of ridicule 
 among his subjects. 6 
 
 Adrian, though devoted to the emperor, endea- He endea- 
 voured to assume the impartiality which became the ItonTpeac^T 
 common father of Christendom, and laboured to m Eur P e - 
 reconcile the contending princes, in order that they 
 might unite in a league against Solyman, whose con- 
 quest of Rhodes rendered him more formidable than 
 ever to Europe. 11 But this was an undertaking far 
 beyond his abilities. To examine such a variety of 
 pretensions ; to adjust such a number of interfering 
 interests ; to extinguish the passions which am- 
 bition, emulation, and mutual injuries had kindled; 
 to bring so many hostile powers to pursue the same 
 scheme with unanimity and vigour, required not 
 only uprightness of intention, but great superiority 
 both of understanding and address. 
 
 The Italian states were no less desirous of peace 
 than the pope. The imperial army under Colonna 
 was still kept on foot ; but as the emperor's revenues 
 in Spain, in Naples, and in the Low Countries, were 
 either exhausted or applied to some other purpose, it 
 depended entirely for pay and subsistence on the 
 
 f Guic. lib. tv. 240. 
 
 8 Jov. Vita Adr. 118. P. Mart. Ep. VJ4. Ruscelli, Lettere de* Print, 
 Vol. i. 87. 96. 101. 
 
 h Bellefor. Epistr. p. 86,
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Italians. A great part of it was quartered in the 
 1IL ecclesiastical state, and monthly contributions were 
 1522. i ev i e d upon the Florentines, the Milanese, the Ge- 
 noese, and Lucchese, by the Viceroy of Naples ; and 
 though all exclaimed against such oppression, and 
 were impatient to be delivered from it, the dread of 
 worse consequences from the rage of the army, or 
 the resentment of the emperor, obliged them to 
 submit. l 
 
 1523. So much regard, however, was paid to the pope's 
 kaguc exhortations, and to a bull which he issued, requiring 
 KS the a ^ Christian princes to consent to a truce for three 
 king. years, that the imperial, the French, and English 
 ambassadors at Rome were empowered by their re- 
 spective courts to treat of that matter ; but while 
 they wasted their time in fruitless negotiations, their 
 masters continued their preparations for war. The 
 Venetians, who had hitherto adhered with great firm- 
 ness to their alliance with Francis, being now con- 
 vinced that his affairs in Italy were in a desperate 
 situation, entered into a league against him with the 
 June 28. emperor ; to which Adrian, at the instigation of his 
 countryman and friend, Charles de Lannoy, Viceroy 
 of Naples, who persuaded him that the only obstacles 
 to peace arose from the ambition of the French king, 
 soon after acceded. The other Italian states fol- 
 lowed their example ; and Francis was left without a 
 single ally to resist the efforts of so many enemies, 
 whose armies threatened, and whose territories en- 
 compassed, his dominions on every side. k 
 Francis's The dread of this powerful confederacy, it was 
 mSuriin thought, would have obliged Francis to keep wholly 
 opposition on t h e defensive, or at least have prevented his enter- 
 taining any thoughts of marching into Italy. But it 
 was the character of that prince, too apt to become 
 remiss and even negligent on ordinary occasions, to 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xv. 238. k Id. ibid. 241. 248.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 123 
 
 rouse at the approach of danger, and not only to en- BOOK 
 counter it with spirit and intrepidity, qualities which 
 
 never forsook him, but to provide against it with dili- 152S - 
 gence and industry. Before his enemies were ready 
 to execute any of their schemes, Francis had as- 
 sembled a numerous army. His authority over his 
 own subjects was far greater than that which Charles 
 or Henry possessed over theirs. They depended on 
 their diets, their cortes, and their parliaments for 
 money, which was usually granted them in small sums, 
 very slowly, and with much reluctance. The taxes 
 he could impose were more considerable, and levied 
 with greater dispatch ; so that on this, as well as on 
 other occasions, he brought his armies into the field 
 while they were only devising ways and means for 
 raising theirs. Sensible of this advantage, Francis 
 hoped to disconcert all the emperor's schemes by 
 marching in person into the Milanese ; and this bold 
 measure, the more formidable because unexpected, 
 could scarcely have failed of producing that effect. 
 But when the vanguard of his army had already suspended 
 reached Lyons, and he himself was hastening after ^" V l e h r y 0f 
 it with a second division of his troops, the dis- i>e Consu- 
 covery of a domestic conspiracy, which threatened bon'scon- 
 the ruin of the kingdom, obliged him to stop short, P"y- 
 and to alter his measures. 
 
 The author of this dangerous plot was Charles Hischarac- 
 Duke of Bourbon, lord high constable, whose noble t 
 birth, vast fortune, and high office, raised him to be 
 the most powerful subject in France, as his great 
 talents, equally suited to the field or the council, and 
 his signal services to the crown, rendered him the 
 most illustrious and deserving. The near resem- 
 blance between the king and him in many of their 
 qualities, both being fond of war, and ambitious to 
 excel in manly exercises, as well as their equality in 
 , and their proximity of blood, ought naturally to
 
 124, THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK have secured to him a considerable share in that 
 IIT> monarch's favour. But unhappily Louise, the king's 
 1523. niother, had contracted a violent aversion to the 
 <?his a dil! s house of Bourbon, for no better reason than because 
 affection. Anne of Bretagne, the queen of Louis the Twelfth, 
 with whom she lived in perpetual enmity, had dis- 
 covered a peculiar attachment to that branch of the 
 royal family; and had taught her son, who was too 
 susceptible of any impression which his mother gave 
 him, to view all the constable's actions with a mean 
 and unbecoming jealousy. His distinguished merit at 
 the battle of Marignano had not been sufficiently re- 
 warded ; he had been recalled from the government of 
 Milan upon very frivolous pretences, and had met with 
 a cold reception, which his prudent conduct in that 
 difficult station did not deserve ; the payment of his 
 . pensions had been suspended without any good 
 cause ; and, during the campaign of one thousand 
 five hundred and twenty-one, the king, as has already 
 been related, had affronted him in presence of the 
 whole army, by giving the command of the van to 
 the Duke of Alen9on. The constable, at first, bore 
 these indignities with greater moderation than could 
 have been expected from an high-spirited prince, 
 conscious of what was due to his rank and to his 
 services. Such a multiplicity of injuries, however, 
 exhausted his patience ; and, inspiring him with 
 thoughts of revenge, he retired from court, and began 
 to hold a secret correspondence with some of the 
 emperor's ministers. 
 
 About that time the Dutchess of Bourbon happened 
 to die without leaving any children. Louise, of a 
 disposition no less amorous than vindictive, and still 
 susceptible of the tender passions at the age of forty- 
 six, began to view the constable, a prince as amiable 
 as he was accomplished, with other eyes ; and notwith- 
 standing the great disparity of their years, she formed
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 125 
 
 the scheme of marrying him. Bourbon, who might BOOK 
 
 have expected every thing to which an ambitious mind 
 
 can aspire, from the doting fondness of a woman who 
 governed her son and the kingdom, being incapable 
 either of imitating the queen in her sudden transition 
 from hatred to love, or of dissembling so meanly as to 
 pretend affection for one who had persecuted him so 
 long with unprovoked malice, not only rejected the 
 match, but embittered his refusal by some severe 
 raillery on Louise's person and character. She finding 
 herself not only contemned, but insulted, her disap- 
 pointed love turned into hatred, and, since she could 
 not marry, she resolved to ruin Bourbon. 
 
 For this purpose, she consulted with the Chancellor 
 Du Prat, a man who, by a base prostitution of great 
 talents and of superior skill in his profession, had 
 risen to that high office. By his advice, a law-suit was 
 commenced against the constable, for the whole estate 
 belonging to the house of Bourbon. Part of it was 
 claimed in the king's name, as having fallen to the 
 crown ; part in that of Louise, as the nearest heir in 
 blood of the deceased duchess. Both these claims 
 were equally destitute of any foundation in justice ; 
 but Louise, by her solicitations and authority, and 
 Du Prat, by employing all the artifices and chicanery 
 of law, prevailed on the judges to order the estate to 
 be sequestered. This unjust decision drove the con- 
 stable to despair, and to measures which despair alone 
 could have dictated. He renewed his intrigues in His secret 
 the imperial court, and, flattering himself that the Sons^i'th 
 injuries which he had suffered would justify his having Jjj i- 
 recourse to any means in order to obtain revenge, he 
 offered to transfer his allegiance from his natural 
 sovereign to the emperor, and to assist him in the 
 conquest of France. Charles, as well as the King of 
 England, to whom the secret was communicated 1 , 
 
 1 Rymer's Feeder, xiii. 794.
 
 126 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 1523. 
 
 BOOK expecting prodigious advantages from his revolt, were 
 IIL ready to receive him with open arms, and spared 
 neither promises nor allurements which might help to 
 confirm him in his resolution. The emperor offered 
 him in marriage his sister Eleanor, the widow of the 
 King of Portugal, with an ample portion. He was 
 included as a principal in the treaty between Charles 
 and Henry. The counties of Provence and Dauphine 
 were to be settled on him, with the title of king. 
 The emperor engaged to enter France by the 
 Pyrenees, and Henry, supported by the Flemings, to 
 invade Picardy ; while twelve thousand Germans, 
 levied at their common charge, were to penetrate into 
 Burgundy, and to act in concert with Bourbon, who 
 undertook to raise six thousand men among his friends 
 and vassals in the heart of the kingdom. The exe- 
 cution of this deep-laid and dangerous plot was sus- 
 pended, until the king should cross the Alps with the 
 only army capable of defending his dominions ; and 
 as he was far advanced in his march for that purpose, 
 France was on the brink of destruction. 
 
 Happily for that kingdom, a negotiation which had 
 now been carrying on for several months, though 
 conducted with the most profound secrecy, and com- 
 municated only to a few chosen confidents, could not 
 altogether escape the observation of the rest of the 
 constable's numerous retainers, rendered more inqui- 
 sitive by finding that they were distrusted. Two of 
 these gave the king some intimation of a mysterious 
 correspondence between their master and the Count 
 de Rceux, a Flemish nobleman of great confidence 
 with the emperor. Francis, who could not bring 
 himself to suspect that the first prince of the blood 
 would be so base as to betray the kingdom to its 
 enemies, immediately repaired to Moulins, where the 
 constable was in bed, feigning indisposition, that he 
 
 m Thuani Hist lib. i. c. 10. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 18. p. 207. 
 
 discovered.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 127 
 
 might not be obliged to accompany the king into BOOK 
 Italy, and acquainted him of the intelligence which IIL 
 he had received. Bourbon, with great solemnity, 1523> 
 and the most imposing affectation of ingenuity and 
 candour, asserted his own innocence ; and as his 
 health, he said, was now more confirmed, he promised 
 to join the army within a few days. Francis, open 
 and candid himself, and too apt to be deceived by 
 the appearance of those virtues in others, gave such 
 credit to what he said, that he refused to arrest him, 
 although advised to take that precaution by his wisest 
 counsellors ; and, as if the danger had been over, he 
 continued his march towards Lyons. The constable 
 set out soon after, seemingly with an intention to September, 
 follow him ; but turning suddenly to the left he 
 crossed the Rhone, and, after infinite fatigue and Flies to 
 peril, escaped all the parties which the king, who ltaly ' 
 became sensible too late of his own credulity, sent 
 out to intercept him, and reached Italy in safety." 
 
 Francis took every possible precaution to prevent 
 the bad effects of the irreparable error which he had 
 committed. He put garrisons in all the places of 
 strength in the constable's territories. He seized all 
 the gentlemen whom he could suspect of being his 
 associates ; and as he had not hitherto discovered the 
 whole extent of the conspirators' schemes, nor knew 
 how far the infection had spread among his subjects, 
 he was afraid that his absence might encourage them 
 to make some desperate attempt, and for that reason 
 relinquished his intention of leading his army in 
 person into Italy. 
 
 He did not, however, abandon his design on the French in- 
 Milanese ; but appointed Admiral Bonnivet to take 
 the supreme command in his stead, and to march into 
 that country with an army thirty thousand strong. 
 Bonnivet did not owe this preferment to his abilities 
 
 " M<-ra. de Bellay, p. 64, &c. Pasquier, Rechercbes de la France, p. 481.
 
 128 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK as a general ; for of all the talents requisite to form a 
 IL great commander, he possessed only personal courage, 
 
 1523 ' the lowest and the most common. But he was the 
 most accomplished gentlemen in the French court, of 
 agreeable manners, and insinuating address, and a 
 sprightly conversation; and Francis, who lived in 
 great familiarity with his courtiers, was so charmed 
 with these qualities, that he honoured him, on all 
 occasions, with the most partial and distinguished 
 marks of his favour. He was, besides, the implacable 
 enemy of Bourbon ; and as the king hardly knew 
 whom to trust at that juncture, he thought the chief 
 command could be lodged nowhere so safely as in his 
 hands. 
 
 Their ni Colonna, who was entrusted with the defence of 
 conduct tne Milanese, his own conquest, was in no condition 
 to resist such a formidable army. He was destitute 
 of money sufficient to pay his troops, which were re- 
 duced to a small number by sickness or desertion, 
 and had, for that reason, been obliged to neglect 
 every precaution necessary for the security of the 
 country. The only plan which he formed was to 
 defend the passage of the river Tessino against the 
 French ; and, as if he had forgotten how easily he 
 himself had disconcerted a similar scheme formed by 
 Lautrec, he promised with great confidence on its 
 being effectual. But, in spite of all his caution, it 
 succeeded no better with him than with Lautrec. 
 Bonnivet passed the river without loss, at a ford 
 which had been neglected, and the imperialists re- 
 tired to Milan, preparing to abandon the town as 
 soon as the French should appear before it. By an 
 unaccountable negligence which Guicciardini imputes 
 to infatuation , Bonnivet did not advance for three 
 or four days, and lost the opportunity with which his 
 good fortune presented him. The citizens recovered 
 
 Guic. lib. xv. 254.
 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 129 
 
 from their consternation ; Colonna, still active at the BOOK 
 age of fourscore, and Morone, whose enmity to France 
 rendered him indefatigable, were employed night and 152S - 
 day in repairing the fortifications, in amassing pro- 
 visions, in collecting troops from every quarter ; and, 
 by the time the French approached, had put the city 
 in a condition to stand a siege. Bonnivet, after some 
 fruitless attempts on the town, which harassed his 
 own troops more than the enemy, was obliged, by 
 the inclemency of the season, to retire into winter- 
 quarters. 
 
 During these transactions, Pope Adrian died ; an Death of 
 event so much to the satisfaction of the Roman AdnanVI ' 
 people, whose hatred or contempt of him augmented 
 every day, that the night after his decease they 
 adorned the door of his chief physician's house with 
 garlands, adding this inscription, TO THE DELIVERER 
 OF HIS COUNTRY. p The Cardinal de' Medici in- 
 stantly renewed his pretensions to the papal dignity, 
 and entered the conclave with high expectations on 
 his own part, and a general opinion of the people that 
 they would be successful. But though supported by 
 the imperial faction, possessed of great personal in- 
 terest, and capable of all the artifices, refinements, 
 and corruption, which reign in those assemblies, the 
 obstinacy and intrigues of his rivals protracted the 
 conclave to the unusual length of fifty days. The Election of 
 address and perseverance of the cardinal at last sur- VI e " ei 
 mounted every obstacle. He was raised to the head Nov. as. 
 of the church, and assumed the government of it by 
 the name of Clement VII. The choice was univer- 
 sally approved of. High expectations were conceived 
 of a pope, whose great talents and long experience in 
 business seemed to qualify him no less for defending 
 the spiritual interests of the church, exposed to im- 
 minent danger by the progress of Luther's opinions, 
 
 " Jovii Vit. Adr. 127. 
 Ch. VOL. II. K
 
 with resent- 
 ment. 
 
 130 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK than for conducting its political operations with the 
 ' IL prudence requisite at such a difficult juncture ; and 
 1523. W h 0> besides these advantages, rendered the ecclesi- 
 astical state more respectable, by having in his hands 
 the government of Florence, together with the wealth 
 of the family of Medici. q 
 
 Wolsey dis- Cardinal Wolsey, not disheartened by the disap- 
 and filled pointment of his ambitious views at the former 
 election, had entertained more sanguine hopes of suc- 
 cess on this occasion. Henry wrote to the emperor, 
 reminding him of his engagements to second the pre- 
 tensions of his minister. Wolsey bestirred himself 
 with activity suitable to the importance of the prize 
 for which he contended, and instructed his agents at 
 Rome to spare neither promises nor bribes in order to 
 gain his end. But Charles had either amused him 
 with vain hopes which he never intended to gratify, 
 or he judged it impolitic to oppose a candidate who 
 had such a prospect of succeeding as Medici ; or per- 
 haps the cardinals durst not venture to provoke the 
 people of Rome, while their indignation against 
 Adrian's memory was still fresh, by placing another 
 ultra-montane on the papal throne. Wolsey, after 
 all his expectations and endeavours, had the mortifi- 
 cation to see a pope elected of such an age, and of 
 so vigorous a constitution, that he could not derive 
 much comfort to himself from the chance of surviving 
 him. This second proof fully convinced W T olsey of 
 the emperor's insincerity, and it excited in him all the 
 resentment which a haughty mind feels on being at 
 once disappointed and deceived ; and though Clement 
 endeavoured to soothe his vindictive nature by grant- 
 ing him a commission to be legate in England during 
 life, with such ample powers as vested in him almost 
 the whole papal jurisdiction in that kingdom, the in- 
 jury he had now received made such an impression as 
 
 q Guic. lib. xv. 263.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 131 
 
 entirely dissolved the tie which had united him to BOOK 
 Charles, and from that moment he meditated revenge. 
 It was necessary, however, to conceal his intention 1523 - 
 from his master, and to suspend the execution of it, 
 until, by a dexterous improvement of the incidents 
 which might occur, he should be able gradually to 
 alienate the king's affections from the emperor. For 
 this reason, he was so far from expressing any un- 
 easiness on account of the repulse which he had met 
 with, that he abounded on every occasion, private as 
 well as public, in declarations of his high satisfaction 
 with Clement's promotion. r 
 
 Henry had, during the campaign, fulfilled, with Henry's 
 
 ... . , , / i operations 
 
 great sincerity, whatever he was bound to perform by i n France, 
 the league against France, though more slowly than 
 he could have wished. His thoughtless profusion, 
 and total neglect of economy, reduced him often to 
 great straits for money. The operations of war were 
 now carried on in Europe in a manner very different 
 from that which had long prevailed. Instead of 
 armies suddenly assembled, which, under distinct 
 chieftains, followed their prince into the field for a 
 short space, and served at their own cost, troops were 
 now levied at great charge, and received regularly 
 considerable pay. Instead of impatience on both 
 sides to bring every quarrel to the issue of a battle, 
 which commonly decided the fate of open countries, 
 and allowed the barons, together with their vassals, to 
 return to their ordinary occupations, towns were forti- 
 fied with great art, and defended with much obstinacy ; 
 war, from a very simple, became a very intricate 
 science ; and campaigns grew, of course, to be more 
 tedious and less decisive. The expence which these 
 alterations in the military system necessarily created, 
 appeared intolerable to nations hitherto unaccustomed 
 to the burden of heavy taxes. Hence proceeded 
 
 ' Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, 294, &c. Herbert. 
 K 2
 
 132 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the frugal, and even parsimonious spirit of the English 
 
 _ !_ parliaments in that age, which Henry, with all his 
 1523 * authority, was seldom able to overcome. The com- 
 mons, having refused at this time to grant him the 
 supplies which he demanded, he had recourse to the 
 ample and almost unlimited prerogative which the 
 kings of England then possessed, and, by a violent 
 and unusual exertion of it, raised the money he 
 
 Sept 20. wanted: This, however, wasted so much time, that 
 it was late in the season before his army, under the 
 Duke of Suffolk, could take the field. Being joined 
 by a considerable body of Flemings, Suffolk marched 
 into Picardy, and Francis, from his extravagant 
 eagerness to recover the Milanese, having left that 
 frontier almost unguarded, he penetrated as far as 
 the banks of the river Oyse, within eleven leagues of 
 Paris, filling that capital with consternation. But the 
 arrival of some troops detached by the king, who was 
 still at Lyons ; the active gallantry of the French of- 
 ficers, who allowed the allies no respite night or day ; 
 the rigour of a most unnatural season, together with 
 scarcity of provisions, compelled Suffolk to retire ; and 
 
 November. La Tramouille, who commanded in those parts, had the 
 glory not only of having checked the progress of a for- 
 midable army with a handful of men, but of driving 
 them with ignominy out of the French territories. s 
 The em P e r>s attempts upon Burgundy and 
 
 , 
 Guienne were not more fortunate, though in both 
 
 Spaniards. ,1 _, 
 
 these provinces Francis was equally ill prepared to 
 resist them. The conduct and valour of his gene- 
 rals supplied his want of foresight ; the Germans, 
 who made an irruption into one of these provinces, 
 and the Spaniards, who attacked the other, were re- 
 pulsed with great disgrace. 
 
 Thus ended the y ear 152 3, during which Francis's 
 good fortune and success had been such as gave all 
 
 1 Herbert. Me"m. de Bellay, 73, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 153 
 
 Europe a high idea of his power and resources. BOOK 
 He had discovered and disconcerted a dangerous 
 conspiracy, the author of which he had driven into 1523 - 
 exile almost without an attendant ; he had rendered 
 abortive all the schemes of the powerful confederacy 
 formed against him ; he had protected his dominions 
 when attacked on three different sides ; and, though 
 his army in the Milanese had not made such progress 
 as might have been expected from its superiority to 
 the enemy in number, he had recovered, and still kept 
 possession, of one half of that dutchy. 
 
 The ensuing year opened with events more disas- 
 trous to France. Fontarabia was lost by the cowardice 
 or treachery of its governor. In Italy, the allies 
 resolved on an early and vigorous effort in order to 
 dispossess Bonnivet of that part of the Milanese which 
 lies beyond the Tessino. Clement, who, under the 
 pontificates of Leo and Adrian, had discovered an 
 implacable enmity to France, began now to view the 
 power which the emperor was daily acquiring in Italy 
 with so much jealousy, that he refused to accede, as 
 his predecessors had done, to the league against 
 Francis, and, forgetting private passions and animosi- 
 ties, laboured with the zeal which became his charac- 
 ter, to bring about a reconciliation among the con- 
 tending parties. But all his endeavours were inef- 
 fectual ; a numerous army, to which each of the allies 
 furnished their contingent of troops, was assembled 
 at Milan by the beginning of March. Lannoy, Vice- imperial 
 roy of Naples, took the command of it upon Colon- J^e'Sit 
 na's death, though the chief direction of military field early, 
 operations was committed to Bourbon and the Mar- 
 quis de Pescara ; the latter the ablest and most en- 
 terprising of the imperial generals ; the former in- 
 spired by his resentment with new activity and inven- 
 tion, and acquainted so thoroughly with the characters 
 of the French commanders, the genius of their troops, 
 
 K 3
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and the strength as well as weakness of their armies, as 
 
 IIL to be of infinite service to the party which he had joined. 
 
 1524. But all these advantages were nearly lost through the 
 
 emperor's inability to raise money sufficient for exe- 
 
 cuting the various and extensive plans which he 
 
 Retarded had formed. When his troops were commanded to 
 
 nyofT d " march, they mutinied against their leaders, demand- 
 
 troops. m g the pay which was due to them for some months ; 
 
 and, disregarding both the menaces and entreaties of 
 
 their officers, threatened to pillage the city of Milan, 
 
 if they did not instantly receive satisfaction. Out of 
 
 this difficulty the generals of the allies were extricated 
 
 by Morone, who prevailing on his countrymen, over 
 
 whom his influence was prodigious, to advance the 
 
 sum that was requisite, the army took the field. 1 
 
 The French Bonnivet was destitute of troops to oppose this 
 
 obliged to i MI c *i i 1-111 
 
 abandon army, and still more of the talents which could ren- 
 
 the Milan- ^ j^ an e q ua ] m atch for its leaders. After various 
 movements and encounters, described with great 
 accuracy by the contemporary historians, a detail of 
 which would now be equally uninteresting and un- 
 instructive, he was forced to abandon the strong 
 camp in which he had entrenched himself at Bia- 
 grassa. Soon after, partly by his own misconduct, 
 partly by the activity of the enemy, who harassed 
 and ruined his army by continual skirmishes, while 
 they carefully declined a battle, which he often of- 
 fered them ; and partly by the caprice of 6000 Swiss, 
 who refused to join his army, though within a day's 
 march of it ; he was reduced to the necessity of at- 
 tempting a retreat into France through the valley of 
 Aost. Just as he arrived on the banks of the Sessia, 
 and began to pass that river, Bourbon and Pescara 
 appeared with the vanguard of the allies, and at^ 
 tacked his rear with great fury. At the beginning 
 of the charge, Bonnivet, while exerting himself with 
 
 Guic. lib. xv. 267. Capella, 190.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. ]35 
 
 much valour, was wounded so dangerously, that he BOOK 
 was obliged to quit the field; and the conduct of the IIL 
 rear was committed to the Chevalier Bayard, who, 1524 * 
 though so much a stranger to the arts of a court, 
 that he never rose to the chief command, was always 
 called, in times of real danger, to the post of greatest 
 difficulty and importance. He put himself at the 
 head of the men at arms, and animating them by his 
 presence and example to sustain the whole shock of 
 the enemy's troops, he gained time for the rest of his 
 countrymen to make good their retreat. But in this Death of 
 service he received a wound which he immediately ii e e r Bay?" 
 perceived to be mortal, and being unable to continue ^Jn*"^, 
 any longer on horseback, he ordered one of his French 
 attendants to place him under a tree, with his face 
 towards the enemy ; then fixing his eyes on the guard 
 of his sword, which he held up instead of a cross, he 
 addressed his prayers to God, and in this posture, 
 which became his character both as a soldier and as a 
 Christian, he calmly awaited the approach of death. 
 Bourbon, who led the foremost of the enemy's troops, 
 found him in this situation, and expressed regret and 
 pity at the sight. " Pity not me," cried the high- 
 spirited chevalier; " I die as a man of honour 
 ought, in the discharge of my duty: they indeed 
 are objects of pity, who fight against their king, their 
 country, and their oath." The Marquis de Pescara, 
 passing soon after, manifested his admiration of Bay- 
 ard's virtues, as well as his sorrow for his fate, with 
 the generosity of a gallant enemy ; and, finding that 
 he could not be removed with safety from that spot, 
 ordered a tent to be pitched there, and appointed 
 proper persons to attend him. He died, notwith- 
 standing their care, as his ancestors for several gene- 
 rations had done, in the field of battle. Pescara 
 ordered his body to be embalmed, and sent to his 
 relations ; and such was the respect paid to military 
 
 K 4
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK merit in that age, that the Duke of Savoy commanded 
 
 IIL it to be received with royal honours in all the cities 
 
 1524. O f his dominions: in Dauphine, Bayard's native 
 
 country, the people of all ranks came out in a solemn 
 
 procession to meet it. u 
 
 Bonnivet led back the shattered remains of his 
 
 army into France ; and in one short campaign, 
 
 Francis was stripped of all he had possessed in Italy, 
 
 and left without one ally in that country. 
 
 Progress of \Vhile the war, kindled by the emulation of Charles 
 
 the reform- / T7 1 
 
 ation in and Francis, spread over so many countries ot Europe, 
 Germany. Q. erman y en j yed a profound tranquillity, extremely 
 favourable to the reformation, which continued to 
 make progress daily. During Luther's confinement 
 in his retreat at Wartburg, Carlostadius, one of his 
 disciples, animated with the same zeal, but possessed 
 of less prudence and moderation than his master, 
 began to propagate wild and dangerous opinions, 
 chiefly among the lower people. Encouraged by his 
 exhortations, they rose in several villages of Saxony, 
 broke into the churches with tumultuary violence, and 
 threw down and destroyed the images with which 
 they were adorned. Those irregular and outrageous 
 proceedings were so repugnant to all the elector's 
 cautious maxims, that, if they had not received a 
 timely check, they could hardly have failed of alien- 
 ating from the reformers a prince, no less jealous of 
 his own authority, than afraid of giving offence to the 
 emperor, and other patrons of the ancient opinions. 
 Luther, sensible of the danger, immediately quitted 
 his retreat, without waiting for Frederic's permission, 
 1522 h6> an( ^ re t urn ed to Wittemberg. Happily for the re- 
 formation, the veneration for his person and authority 
 was still so great, that his appearance alone suppressed 
 that spirit of extravagance which began to seize his 
 
 a Bellefor. Epistr. p. 73. M6n. de Bellay, 75. OZuv. de Brant, torn. vi. 
 p. 108, &c. Pasquier, Recherches, p. 526.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 137 
 
 party. Carlostadius and his fanatical followers, struck BOOK 
 
 dumb by his rebukes, submitted at once, and de- !_ 
 
 clared that they heard the voice of an angel, not of a I524 ' 
 man.* 
 
 Before Luther left his retreat he had begun to Luther 
 translate the Bible into the German tongue, an under- IhTfiibu. 
 taking of no less difficulty than importance, of which 
 he was extremely fond, and for which he was well 
 qualified. He had a competent knowledge of the 
 original languages ; a thorough acquaintance with the 
 style and sentiments of the inspired writers ; and, 
 though his compositions in Latin were rude and bar- 
 barous, he was reckoned a great master of the purity 
 of his mother tongue, and could express himself with 
 all the elegance of which it is capable. By his own 
 assiduous application, together with the assistance of 
 Melancthon ahd several other of his disciples, he 
 finished part of the New Testament in the year 1522 ; 
 and the publication of it proved more fatal to the 
 church of Rome, than that of all his own works. It 
 was read with wonderful avidity and attention by 
 persons of every rank. They were astonished at 
 discovering how contrary the precepts of the Author 
 of our religion are, to the inventions of those priests 
 who pretended to be his vicegerents j and having 
 now in their hand the rule of faith, they thought 
 themselves qualified, by applying it, to judge of the 
 established opinions, and to pronounce when they 
 were conformable to the standard, or when they de- 
 parted from it. The great advantages arising from 
 Luther's translation of the Bible, encouraged the 
 advocates for refonnation, in the other countries of 
 Europe, to imitate his example, and to publish 
 versions of the Scriptures in their respective lan- 
 guages. 
 
 About this time, Nuremberg, Francfort, Ham- Sever*! 
 
 cities abo- 
 * Sleid. Hist. 51. Seckend, 195.
 
 138 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK burgh, and several other free cities in Germany, of 
 IIL the first rank, openly embraced the reformed religion, 
 
 and by the authority of their magistrates abolished the 
 mass, and the other superstitious rites of popery/ 
 ^ ie Elector of Brandenburgh, the Dukes of Bruns- 
 wick and Lunenburgh, and Prince of Anhalt, became 
 avowed patrons of Luther's opinions, and coun- 
 tenanced the preaching of them among their subjects. 
 Measures The court of Rome beheld this growing defection 
 by Adrian with great concefn ; and Adrian's first care, after his 
 cheTkThe 10 arrival in Italy, had been to deliberate with the 
 progress of cardinals concerning the proper means of putting 
 
 the reform- . /> 11 i MI i 11- 
 
 ation. a stop to it. He was profoundly skilled in scholastic 
 theology, and having been early celebrated on that 
 account, he still retained such an excessive admiration 
 of the science to which he was first indebted for his 
 reputation and success in life, that he considered 
 Luther's invectives against the schoolmen, particularly 
 Thomas Aquinas, as little less than blasphemy. All 
 the tenets of that doctor appeared to him so clear and 
 irrefragable, that he supposed every person who called 
 in question or contradicted them, to be either blinded 
 by ignorance, or to be acting in opposition to the 
 conviction of his own mind. Of course, no pope was 
 ever more bigoted or inflexible with regard to points 
 of doctrine than Adrian ; he not only maintained 
 them as Leo had done, because they were ancient, or 
 because it was dangerous for the church to allow of 
 innovations, but he adhered to them with the zeal of 
 a theologian, and with the tenaciousness of a disputant. 
 At the same time, his own manners being extremely 
 simple, and uninfected with any of the vices which 
 reigned in the court of Rome, he was as sensible of 
 its corruptions as the reformers themselves, and viewed 
 
 November, them with no less indignation. The brief which he 
 l22> addressed to the diet of the empire assembled at 
 
 1 Seckend. 241. Chytrsei Contin. Krantzii, 203.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 139 
 
 Nuremberg, and the instructions which he gave BOOK 
 Cheregato, the nuncio whom he sent thither, were IIL 
 framed agreeably to these views. On the one hand, 1524 * 
 he condemned Luther's opinions with more asperity 
 and rancour of expression than Leo had ever used ; 
 he severely censured the princes of Germany for suf- 
 fering him to spread his pernicious tenets, by their 
 neglecting to execute the edict of the diet at Worms, 
 and required them, if Luther did not instantly retract 
 his errors, to destroy him with fire as a gangrened 
 and incurable member, in like manner as Dathan and 
 Abiram had been cut off by Moses, Ananias and 
 Sapphira by the apostles, and John Huss and Jerome 
 of Prague by their ancestors/ On the other hand, 
 he, with great candour, and in the most explicit terms, 
 acknowledged the corruptions of the Roman court to 
 be the source from which had flowed most of the 
 evils that the church now felt or dreaded ; he pro- 
 mised to exert all his authority towards reforming 
 these abuses, with as much dispatch as the nature and 
 inveteracy of the disorders would admit ; and he 
 requested of them to give him their advice with regard 
 to the most effectual means of suppressing that new 
 heresy which had sprung up among them.* 
 
 The members of the diet, after praising the pope's pietof 
 
 T , , . . i /> Nuremberg 
 
 pious and laudable intentions, excused themselves for propose a 
 not executing the edict of Worms, by alleging that fo^ndi as 
 the prodigious increase of Luther's followers, as well the v?** 
 
 & remfcdjr. 
 
 as the aversion to the court of Rome among their 
 other subjects on account of its innumerable exac- 
 tions, rendered such an attempt not only dangerous, 
 but impossible. They affirmed that the grievances 
 of Germany, which did not arise from imaginary in- 
 juries, but from impositions no less real than intoler- 
 able, as his holiness would learn from a catalogue of 
 them which they intended to lay before him, called 
 
 T Fascic. Rer. expet. et fugiend. 342. * Ibid. p. 345.
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK now for some new and efficacious remedy ; and, in 
 IL their opinion, the only remedy adequate to the disease, 
 1524. or w hich afforded them any hopes of seeing the 
 church restored to soundness and vigour, was a general 
 council. Such a council, therefore, they advised 
 him, after obtaining the emperor's consent, to assem- 
 ble, without delay, in one of the great cities of 
 Germany, that all who had right to be present might 
 deliberate with freedom, and propose their opinions 
 with such boldness, as the dangerous situation of re- 
 ligion at this juncture required. " 
 
 Artifices of The nuncio, more artful than his master, and better 
 toeiudTit. acquainted with the political views and interests of 
 the Roman court, was startled at the proposition of a 
 council, and easily foresaw how dangerous such an 
 assembly might prove, at a time when many openly 
 denied the papal authority, and the reverence and 
 submission yielded to it visibly declined among all. 
 For that reason, he employed his utmost address in 
 order to prevail on the members of the diet to proceed 
 themselves with greater severity against the Lutheran 
 heresy, and to relinquish their proposal concerning a 
 general council to be held in Germany. They, per- 
 ceiving the nuncio to be more solicitous about the 
 interests of the Roman court, than the tranquillity of 
 the empire, or purity of the church, remained in- 
 flexible, and continued to prepare the catalogue of 
 their grievances to be presented to the pope. c The 
 nuncio, that he might not be the bearer of a re- 
 monstrance so disagreeable to his court, left Nurem- 
 berg abruptly, without taking leave of the diet. d 
 The diet The secular princes accordingly, for the ecele- 
 
 present a , - -, , , , 
 
 list of a siastics, although they gave no opposition, did not 
 grieJalces ^"^ ^ decent to join with them, drew up the list 
 to the pope* (so famous in the German annals) of a hundred 
 
 b Fascic. Rer. expet. et fugiend. p. 346. 
 
 c Ibid. 349. d i b id. 376.
 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 grievances, which the empire imputed to the iniqui- BOOK 
 tous dominion of the papal see. This list contained 
 grievances much of the same nature with that pre- 155M> 
 pared under the reign of Maximilian. It would be 
 tedious to enumerate each of them ; they complained 
 of the sums exacted for dispensations, absolutions, 
 and indulgences ; of the expence arising from the 
 lawsuits carried by appeal to Rome ; of the in- 
 numerable abuses occasioned by reservations, com- 
 mendams, and annates ; of the exemption from civil 
 jurisdiction which the clergy had obtained ; of the 
 arts by which they brought all secular causes under 
 the cognizance of the ecclesiastical judges ; of the 
 indecent and profligate lives which not a few of the 
 clergy led ; and of various other particulars, many of 
 which have already been mentioned among the cir- 
 cumstances that contributed to the favourable recep- 
 tion, or to the quick progress of Luther's doctrines. 
 In the end they concluded, that if the holy see did 
 not speedily deliver them from those intolerable bur- 
 dens, they had determined to endure them no longer, 
 and would employ the power and authority with 
 which God had entrusted them in order to procure 
 relief. e 
 
 Instead of such severities against Luther and his The recess 
 followers as the nuncio had recommended, the recess Ma.4 ' 
 or edict of the diet contained only a general injunc- l5 ' 23 ' 
 tion to all ranks of men to wait with patience for the 
 determinations of the council which was to be assem- 
 bled, and in the mean time not to publish any new 
 opinions contrary to the established doctrines of the 
 church ; together with an admonition to all preachers 
 to abstain from matters of controversy in their dis- 
 courses to the people, and to confine themselves to 
 the plain and instructive truths of religion. f 
 
 The reformers derived great advantage from the This diet of 
 
 great bene- 
 Fascic. Rer. expet. et fugiend. 354. ' Ibid. 348.
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK transactions of this diet, as they afforded them the 
 IIL fullest and most authentic evidence that gross cor- 
 1524. ruptions prevailed in the court of Rome, and that the 
 refn?a! empire was loaded by the clergy with insupportable 
 tion. burdens. With regard to the former, they had now 
 the testimony of the pope himself, that their invec- 
 tives and accusations were not malicious or ill founded. 
 As to the latter, the representatives of the Germanic 
 body, in an assembly where the patrons of the new 
 opinions were far from being the most numerous or 
 powerful, had pointed out as the chief grievances of 
 the empire, those very practices of the Romish church 
 against which Luther and his disciples were accus- 
 tomed to declaim. Accordingly, in all their con- 
 troversial writings after this period, they often 
 appealed to Adrian's declaration, and to the hundred 
 grievances, in confirmation of whatever they advanced 
 concerning the dissolute manners, or insatiable ambi- 
 tion and rapaciousness, of the papal court. 
 Adrian's At Rome, Adrian's conduct was considered as a 
 censured at P ro f f the most childish simplicity and imprudence. 
 Rome. Men trained up amidst the artifices and corruptions 
 of the papal court, and accustomed to judge of actions 
 not by what was just, but by what was useful, were 
 astonished at a pontiff, who, departing from the wise 
 maxims of his predecessors, acknowledged disorders 
 which he ought to have concealed ; and, forgetting 
 his own dignity, asked advice of those to whom he 
 was entitled to prescribe. By such an excess of im- 
 politic sincerity, they were afraid that, instead of re- 
 claiming the enemies of the church, he would render 
 them more presumptuous, and, instead of extinguish, 
 ing heresy, would weaken the foundations of the 
 papal power, or stop the chief sources from which 
 wealth flowed into the church. 5 For this reason, the 
 cardinals, and other ecclesiastics of greatest eminence 
 
 g F. Paul, Hist, of Counc. p. 28. Pallavic. Hist. 58.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 143 
 
 in the papal court, industriously opposed all his BOOK 
 schemes of reformation, and, by throwing objections 1IL 
 and difficulties in his way, endeavoured to retard or 1524> 
 to defeat the execution of them. Adrian, amazed, 
 on the one hand, at the obstinacy of the Lutherans, 
 disgusted, on the other, with the manners and maxims 
 of the Italians, and finding himself unable to correct 
 either, the one or the other, often lamented his own 
 situation, and often looked back with pleasure on that 
 period of his life when he was only Dean of Louvain, 
 a more humble but happier station, in which little was 
 expected from him, and there was nothing to frustrate 
 his good intentions. 11 
 
 Clement VII., his successor, excelled Adrian as clement', 
 much in the arts of government, as he was inferior to ^StLu- 
 him in purity of life or uprightness of intention. He **! er ' a | 
 was animated not only with the aversion which all of a general 
 popes naturally bear to a council, but having gained 
 his own election by means very uncanonical, he was 
 afraid of an assembly that might subject it to a scru- 
 tiny which it could not stand. He determined, 
 therefore, by every possible means, to elude the de- 
 mands of the Germans, both with respect to the 
 calling of a council, and reforming abuses in the papal 
 court, which the rashness and incapacity of his pre- 
 decessor had brought upon him. For this purpose, 
 he made choice of Cardinal Campeggio, an artful 
 man, often entrusted by his predecessors with ne- 
 gotiations of importance, as his nuncio to the diet of 
 the empire, assembled again at Nuremberg. 
 
 Campeggio, without taking any notice of what had f brua| 7- 
 passed in the last meeting, exhorted the diet, in a tiations of 
 long discourse, to execute the edict of Worms with 
 vigour, as the only effectual means of suppressing 
 Luther's doctrines. The diet, in return, desired to 
 know the pope's intentions concerning the council, 
 
 " Jorii Vit. Adr. p. 118.
 
 !44 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and the redress of the hundred grievances. The 
 IIL former the nuncio endeavoured to elude by general 
 1524 ' and unmeaning declarations of the pope's resolution 
 to pursue such measures as would be for the greatest 
 good of the church. With regard to the latter, as 
 Adrian was dead before the catalogue of grievances 
 reached Rome, and, of consequence, it had not been 
 regularly laid before the present pope, Campeggio 
 took advantage of this circumstance to decline making 
 any definitive answer to them in Clement's name ; 
 though, at the same time, he observed, that their ca- 
 talogue of grievances contained many particulars ex- 
 tremely indecent and undutiful, and that the publish- 
 ing it by their own authority was highly disrespectful to 
 the Roman see. In the end, he renewed his demand 
 of their proceeding with vigour against Luther and his 
 attended adherents. But though an ambassador from the em- 
 rgert! 1 " peror, who was at that time very solicitous to gain the 
 pope, warmly seconded the nuncio, with many pro- 
 fessions of his master's zeal for the honour and dig- 
 nity of the papal see, the recess of the diet was con- 
 ceived in terms of almost the same import with the 
 former, without enjoining any additional severity 
 against Luther and his party. ! 
 
 Before he left Germany, Campeggio, in order to 
 amuse and soothe the people, published certain ar- 
 ticles for the amendment of some disorders and abuses 
 which prevailed among the inferior clergy ; but this 
 partial reformation, which fell so far short of the ex- 
 pectations of the Lutherans, and of the demands of 
 the diet, gave no satisfaction, and produced little 
 effect. The nuncio, with a cautious hand, tenderly 
 lopped a few branches ; the Germans aimed a deeper 
 blow, and, by striking at the root, wished to exter- 
 minate the evil. * 
 
 1 Seckend. 286. Sleid. Hist. 66. k Seckend. 292.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE expulsion of the French, both out of the ^24. 
 Milanese and the republic of Genoa, was considered Views ? f 
 by the Italians as the termination of the war between s Jt with 
 
 Charles and Francis ; and as they began immediately 
 to be apprehensive of the emperor, when they saw no 
 power remaining in Italy capable either to control 
 or oppose him, they longed ardently for the re-esta- 
 blishment of peace. Having procured the restoration 
 of Sforza to his paternal dominions, which had been 
 their chief motive for entering into confederacy with 
 Charles, they plainly discovered their intention to 
 contribute no longer towards increasing the emperor's 
 superiority over his rival, which was already become 
 the object of their jealousy. The pope especially, 
 whose natural timidity increased his suspicions of 
 Charles's designs, endeavoured by his remonstrances 
 to inspire him with moderation, and incline him to 
 peace. 
 
 But the emperor, intoxicated with success, and Ctariw 7" 
 
 * solves to la- 
 
 urged on by his own ambition, no less than by vade 
 
 /",! France. 
 
 Cll. VOL. II. L
 
 4 g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Bourbon's desire of revenge, contemned Clement's 
 IV - admonitions, and declared his resolution of ordering 
 1524 - his army to pass the Alps, and to invade Provence, a 
 part of his rival's dominions, where, as he least 
 dreaded an attack, he was least prepared to resist it. 
 His most experienced ministers dissuaded him from 
 undertaking such an enterprise with a feeble army, 
 and an exhausted treasury ; but he relied so much 
 on having obtained the concurrence of the King of 
 England, and on the hopes which Bourbon, with the 
 confidence and credulity natural to exiles, entertained 
 of being joined by a numerous body of his partisans 
 as soon as the imperial troops should enter France, 
 that he persisted obstinately in the measure. Henry 
 undertook to furnish a hundred thousand ducats 
 towards defraying the expence of the expedition 
 during the first month, and had it in his choice either 
 to continue the payment of that sum monthly, or to 
 invade Picardy before the end of July with an army 
 capable of acting with vigour. The emperor engaged 
 to attack Guienne at the same time with a consider- 
 able body of men ; and if these enterprises proved 
 successful, they agreed, that Bourbon, besides the 
 territories which he had lost, should be put in pos- 
 session of Provence, with the title of king, and should 
 do homage to Henry, as the lawful king of France, 
 for his new dominions. Of all the parts of this 
 extensive but extravagant project, the invasion of 
 Provence was the only one which was executed. For 
 although Bourbon, with a scrupulous delicacy, alto- 
 gether unexpected after the part which he had acted, 
 positively refused to acknowledge Henry's title to the 
 crown of France, and thereby absolved him from any 
 obligation to promote the enterprise, Charles's eager- 
 ness to carry his own plan into execution did not in 
 any degree abate. The army which he employed for 
 that purpose amounted only to eighteen thousand
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 men ; the command of which was given to the Marquis BOOK 
 de Pescara, with instructions to pay the greatest Iv ' 
 deference to Bourbon's advice in all his operations. '524. 
 Pescara passed the Alps without opposition, and, en- The 
 tering Provence, laid siege to Marseilles. Bourbon 
 had advised him rather to march towards Lyons, in- vence - 
 the neighbourhood of which city his territories were 
 situated, and where of course his influence was most 
 extensive ; but the emperor was so desirous to get 
 possession of a port, which would, at all times, secure 
 him an easy entrance into France, that by his au- 
 thority he overruled the constable's opinion, and 
 directed Pescara to make the reduction of Marseilles 
 his chief object. a 
 
 Francis, who foresaw, but was unable to prevent, Prudent 
 this attempt, took the most proper precautions to 
 defeat it. He laid waste the adjacent country, in 
 order to render it more difficult for the enemy to 
 subsist their army ; he razed the suburbs of the city, 
 strengthened its fortifications, and threw into it a 
 numerous garrison, under the command of brave and 
 experienced officers. To these, nine thousand of the 
 citizens, whom their dread of the Spanish yoke in- 
 spired with contempt of danger, joined themselves : 
 by their united courage and industry, all the efforts 
 of Pescara's military skill, and of Bourbon's activity 
 and revenge, were rendered abortive. Francis, mean- 
 while, had leisure to assemble a powerful army under 
 the walls of Avignon, and no sooner began to advance 
 towards Marseilles, than the imperial troops, ex- 
 hausted by the fatigues of a siege which had lasted 
 forty days, weakened by diseases, and almost desti- Sept 19. 
 tute of provisions, retired with precipitation towards 
 Italy. b 
 
 If, during these operations of the army in Provence, 
 
 m Guic. lib. xv. 273, &c. M&n. de Bellay, p. 80. 
 b Guic. lib. xv. 277. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 93.
 
 148 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK either Charles or Henry had attacked France in the 
 IV ' manner which they had projected, that kingdom must 
 
 1524. h ave b een exposed to the most imminent danger. 
 But on this, as well as on many other occasions, the 
 emperor found that the extent of his revenues was not 
 adequate to the greatness of his schemes, or the 
 ardour of his ambition, and the want of money obliged 
 him, though with much reluctance, to circumscribe 
 his plan, and to leave part of it unexecuted. Henry, 
 disgusted at Bourbon's refusing to recognize his right 
 to the crown of France ; alarmed at the motions of 
 the Scots, whom the solicitations of the French king 
 had persuaded to march towards the borders of 
 England; and no longer incited by his minister, 
 who was become extremely cool with regard to all 
 the emperor's interests, took no measures to support 
 an enterprise of which, as of all new undertakings, he 
 had been at first excessively fond. c 
 
 Francis, If the King of France had been satisfied with having 
 his luccess, delivered his subjects from this formidable invasion ; if 
 he had thought it enough to show all Europe the fa- 
 cility with which the internal strength of his do- 
 minions enabled him to resist the invasion of a foreign 
 enemy, even when seconded by the abilities and 
 powerful efforts of a rebellious subject, the campaign, 
 notwithstanding the loss of the Milanese, would have 
 been far from ending ingloriously. But Francis, ani- 
 mated with courage more becoming a soldier than a 
 general, pushed on by ambition, enterprising rather 
 than considerate, and too apt to be elated with suc- 
 cess, was fond of every undertaking that seemed bold 
 and adventurous. Such an undertaking, the situation 
 of his affairs at that juncture naturally presented to his 
 resolves to view. He had under his command one of the most 
 MiUuTele? P ow erful and best-appointed armies France had ever 
 brought into the field, which he could not think of 
 
 Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, Append. No. 70, ?!, 72.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 14 
 
 disbanding without having employed it in any active BOOK 
 service. The imperial troops had been obliged to 
 retire, almost ruined by hard duty, and disheartened 1524 - 
 with ill success; the Milanese had been left alto- 
 gether without defence ; it was not impossible to 
 reach that country before Pescara, with his shattered 
 forces, could arrive there ; or, if fear should add speed 
 to their retreat, they were in no condition to make 
 head against his fresh and numerous troops ; and 
 Milan would now, as in former instances, submit, 
 without resistance, to a bold invader. These con- 
 siderations, which were not destitute of plausibility, 
 appeared to his sanguine temper to be of the utmost 
 weight. In vain did his wisest ministers and gene- 
 rals represent to him the danger of taking the field, 
 at a season so far advanced, with an army composed 
 chiefly of Swiss and Germans, to whose caprices he 
 would be subject in all his operations, and on whose 
 fidelity his safety must absolutely depend. In vain 
 did Louise of Savoy advance by hasty journeys towards 
 Provence, that she might exert all her authority in 
 dissuading her son from such a rash enterprise. 
 Francis disregarded the remonstrances of his sub- 
 jects ; and that he might save himself the pain of an 
 interview with his mother, whose counsels he had 
 determined to reject, he began his march before her 
 arrival, appointing her, however, by way of atone- 
 ment for that neglect, to be regent of the kingdom 
 during his absence. Bonnivet, by his persuasions, Appoinu 
 contributed not a little to confirm Francis in this re- i'<*j>er 
 
 regent dur- 
 
 solution. That favourite, who strongly resembled his ing his ai>- 
 master in all the defective parts of his character, was 
 led, by his natural impetuosity, warmly to approve of 
 such an enterprise ; and being prompted besides by 
 his impatience to revisit a Milanese lady, of whom he 
 had been deeply enamoured during his late expe- 
 dition, he is said, by his flattering descriptions of her 
 
 L 3
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK beauty and accomplishments, to have inspired Francis, 
 IV * who was extremely susceptible of such passions, with 
 
 1524 - an equal desire of seeing her. 1 
 operations The French passed the Alps at Mount Cenis ; and 
 
 in the Mi- _. . , j -, 
 
 lanese. as their success depended on dispatch, they advanced 
 with the greatest diligence. Pescara, who had been 
 obliged to take a longer and more difficult route by 
 Monaco and Final, was soon informed of their inten- 
 tion ; and, being sensible that nothing but the pre- 
 sence of his troops could save the Milanese, marched 
 with such rapidity, that he reached Alva on the same 
 day that the French army arrived at Vercelli. Francis, 
 instructed by Bonnivet's error in the former cam- 
 paign, advanced directly towards Milan, where the 
 unexpected approach of an enemy so powerful occa- 
 sioned such consternation and disorder, that although 
 Pescara entered the city with some of his best troops, 
 he found that the defence of it could not be under- 
 taken with any probability of success ; and, having 
 thrown a garrison into the citadel, retired through one 
 gate, while the French were admitted at another. 6 
 
 Embarrass- These brisk motions of the French monarch dis- 
 concerted all the schemes of defence which the im- 
 perialists had formed. Never, indeed, did generals 
 attempt to oppose a formidable invasion under such 
 circumstances of disadvantage. Though Charles pos- 
 sessed dominions more extensive than any other 
 prince in Europe, and had, at this time, no other 
 army but that which was employed in Lombardy, 
 which did not amount to sixteen thousand men, his 
 prerogative in all his different states was so limited, 
 and his subjects, without whose consent he could 
 raise no taxes, discovered such unwillingness to bur- 
 den themselves with new or extraordinary impositions, 
 that even this small body of troops was in want of pay, 
 
 d (Euv. de Brant, torn. vi. 253. 
 
 Mem. de Bellay, p. 81. Guic. lib. xv. 278.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 of ammunition, of provisions, and of clothing. In BOOK 
 such a situation, it required all the wisdom of Lannoy, 
 
 the intrepidity of Pescara, and the implacable resent- 1524> 
 ment of Bourbon, to preserve them from sinking 
 under despair, and to inspire them with resolution to 
 attempt, or sagacity to discover, what was essential to 
 their safety. To the efforts of their genius, and the 
 activity of their zeal, the emperor was more indebted 
 for the preservation of his Italian dominions than to 
 his own power. Lannoy, by mortgaging the reve- 
 nues of Naples, procured some money, which was 
 immediately applied towards providing the army 
 with whatever was most necessary.' Pescara, who 
 was beloved and almost adored by the Spanish troops, 
 exhorted them to show the world, by their engaging 
 to serve the emperor in that dangerous exigency, 
 without making any immediate demand of pay, that 
 they were animated with sentiments of honour very 
 different from those of mercenary soldiers ; to which 
 proposition that gallant body of men, with an unex- 
 ampled generosity, gave their consent. 6 Bourbon 
 having raised a considerable sum by pawning his 
 jewels, set out for Germany, where his influence 
 was great, that by his presence he might hasten the 
 levying of troops for the imperial service. h 
 
 Francis, by a fatal error, allowed the emperor's Francis be- 
 generals time to derive advantage from all these pJJ 
 operations. Instead of pursuing the enemy, who 
 retired to Lodi on the Adda, an untenable post, 
 which Pescara had resolved to abandon on the ap- 
 proach of the French, he, in compliance with the 
 opinion of Bonnivet, though contrary to that of his 
 other generals, laid siege to Pa via on the Tessino ; a October 28. 
 
 f Guic. lib. xv. 280. 
 
 B Jovii Vit. Davali, lib. xv. p. 386. Sandov. vol. i. 621. Ulloa, Vita 
 di Carlo V. p. 94, &c. Vida del' Emperador Carlos V. por Vera y Zuniga, 
 p. 36. 
 
 " Mum. de Bellay, p. 83. 
 
 L 4
 
 152 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK town, indeed, of great importance, the possession of 
 IV ' which would have opened to him all the fertile coun- 
 
 1524. trv iy m g on tne banks of that river. But the forti- 
 fications of the place were strong ; it was dangerous 
 to undertake a difficult siege at so late a season ; and 
 the imperial generals, sensible of its consequence, 
 had thrown into the town a garrison composed of six 
 thousand veterans, under the command of Antonio 
 de Leyva, an officer of high rank; of great experience ; 
 of a patient, but enterprising courage ; fertile in re- 
 sources ; ambitious of distinguishing himself; and 
 capable, for that reason, as well as from his having 
 been long accustomed both to obey and to command, 
 of suffering or performing any thing in order to pro- 
 cure success. 
 His vigo- Francis prosecuted the siege with obstinacy equal 
 
 rousefforts. r J 
 
 to the rashness with which he had undertaken it. 
 During three months, every thing known to the en- 
 gineers of that age, or that could be effected by the 
 valour of his troops, was attempted, in order to reduce 
 the place ; while Lannoy and Pescara, unable to ob- 
 struct his operations, were obliged to remain in such 
 an ignominious state of inaction, that a pasquinade 
 was published at Rome, offering a reward to any 
 person who could find the imperial army, lost in the 
 month of October in the mountains between France 
 and Lombardy, and which had not been heard of 
 since that time. 1 
 The town Leyva, well acquainted with the difficulties under 
 
 gallantly , . , . . 
 
 defended, which his countrymen laboured, and the impossibility 
 of their facing, in the field, such a powerful army as 
 formed the siege of Pavia, placed his only hopes of 
 safety in his own vigilance and valour. The efforts 
 of both were extraordinary, and in proportion to the 
 importance of the place with the defence of which he 
 was intrusted. He interrupted the approaches of 
 
 1 Sandov. i. 608.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 153 
 
 the French by frequent and furious sallies. Behind BOOK 
 the breaches made by their artillery, he erected new IV ' 
 works, which appeared to be scarcely inferior in 1524 * 
 strength to the original fortifications. He repulsed 
 the besiegers in all their assaults ; and, by his own 
 example, brought not only the garrison, but the 
 inhabitants, to bear the most severe fatigues, and to 
 encounter the greatest dangers, without murmuring. 
 The rigour of the season conspired with his endeavours 
 in retarding the progress of the French. Francis, 
 attempting to become master of the town, by diverting 
 the course of the Tessino, which is its chief defence on 
 one side, a sudden inundation of the river destroyed, 
 in one day, the labour of many weeks, and swept 
 away all the mounds which his army had raised with 
 infinite toil, as well as at great expence.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the slow progress of the besiegers, The pope 
 and the glory which Leyva acquired by his gallant treaty of 
 defence, it was not doubted but that the town would, DcutniUt y- 
 at last, be obliged to surrender. The pope, who 
 already considered the French arms as superior in 
 Italy, became impatient to disengage himself from his 
 connections with the emperor, of whose designs he 
 was extremely jealous, and to enter into terms of 
 friendship with Francis. As Clement's timid and 
 cautious temper rendered him incapable of following 
 the bold plan which Leo had formed, of delivering 
 Italy from the yoke of both the rivals, he returned to 
 the more obvious and practicable scheme of employing 
 the power of the one to balance and to restrain that 
 of the other. For this reason, he did not dissemble 
 his satisfaction at seeing the French king recover 
 Milan, as he hoped that the dread of such a neighbour 
 would be some check upon the emperor's ambition, 
 which no power in Italy was now able to control. He 
 laboured hard to bring about a peace that would 
 
 k Guic. lib. xv. i?80. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 95.
 
 154 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK secure Francis in the possession of his new conquests ; 
 
 IV> and, as Charles, who was always inflexible in the pro- 
 
 1524 - secution of his schemes, rejected the proposition with 
 
 disdain, and with bitter exclamations against the pope, 
 
 by whose persuasions, while Cardinal de' Medici, he 
 
 had been induced to invade the Milanese, Clement 
 
 immediately concluded a treaty of neutrality with the 
 
 King of France, in which the republic of Florence 
 
 was included. 1 
 
 Francis Francis having, by this transaction, deprived the 
 
 Naples. emperor of his two most powerful allies, and, at the 
 same time, having secured a passage for his own troops 
 through their territories, formed a scheme of attacking 
 the kingdom of Naples, hoping either to over-run 
 that country, which was left altogether without de- 
 fence, or that, at least, such an unexpected invasion 
 would oblige the viceroy to recall part of the imperial 
 army out of the Milanese. For this purpose, he or- 
 dered six thousand men to march under the command 
 of John Stuart, Duke of Albany. But Pescara, fore- 
 seeing that the effect of this diversion would depend 
 entirely upon the operations of the armies in the 
 Milanese, persuaded Lannoy to disregard Albany's 
 motions" 1 , and to bend his whole force against the 
 king himself ; so that Francis not only weakened his 
 army very unseasonably by this great detachment, but 
 incurred the reproach of engaging too rashly in chi- 
 merical and extravagant projects. 
 1525. By this time the garrison of Pavia was reduced to 
 
 tffortsof . , . 
 
 Pescara extremity ; their ammunition and provisions began 
 and^Bow- to a jj . fa Germans, of whom it was chiefly com- 
 posed, having received no pay for seven months n , 
 threatened to deliver the town into the enemy's 
 hands, and could hardly be restrained from mutiny 
 by all Leyva's address and authority. The imperial 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xv. 282. 285. m Id. ibid. 285. 
 
 n Gold. Polit. Imperial. 875.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 155 
 
 generals, who were no strangers to his situation, saw BOOK 
 the necessity of marching without loss of time to his 
 relief. This they had now in their power : twelve 15 ' 25 ' 
 thousand Germans, whom the zeal and activity of 
 Bourbon taught to move with unusual rapidity, had 
 entered Lombardy under his command, and rendered 
 the imperial army nearly equal to that of the French, 
 greatly diminished by the absence of the body under 
 Albany, as well as by the fatigues of the siege, and 
 the rigour of the season. But the more their troops 
 increased in number, the more sensibly did the impe- 
 rialists feel the distress arising from want of money. 
 Far from having funds for paying a powerful army, 
 they had scarcely what was sufficient for defraying 
 the charges of conducting their artillery, and of car- 
 rying their ammunition and provisions. The abili- 
 ties of the generals, however, supplied every defect. 
 By their own example, as well as by magnificent pro- 
 mises in name of the emperor, they prevailed on the 
 troops of all the different nations which composed 
 their army to take the field without pay ; they engaged 
 to lead them directly towards the enemy ; and flat- 
 tered them with the certain prospect of victory, which 
 would at once enrich them with such royal spoils as 
 would be an ample reward for all their services. The 
 soldiers, sensible that, by quitting the army, they 
 would forfeit the great arrears due to them, and eager 
 to get possession of the promised treasures, demanded 
 a battle with all the impatience of adventurers who 
 fight only for plunder. 
 
 The imperial generals, without suffering the ardour They 
 
 . => . , march to 
 
 of their troops to cool, advanced immediately to- attack UM 
 wards the French camp. On the first intelligence of 
 their approach, Francis called a council of war, to 
 deliberate what course he ought to take. All his 
 
 Eryci Petiteani Hist. Cisalpina, ap. Graevii Thcs. Antiquit. Ital. iii. 
 p. 1170. 1179.
 
 156 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK officers of greatest experience were unanimous in 
 IV> advising him to retire, and to decline a battle with an 
 1525 * enemy who courted it from despair. The imperial- 
 ists, they observed, would either be obliged in a few 
 weeks to disband an army, which they were unable 
 to pay, and which they kept together only by the 
 hope of plunder, or the soldiers, enraged at the non- 
 performance of the promises to which they had 
 trusted, would rise in some furious mutiny, which 
 would allow their generals to think of nothing but 
 their own safety : that meanwhile, he might en- 
 camp in some strong post, and waiting in safety the 
 arrival of fresh troops from France and Switzerland, 
 might, before the end of spring, take possession of all 
 the Milanese without danger or bloodshed. But in 
 opposition to them, Bonnivet, whose destiny it was to 
 give councils fatal to France during the whole cam- 
 paign, represented the ignominy that it would reflect 
 on their sovereign, if he should abandon a siege which 
 he had prosecuted so long, or turn his back before an 
 enemy, to whom he was still superior in number ; 
 and insisted on the necessity of fighting the imperial- 
 ists rather than relinquish an undertaking, on the 
 success of which the king's future fame depended. 
 Unfortunately, Francis's notions of honour were de- 
 licate to an excess that bordered on what was roman- 
 tic. Having often said that he would take Pavia or 
 perish in the attempt, he thought himself bound not 
 to depart from that resolution ; and rather than ex- 
 pose himself to the slightest imputation, he chose to 
 forego all the advantages which were the certain con- 
 sequences of a retreat, and determined to wait for 
 the imperialists before the walls of Pavia. p 
 
 Battle of The imperial generals found the French so strongly 
 entrenched, that, notwithstanding the powerful mo- 
 tives which urged them on, they hesitated long 
 
 p Guic. lib. xvi 291.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 157 
 
 before they ventured to attack them ; but at last the BOOK 
 necessities of the besieged, and the murmurs of their IV ', 
 own soldiers, obliged them to put every thing to 1525< 
 hazard. Never did armies engage with greater Feb. 24. 
 ardour, or with a higher opinion of the importance 
 of the battle which they were going to fight ; never 
 were troops more strongly animated with emulation, 
 national antipathy, mutual resentment, and all the 
 passions which inspire obstinate bravery. On the 
 one hand, a gallant young monarch, seconded by a 
 generous nobility, and followed by subjects to whose 
 natural impetuosity, indignation at the opposition 
 which they had encountered, added new force, con- 
 tended for victory and honour. On the other side, 
 troops more completely disciplined, and conducted 
 by generals of greater abilities, fought from necessity, 
 with courage heightened by despair. The imperial- 
 ists, however, were unable to resist the first efforts of 
 the French valour, and their firmest battalions began 
 to give way. But the fortune of the day was quickly 
 changed. The Swiss in the service of France, un- 
 mindful of the reputation of their country for fidelity 
 and martial glory, abandoned their post in a cowardly 
 manner. Leyva, with his garrison, sallied out and 
 attacked the rear of the French, during the heat of 
 the action, with such fury as threw it into confusion ; 
 and Pescara falling on their cavalry with the imperial 
 horse, among whom he had prudently intermingled a 
 considerable number of Spanish foot, armed with the 
 heavy muskets then in use, broke this formidable 
 body by an unusual method of attack, against which 
 they were wholly unprovided. The rout became T 1 * French 
 universal ; and resistance ceased in almost every part, routed, 
 but where the king was in person, who fought now, 
 not for fame or victory, but for safety. Though 
 wounded in several places, and thrown from his horse, 
 which was killed under him, Francis defended him-
 
 158 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK self on foot with an heroic courage. Many of his 
 IV> bravest officers gathering round him, and endea- 
 1525t vouring to save his life at the expence of their own, 
 fell at his feet. Among these was Bonnivet, the 
 author of this great calamity, who alone died unla- 
 mented. The king, exhausted with fatigue^ and 
 scarcely capable of farther resistance, was left almost 
 alone, exposed to the fury of some Spanish soldiers,, 
 strangers to his rank and enraged at his obstinacy. 
 At that moment came up Pomperant, a French gen- 
 tleman who had entered together with Bourbon into 
 the emperor's service, and placing himself by the side 
 of the monarch against whom he had rebelled, assisted 
 in protecting him from the violence of the soldiers ; 
 at the same time beseeching him to surrender to 
 Bourbon, who was not far distant. Imminent as the 
 danger was which now surrounded Francis, he re- 
 jected with indignation the thoughts of an action 
 which would have afforded such matter of triumph to 
 his traitorous subject ; and calling for Lannoy, who 
 
 Francis is happened likewise to be near at hand, gave up his 
 
 taken pri- 
 
 soner. sword to him ; which he, kneeling to kiss the king's 
 hand, received with profound respect ; and taking his 
 own sword from his side, presented it to him, saying, 
 " that it did not become so great a monarch to re- 
 main disarmed in the presence of one of the emperor's 
 subjects." q 
 
 Ten thousand men fell on this day, one of the most 
 fatal France had ever seen. Among these were many 
 noblemen of the highest distinction, who chose rather 
 to perish than to turn their backs with dishonour. 
 Not a few were taken prisoners, of whom the most 
 illustrious was Henry D' Albret, the unfortunate King 
 of Navarre. A small body of the rear-guard made 
 
 * Guic. lib. xv. 292. OZuv. de Brant, vi. 355. Mm. de Bellay, p. 90. 
 Sandov. Hist. i. 638, &c. P. Mart. lip. 805. 810. Ruscelli, Lettere de' 
 Principi, ii, p. 70. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 98.
 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 159 
 
 its escape, under the command of the Duke of BOOK 
 Alen9on ; the feeble garrison of Milan, on the first IV ' 
 news of the defeat, retired, without being pursued, by 1525 * 
 another road ; and in two weeks after the battle, not 
 a Frenchman remained in Italy. 
 
 Lannoy, though he treated Francis with all the 
 outward marks of honour due to his rank and cha- 
 racter, guarded him with the utmost attention. He 
 was solicitous, not only to prevent any possibility of 
 his escaping, but afraid that his own troops might 
 seize his person, and detain it as the best security for 
 the payment of their arrears. In order to provide 
 against both these dangers, he conducted Francis, the 
 day after the battle, to the strong castle of Pizzichi- 
 tone near Cremona, committing him to the custody 
 of Don Ferdinand Alarcon, general of the Spanish 
 infantry, an officer of great bravery and of strict 
 honour, but remarkable for that severe and scrupu- 
 lous vigilance which such a trust required. 
 
 Francis, who formed a judgment of the emperor's 
 dispositions by his own, was extremely desirous that 
 Charles should be informed of his situation, fondly 
 hoping that from his generosity or sympathy he 
 should obtain speedy relief. The imperial generals 
 were no less impatient to give their sovereign an early 
 account of the decisive victory which they had gained, 
 and to receive his instructions with regard to their 
 future conduct. As the most certain and expedi- 
 tious method of conveying intelligence to Spain, at 
 that season of the year, was by land, Francis gave the 
 Commendador Pennalosa, who was charged with 
 Luimoy's dispatches, a passport to travel through 
 France. 
 
 Charles received the account of this signal and un- Effects of 
 expected success that had crowned his arms with a " C 
 moderation, which, if it had been real, would have 
 done him more honour than the greatest victory.
 
 1(30 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Without uttering one word expressive of exultation, 
 IV ' or of intemperate joy, he retired immediately into his 
 
 1525 * chapel, and, having spent an hour in offering up his 
 thanksgivings to heaven, returned to the presence- 
 chamber, which by that time was filled with grandees 
 and foreign ambassadors, assembled in order to con- 
 gratulate him. He accepted of their compliments 
 with a modest deportment ; he lamented the mis- 
 fortune of the captive king, as a striking example of 
 the sad reverse of fortune, to which the most power- 
 ful monarchs are subject ; he forbade any public 
 rejoicings, as indecent in a war carried on among 
 Christians, reserving them until he should obtain a 
 victory equally illustrious over the infidels ; and 
 seemed to take pleasure in the advantage which he 
 had gained, only as it would prove the occasion of re- 
 storing peace to Christendom. r 
 
 The Charles, however, had already begun to form 
 
 beganTo e schemes in his own mind, which little suited such 
 form. external appearances. Ambition, not generosity, 
 was the ruling passion in his mind ; and the victory 
 at Pavia opened such new and unbounded prospects 
 of gratifying it, as allured him with irresistible force ; 
 but it being no easy matter to execute the vast 
 designs which he meditated, he thought it necessary, 
 while proper measures were taking for that purpose, 
 to affect the greatest moderation, hoping under that 
 veil to conceal his real intentions from the other 
 princes of Europe. 
 
 Thejjene- Meanwhile, France was filled with consternation. 
 
 stcmation The king himself had early transmitted an account of 
 
 **' the rout at Pavia, in a letter to his mother, delivered 
 
 by Pennalosa, which contained only these words, 
 
 " Madam, all is lost, except our honour." The 
 
 officers who made their escape, when they arrived 
 
 from Italy, brought such a melancholy detail of par- 
 
 r Sandov. Hist. i. 641. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 110.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 161 
 
 ticulars as made all ranks of men sensibly feel the BOOK 
 greatness and extent of the calamity. France, without IV ' _, 
 its sovereign, without money in her treasury, without 152i 
 an army, without generals to command it, and en- 
 compassed on all sides by a victorious and active 
 enemy, seemed to be on the very brink of destruc- 
 tion. But on that occasion the great abilities of Thepru. 
 Louise the regent saved the kingdom, which the durtofuie 
 violence of her passions had more than once exposed re snt. 
 to the greatest danger. Instead of giving herself up 
 to such lamentations as were natural to a woman so 
 remarkable for her maternal tenderness, she dis- 
 covered all the foresight, and exerted all the activity, 
 of a consummate politician. She assembled the nobles 
 at Lyons, and animated them by her example no less 
 than by her words, with such zeal in defence of their 
 country, as its present situation required. She col- 
 lected the remains of the army which had served in 
 Italy, ransomed the prisoners, paid the arrears, and 
 put them in a condition to take the field. She levied 
 new troops, provided for the security of the frontiers, 
 and raised sums sufficient for defraying these extraor- 
 dinary expences. Her chief care, however, was to 
 appease the resentment, or to gain the friendship, of 
 the King of England ; and from that quarter the first 
 ray of comfort broke in upon the French. 
 
 Though Henry, in entering into alliances with ^ r ^ tlof 
 Charles or Francis, seldom followed any regular or at Pai* 
 concerted plan of policy, but was influenced chiefly by 
 the caprice of temporary passions, such occurrences 
 often happened as recalled his attention towards that 
 equal balance of power which it was necessary to keep 
 between the two contending potentates, the preserva- 
 tion of which he always boasted to be his peculiar 
 office. He had expected that his union with the 
 emperor might afford him an opportunity of recovering 
 some part of those territories in France which had 
 
 Ch. VOL. n. M
 
 162 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK belonged to his ancestors, and for the sake of such an 
 ^ IV> acquisition he did not scruple to give his assistance 
 15S5> towards raising Charles to a considerable pre-eminence 
 above Francis. He had never dreamt, however, of 
 any event so decisive and so fatal as the victory at 
 Pavia, which seemed not only to have broken, but to 
 have annihilated the power of one of the rivals ; so 
 that the prospect of the sudden and entire revolution 
 which this would occasion in the political system, 
 filled him with the most disquieting apprehensions. 
 He saw all Europe in danger of being over-run by an 
 ambitious prince, to whose power there now remained 
 no counterpoise ; and though he himself might at first 
 be admitted, in quality of an ally, to some share in the 
 spoils of the captive monarch, it was easy to discern, 
 that, with regard to the manner of making the par- 
 tition, as well as his security for keeping possession of 
 what should be allotted him, he must absolutely de- 
 pend upon the will of a confederate, to whose forces 
 his own bore no proportion. He was sensible, that if 
 Charles were permitted to add any considerable part 
 of France to the vast dominions of which he was 
 already master, his neighbourhood would be much 
 more formidable to England than that of the ancient 
 French kings ; while, at the same time, the proper 
 balance on the continent, to which England owed 
 both its safety and importance, would be entirely lost. 
 Concern for the situation of the unhappy monarch 
 co-operated with these political considerations ; his 
 gallant behaviour in the battle of Pavia had excited 
 a high degree of admiration, which never fails of aug- 
 menting sympathy ; and Henry, naturally susceptible 
 of generous sentiments, was fond of appearing as the 
 deliverer of a vanquished enemy from a state of cap- 
 tivity. The passions of the English minister seconded 
 the inclinations of the monarch. Wolsey, who had 
 not forgotten the disappointment of his hopes in two
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. ' ^5 
 
 successive conclaves, which he imputed chiefly to the BOOK 
 emperor, thought this a proper opportunity of taking . 
 revenge ; and Louise, courting the friendship of Eng- 1525 - 
 land with such flattering submissions as were no less 
 agreeable to the king than to the cardinal, Henry 
 gave her secret assurances that he would not lend his 
 aid towards oppressing France, in its present helpless 
 state, and obliged her to promise that she would not 
 consent to dismember the kingdom even in order to 
 procure her son's liberty. 8 
 
 But as Henry's connections with the emperor made 
 it necessary to act in such a manner as to save appear- 
 ances, he ordered public rejoicings to be made in his 
 dominions for the success of the imperial arms ; and 
 as if he had been eager to seize the present opportunity 
 of ruining the French monarchy, he sent ambassadors 
 to Madrid, to congratulate with Charles upon his vic- 
 tory ; to put him in mind, that he, as his ally, engaged 
 in one common cause, was entitled to partake in the 
 fruits of it ; and to require that, in compliance with the 
 terms of their confederacy, he would invade Guienne 
 with a powerful army, in order to give him possession 
 of that province. At the same time, he offered to send 
 the Princess Mary into Spain or the Low Countries, 
 that she might be educated under the emperor's direc- 
 tion, until the conclusion of the marriage agreed on 
 between them ; and in return for that mark of his 
 confidence, he insisted that Francis should be delivered 
 to him in consequence of that article in the treaty of 
 Bruges, whereby each of the contracting parties was 
 bound to surrender all usurpers to him whose rights 
 they had invaded. It was impossible that Henry could 
 expect that the emperor would listen to these extra- 
 vagant demands, which it was neither his interest nor 
 in his power to grant. They appear evidently to have 
 been made with no other intention than to furnish him 
 
 . de Bellay, 94. Guic. lib. xvi. 318. Herbert. 
 M 2
 
 164 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK with a decent pretext for entering into such engage- 
 ments with France as the juncture required/ 
 
 It was among the Italian states, however, that the 
 victory at Pavia occasioned the greatest alarm and 
 terror. That balance of power on which they relied 
 for their security, and which it had been the constant 
 object of all their negotiations and refinements to 
 maintain, was destroyed in a moment. They were ex- 
 posed, by their situation, to feel the first effects of that 
 uncontrolled authority which Charles had acquired. 
 They observed many symptoms of a boundless ambition 
 in that young prince, and were sensible that, as em- 
 peror, or King of Naples, he might not only form 
 dangerous pretensions upon each of their territories, 
 but might invade them with great advantage. They 
 deliberated therefore with much solicitude concern- 
 ing the means of raising such a force as might ob- 
 struct his progress u ; but their consultations, con- 
 ducted with little union, and executed with less 
 vigour, had no effect. Clement, instead of pursuing 
 the measures which he had concerted with the Vene- 
 tians for securing the liberty of Italy, was so in- 
 timidated by Lannoy's threats, or overcome by his 
 April i. promises, that he entered into a separate treaty, 
 binding himself to advance a considerable sum to the 
 emperor, in return for certain emoluments, which he 
 was to receive from him. The money was instantly 
 paid ; but Charles afterwards refused to ratify the 
 treaty, and the pope remained exposed at once to 
 infamy and to ridicule : to the former, because he had 
 deserted the public cause for his private interest ; to 
 the latter, because he had been a loser by that un- 
 worthy action. x 
 
 * Herbert, p. 64. 
 
 u Guic. lib. xvi. 300. Ruscells Lettere de' Princ. ii. 74. 76, &c. Thuani 
 Hist. lib. i. c. 11. 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xvi. 305. Mauroceni Histor. Venet. ap. Istorici delle Cose 
 Venez. v. 131. 13G.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 165 
 
 How dishonourable soever the artifice might be BOOK 
 
 I \ * 
 
 which was employed in order to defraud the pope of ' 
 this sum, it came very seasonably into the viceroy's 
 
 hands, and put it in his power to extricate himself out the '""P 6 - 
 
 rial army. 
 
 of an imminent danger. Soon after the defeat of the 
 French anny, the German troops, which had de- 
 fended Pavia with such meritorious courage and per- 
 severance, growing insolent upon the fame that they 
 had acquired, and impatient of relying any longer on 
 fruitless promises, with which they had been so often 
 amused, rendered themselves masters of the town, 
 with a resolution to keep possession of it as a security 
 for the payment of their arrears ; and the rest of the 
 army discovered a much stronger inclination to assist, 
 than to punish the mutineers. By dividing among 
 them the money exacted from the pope, Lannoy 
 quieted the tumultuous Germans ; but though this 
 satisfied their present demands, he had so little pro- 
 spect of being able to pay them or his other forces 
 regularly for the future, and was under such con- 
 tinual apprehensions of their seizing the person of 
 the captive king, that, not long after, he was obliged 
 to dismiss all the Germans and Italians in the im- 
 perial service. y Thus, from a circumstance that now 
 appears very singular, but arising naturally from the 
 constitution of most European governments in the 
 sixteenth century, while Charles was suspected by all 
 his neighbours of aiming at universal monarchy ; and 
 while he was really fonning vast projects of this kind, 
 his revenues were so limited, that he could not keep 
 on foot his victorious army, though it did not exceed 
 twenty-four thousand men. 
 
 During these transactions, Charles, whose preten- Theempe. 
 sions to moderation and disinterestedness were soon 
 
 rations con- 
 
 forgotten, deliberated, with the utmost solicitude, CCTnin 
 
 Guic. lib. xvi. p. 302. 
 M 3
 
 BOOK how he might derive the greatest advantages from the 
 IV - misfortunes of his adversary. Some of his counsel- 
 1525. l ors advised him to treat Francis with the magnani- 
 i^,Tin g f mity that became a victorious prince, and, instead of 
 his victory. ta fc m g advantage of his situation to impose rigorous 
 conditions, to dismiss him on such equal terms as 
 would bind him for ever to his interest by the ties of 
 gratitude and affection, more forcible as well as more 
 permanent than any which could be formed by ex- 
 torted oaths and involuntary stipulations. Such an 
 exertion of generosity is not, perhaps, to be expected 
 in the conduct of political affairs, and it was far too 
 refined for that prince to whom it was proposed. 
 The more obvious, but less splendid scheme, of en- 
 deavouring to make the utmost of Francis's calamity, 
 had a greater number in the council to recommend 
 it, and suited better with the emperor's genius. But 
 though Charles adopted this plan, he seems not to 
 have executed it in the most proper manner. In- 
 stead of making one great effort to penetrate into 
 France, with all the forces of Spain and the Low 
 Countries ; instead of crushing the Italian states 
 before they recovered from the consternation which 
 the success of his arms had occasioned, he had re- 
 course to the artifices of intrigue and negotiation. 
 This proceeded partly from necessity, partly from 
 the natural disposition of his mind. The situation 
 of his finances at that time rendered it extremely dif- 
 ficult to carry on any extraordinary armament ; and 
 he himself having never appeared at the head of his 
 armies, the command of which he had hitherto com- 
 mitted to his generals, was averse to bold and martial 
 counsels, and trusted more to the arts with which he 
 was acquainted. He laid, besides, too much stress 
 upon the victory of Pavia, as if by that event the 
 strength of France had been annihilated, its re-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 1(5 
 
 sources exhausted, and the kingdom itself, no less BOOK 
 
 than the person of its monarch, had been subjected IV ' 
 
 to his power. 1S25 
 
 Full of this opinion, he determined to set the 
 highest price upon Francis's freedom, and having 
 ordered the Count de Rceux to visit the captive 
 king in his name, he instructed him to propose the 
 following articles, as the conditions on which he 
 would grant him his liberty : That he should restore 
 Burgundy to the emperor, from whose ancestors it 
 had been unjustly wrested ; that he should surrender 
 Provence and Dauphine, that they might be erected 
 into an independent kingdom for the Constable 
 Bourbon ; that he should make full satisfaction to 
 the King of England for all his claims, and finally 
 renounce the pretensions of France to Naples, Milan, 
 or any other territory in Italy. When Francis, who 
 had hitherto flattered himself that he should be 
 treated by the emperor with the generosity becoming 
 one great prince towards another, heard these rigorous 
 conditions, he was so transported with indignation, 
 that, drawing his dagger hastily, he cried out, 
 " 'Twere better that a king should die thus." Alarcon, 
 alarmed at his vehemence, laid hold on his hand ; 
 but though he soon recovered greater composure, he 
 still declared, in the most solemn manner, that he 
 would rather remain a prisoner during life, than pur- 
 chase liberty by such ignominious concessions. z 
 
 This mortifying discovery of the emperor's inten- Frand 
 tions greatly augmented Francis's chagrin and irn- 
 patience under his confinement, and must have driven 
 him to absolute despair, if he had not laid hold of 
 the only thing which could still administer any com- 
 fort to him. He persuaded himself, that the con- 
 ditions which Rceux had proposed did not flow 
 originally from Charles himself, but were dictated by 
 
 z Mem. de Bellay, 94. Fencras, Hist. i*. 43. 
 AI 4
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the rigorous policy of his Spanish council ; and that 
 IV - therefore he might hope, in one personal interview 
 
 1525 - with him, to do more towards hastening his own 
 deliverance than could be effected by long negoti- 
 ations passing through the subordinate hands of his 
 ministers. Relying on this supposition, which pro- 
 ceeded from too favourable an opinion of the em- 
 peror's character, he offered to visit him in Spain, 
 and was willing to be carried thither as a spectacle to 
 that haughty nation. Lannoy employed all his ad- 
 dress to confirm him in these sentiments, and con- 
 certed with him in secret the manner of executing 
 this resolution. Francis was so eager on a scheme 
 which seemed to open some prospect of liberty, that 
 he furnished the galleys necessary for conveying him 
 to Spain, Charles being at this time unable to fit out 
 a squadron for that purpose. The viceroy, without 
 communicating his intentions either to Bourbon or 
 Pescara, conducted his prisoner towards Genoa, under 
 pretence of transporting him by sea to Naples ; though, 
 soon after they set sail, he ordered the pilots to steer 
 directly for Spain ; but the wind happening to carry 
 them near the French coast, the unfortunate monarch 
 had a full prospect of his own dominions, towards 
 which he cast many a sorrowful and desiring look. 
 August 24. They landed, however, in a few days, at Barcelona, 
 and soon after Francis was lodged, by the emperor's 
 command, in the alcazar of Madrid, under the care 
 of the vigilant Alarcon, who guarded him with as 
 much circumspection as ever. a 
 
 Henry A few days after Francis's arrival at Madrid, and 
 
 eludes a n w hen he began to be sensible of his having relied, 
 
 Fn y ce Wi fo w i tnout foundation, on the emperor's generosity, 
 
 order to Henry VIII. concluded a treaty with the Regent of 
 
 France, which afforded him some hope of liberty 
 
 from another quarter. Henry's extravagant demands 
 
 Mem. de Bcllay, 95. P. Mart. Ep. ult. Guic. lib. xvi. 323.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 had been received at Madrid with that neglect which BOOK 
 they deserved, and which he probably expected. 
 Charles, intoxicated with prosperity, no longer 1525 - 
 courted him in that respectful and submissive manner 
 which pleased his haughty temper. Wolsey, no less 
 haughty than his master, was highly irritated at the 
 emperor's discontinuing his wonted caresses and pro- 
 fessions of friendship to himself. These slight of- 
 fences, added to the weighty considerations formerly 
 mentioned, induced Henry to enter into a defensive al- 
 liance with Louise, in which all the differences between 
 him and her son were adjusted ; at the same time he 
 engaged that he would employ his best offices in or- 
 der to procure the deliverance of his new ally from a 
 state of captivity. 6 
 
 While the open defection of such a powerful con- Morone's 
 federate affected Charles with deep concern, a secret "|[ e f"o S " 
 conspiracy was carrying on in Italy, which threatened overturn 
 him with consequences still more fatal. The restless ror^'power 
 and intriguing genius of Morone, Chancellor of l Italy * 
 Milan, gave rise to this. His revenge had been 
 amply gratified by the expulsion of the French out of 
 Italy, and his vanity no less soothed by the re-esta- 
 blishment of Sforza, to whose interest he had attached 
 himself, in the dutchy of Milan. The delays, how- 
 ever, and evasions of the imperial court, in granting 
 Sforza the investiture of his new-acquired territories, 
 had long alanned Morone ; these were repeated so 
 often, and with such apparent artifice, as became a 
 full proof to his suspicious mind, that the emperor 
 intended to strip his master of that rich country 
 which he had conquered in his name. Though 
 Charles, in order to quiet the pope and Venetians, 
 no less jealous of his designs than Morone, gave 
 Sforza, at last, the investiture which had been so long 
 <U" ircd ; the charter was clogged with so many reser- 
 
 b Hi-rbcrt. Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, 337.
 
 jyQ THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK vations, and subjected him to such grievous burdens, 
 IV - as rendered the Duke of Milan a dependent on the 
 1525 - emperor, rather than a vassal of the empire, and af- 
 forded him hardly any other security for his posses- 
 sions than the good pleasure of an ambitious superior. 
 Such an accession of power as would have accrued 
 from the addition of the Milanese to the kingdom of 
 Naples, was considered by Morone as fatal to the 
 liberties of Italy, no less than to his own importance. 
 Full of this idea, he began to revolve in his mind the 
 possibility of rescuing Italy from the yoke of foreign- 
 ers ; the darling scheme, as has been already ob- 
 served, of the Italian politicians in that age, and 
 which it was the great object of their ambition to ac- 
 complish. If to the glory of having been the chief 
 instrument of driving the French out of Milan, he 
 could add that of delivering Naples from the domi- 
 nion of the Spaniards, he thought that nothing would 
 be wanting to complete his fame. His fertile genius 
 soon suggested to him a project for that purpose ; a 
 difficult, indeed, and daring one, but for that very 
 reason more agreeable to his bold and enterprising 
 temper. 
 
 His ncgcti- Bourbon and Pescara were equally enraged at Lan- 
 Puscarl' 111 n y' s carrying the French king into Spain without 
 their knowledge. The former, being afraid that the 
 two monarchs might, in his absence, conclude some 
 treaty in which his interests would be entirely sacri- 
 ficed, hastened to Madrid, in order to guard against 
 that danger. The latter, on whom the command of 
 the army now devolved, was obliged to remain in 
 Italy ; but, in every company, he gave vent to his 
 indignation against the viceroy, in expressions full of 
 rancour and contempt ; he accused him, in a letter to 
 the emperor, of cowardice in the time of danger, and 
 of insolence after a victory, towards the obtaining of 
 which he had contributed nothing either by his valour or
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 1 y 
 
 his conduct ; nor did he abstain from bitter complaints BOOK 
 against the emperor himself, who had not discovered, IV - 
 as he imagined, a sufficient sense of his merit, nor be- 1525< 
 stowed any adequate reward on his services. It was 
 on this disgust of Pescara that Morone founded his 
 whole system. He knew the boundless ambition of 
 his nature, the great extent of his abilities in peace as 
 well as war, and the intrepidity of his mind, capable 
 alike of undertaking and of executing the most desperate 
 designs. The cantonment of the Spanish t roops on 
 the frontier of the Milanese, gave occasion to many 
 interviews between him and Morone, in which the 
 latter took care frequently to turn the conversation 
 to the transactions subsequent to the battle of Pavia, 
 a subject upon which the marquis always entered will- 
 ingly and with passion ; and Morone, observing his 
 resentment to be uniformly violent, artfully pointed 
 out and aggravated every circumstance that could in- 
 crease its fury. He painted, in the strongest colours, 
 the emperor's want of disceniment, as well as of gra- 
 titude, in preferring Lannoy to him, and in allowing 
 that presumptuous Fleming to dispose of the captive 
 king, without consulting the man to whose braveiy and 
 wisdom Charles was indebted for the glory of having 
 a formidable rival in his power. Having wanned him 
 by such discourses, he then began to insinuate that 
 now was the time to be avenged for these insults , and 
 to acquire immortal renown as the deliverer of his 
 country from the oppression of strangers ; that the 
 states of Italy, weary of the ignominious and intoler- 
 able dominion of barbarians, were at last ready to 
 combine in order to vindicate their own independence ; 
 that their eyes were fixed on him as the only leader 
 whose genius and good fortune could ensure the happy 
 success of that noble enterprise ; that the attempt was 
 no less practicable than glorious, it being in his power 
 jso to disperse the Spanish infantry, the only body of
 
 172 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the emperor's troops that remained in Italy, through 
 IV ' the villages of the Milanese, that, in one night, they 
 
 1525< might be destroyed by the people, who, having 
 suffered much from their exactions and insolence, 
 would gladly undertake this service ; that he might 
 then, without opposition, take possession of the throne 
 of Naples, the station destined for him, and a reward 
 not unworthy the restorer of liberty to Italy ; that 
 the pope, of whom that kingdom held, and whose 
 predecessors had disposed of it on many former occa- 
 sions, would willingly grant him the right of investi- 
 ture ; that the Venetians, the Florentines, the Duke 
 of Milan, to whom he had communicated the scheme, 
 together with the French, would be the guarantees 
 of his right ; that the Neapolitans would naturally 
 prefer the government of one of their countrymen, 
 whom they loved and admired, to that odious do- 
 minion of strangers, to which they had been so long 
 subjected ; and that the emperor, astonished at a 
 blow so unexpected, would find that he had neither 
 troops nor money to resist such a powerful confe- 
 deracy. 
 
 Betrayed Pescara, amazed at the boldness and extent of the 
 prilne k r e by scheme listened attentively to Morone, but with the 
 Pcsrara. countenance of a man lost in profound and anxious 
 thought. On the one hand, the infamy of betraying 
 his sovereign under whom he bore such high com- 
 mand, deterred him from the attempt ; on the other, 
 the prospect of obtaining a crown allured him to ven- 
 ture upon it. After continuing a short space in sus- 
 pense, the least commendable motives, as is usual 
 after such deliberations, prevailed, and ambition tri- 
 umphed over honour. In order, however, to throw 
 a colour of decency on his conduct, he insisted that 
 
 Guic. lib. xvi. 325. Jovii Vita Davali, p. 417. OZuv. de Brantime, 
 iv. 171. Ruscelli, Lettere de' Princ. ii. 9). Thuani Hist. lib. i. c. 11. 
 P. Heuter. Her. Austr. lib. ix. c. fl. p. 207.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 173 
 
 some learned casuists should give their opinion, BOOK 
 " whether it was lawful for a subject to take arms IV ' 
 against his immediate sovereign, in obedience to the 1525 ' 
 lord paramount of whom the kingdom itself was 
 held ?" Such a resolution of the case as he expected 
 was soon obtained from the divines and civilians both 
 of Rome and Milan ; the negotiation went forward ; 
 and measures seemed to be taking with great spirit 
 for the speedy execution of the design. 
 
 During this interval, Pescara, either shocked at 
 the treachery of the action that he was going to com- 
 mit, or despairing of its success, began to entertain 
 thoughts of abandoning the engagements which he 
 had come under. The indisposition of Sforza, who 
 happened at that time to be taken ill of a distemper 
 which was thought mortal, confirmed his resolution, 
 and determined him to make known the whole con- 
 spiracy to the emperor, deeming it more prudent to 
 expect the dutchy of Milan from him as the reward 
 of this discovery, than to aim at a kingdom to be 
 purchased by a series of crimes. This resolution, 
 however, proved the source of actions hardly less 
 criminal and ignominious. The emperor, who had 
 already received full information concerning the con- 
 spiracy from other hands, seemed to be highly pleased 
 with Pescara's fidelity, and commanded him to con- 
 tinue his intrigues for some time with the pope and 
 Sforza, both that he might discover their intentions 
 more fully, and that he might be able to convict them 
 of the crime with greater certainty. Pescara, con- 
 scious of guilt, as well as sensible how suspicious his 
 long silence must have appeared at Madrid, durst not 
 decline that dishonourable office ; and was obliged to 
 act the meanest and most disgraceful of all parts, that 
 of seducing with a purpose to betray. Considering 
 the abilities of the persons with whom he had to deal, 
 the part was scarcely less difficult than base ; but he
 
 !74 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK acted it with such address, as to deceive even the 
 IV ' penetrating eye of Morone, who, relying with full 
 1525 ' confidence on his sincerity, visited him at Novara, in 
 order to put the last hand to their machinations. 
 Pescara received him in an apartment where Antonio 
 de Leyva was placed behind the tapestry, that he 
 might overhear and bear witness to their conversa- 
 tion ; as Morone was about to take leave, that officer 
 suddenly appeared, and to his astonishment arrested 
 him prisoner in the emperor's name. He was con- 
 ducted to the castle of Pavia ; and Pescara, who had 
 so lately been his accomplice, had now the assurance 
 to interrogate him as his judge. At the same time, 
 the emperor declared Sforza to have forfeited all 
 right to the dutchy of Milan, by his engaging in a 
 conspiracy against the sovereign of whom he held ; 
 Pescara, by his command, seized on every place in the 
 Milanese, except the castles of Cremona and Milan, 
 which the unfortunate duke attempting to defend, 
 were closely blockaded by the imperial troops. d 
 The rigor- But though this unsuccessful conspiracy, instead 
 ^fnt'of 1 ' of stripping the emperor of what he already possessed 
 Francis in m Italy, contributed to extend his dominions in that 
 
 Spam -i 11-1 
 
 country, it shewed him the necessity or coming to 
 some agreement with the French king, unless he chose 
 to draw on himself a confederacy of all Europe, which 
 the progress of his arms and his ambition, now as 
 undisguised as it was boundless, filled with general 
 alarm. He had not hitherto treated Francis with 
 the generosity which that monarch expected, and 
 hardly with the decency due to his station. Instead 
 of displaying the sentiments becoming a great prince, 
 Charles, by his mode of treating Francis, seems to 
 have acted with the mercenary art of a corsair, who, 
 by the rigorous usage of his prisoners, endeavours to 
 draw from them a higher price for their ransom. 
 
 d Guic. lib. xvi. 329. Jovii Hist. 319. Capella, lib. v. p. 20O.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 175 
 
 The captive king was confined in an old castle, under BOOK 
 a keeper whose formal austerity of manners rendered IV ' 
 his vigilance still more disgusting. He was allowed 1525 * 
 no exercise but that of riding on a mule, surrounded 
 with armed guards on horseback. Charles, on pre- 
 tence of its being necessary to attend the cortes 
 assembled in Toledo, had gone to reside in that city, 
 and suffered several weeks to elapse without visiting 
 Francis, though he solicited an interview with the most 
 pressing and submissive importunity. So many in- endangers 
 dignities made a deep impression on a high-spirited 
 prince ; he began to lose all relish for his usual 
 amusements ; his natural gaiety of temper forsook 
 him ; and after languishing for some time he was 
 seized with a dangerous fever, during the violence of 
 which he complained constantly of the unexpected 
 and unprincely rigour with which he had been treated, 
 often exclaiming, that now the emperor would have 
 the satisfaction of his dying a prisoner in his hands, 
 without having once deigned to see his face. The 
 physicians, at last, despaired of his life, and informed the 
 emperor, that they saw no hope of his recovery, unless 
 he were gratified with regard to that point on which 
 he seemed to be so strongly bent. Charles, solicitous 
 to preserve a life with which all his prospects of farther 
 advantage from the victory of Pavia must have ter- 
 minated, immediately consulted his ministers concern- 
 ing the course to be taken. In vain did the Chan- 
 cellor Gattinara, the most able among them, represent 
 to him the indecency of his visiting Francis, if he did 
 not intend to set him at liberty immediately upon equal 
 terms ; in vain did he point out the infamy to which 
 he would be exposed, if avarice or ambition should 
 prevail on him to give the captive monarch this mark 
 of attention and sympathy, for which humanity and 
 generosity had pleaded so long without effect. The 
 
 emperor, less delicate, or less solicitous, about reputa- ror visit* 
 
 him.
 
 76 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tion than his minister, set out for Madrid to visit his 
 IV ' prisoner. The interview was short : Francis being 
 
 J- .*->* i 
 
 1525< too weak to bear a long conversation, Charles accosted 
 him in terms full of affection and respect, and gave 
 him such promises of speedy deliverance and princely 
 treatment, as would have reflected the greatest honour 
 upon him if they had flowed from another source. 
 Francis grasped at them with the eagerness natural in 
 his situation ; and, cheered with this gleam of hope, 
 began to revive from that moment, recovering rapidly 
 his wonted health. 6 
 
 He had soon the mortification to find, that his con- 
 fidence in the emperor was not better founded than 
 formerly. Charles returned instantly to Toledo ; 
 all negotiations were carried on by his ministers ; 
 and Francis was kept in as strict custody as ever. 
 A new indignity, and that very galling, was added to 
 all those he had already suffered. Bourbon arriving 
 in Spain about this time, Charles, who had so long 
 Nov. 15. refused to visit the King of France, received his re- 
 bellious subject with the most studied respect. He 
 met him without the gates of Toledo, embraced him 
 with the greatest affection, and, placing him on his 
 left hand, conducted him to his apartment. These 
 marks of honour to him were so many insults to the 
 unfortunate monarch, which he felt in a very sensi- 
 ble manner. It afforded him some consolation, how- 
 ever, to observe, that the sentiments of the Spaniards 
 differed widely from those of their sovereign. That 
 generous people detested Bourbon's crime. Not- 
 withstanding his great talents and important services, 
 they shunned all intercourse with him, to such a de- 
 gree, that Charles having desired the Marquis de 
 Villena to permit Bourbon to reside in his palace 
 while the court remained in Toledo, he politely re- 
 plied, " That he could not refuse gratifying his 
 
 e Guic. lib. xvi. 339. Sandov. Hist. i. 665.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 177 
 
 sovereign in that request ;" but added, with a Casti- BOOK 
 lian dignity of mind, that the emperor must not 
 
 be surprised if, the moment the constable departed, 1525 - 
 he should burn to the ground a house which, having 
 been polluted by the presence of a traitor, became an 
 unfit habitation for a man of honour. f 
 
 Charles himself, nevertheless, seemed to have it Appointed 
 much at heart to reward Bourbon's services in a sig- 
 nal manner. But as he insisted, in the first place, 
 on the accomplishment of the emperor's promise of 
 giving him in marriage his sister Eleanora, Queen-* 
 dowager of Portugal, the honour of which alliance 
 had been one of his chief inducements to rebel 
 against his lawful sovereign ; as Francis, in order to 
 prevent such a dangerous union, had offered, before 
 he left Italy, to marry that princess ; and as Elea- 
 nora herself discovered an inclination rather to match 
 with a powerful monarch, than with his exiled sub- 
 ject ; all these interfering circumstances created great 
 embarrassment to Charles, and left him hardly any 
 hope of extricating himself with decency. But the 
 death of Pescara, who, at the age of thirty-six, left 
 behind him the reputation of being one of the greatest 
 generals and ablest politicians of that century, hap- 
 pened opportunely at this juncture for his relief. By 
 that event, the command of the army in Italy became 
 vacant, and Charles, always fertile in resources, per- 
 suaded Bourbon, who was in no condition to dispute 
 his will, to accept the office of general-in-chief there, 
 together with a grant of the dutchy of Milan for- 
 feited by Sforza ; and in return for these to relin- 
 quish all hopes of marrying the Queen of Portugal. * 
 
 The chief obstacle that stood in the way of Francis's 
 
 , tions for 
 
 liberty, was the emperor s continuing to insist so proc uring 
 
 Francis's 
 
 f Guic. lib. xvi. 335. liberty. 
 
 B Sandov. Hist. i. 676. (Euv. de Brant, ir. 249. 
 Cll. VOL. II. N
 
 BOOK 
 IV. 
 
 1525. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 peremptorily on the restitution of Burgundy, as a 
 preliminary to that event. Francis often declared 
 that he would never consent to dismember his king- 
 dom ; and that, even if he should so far forget the 
 duties of a monarch, as to come to such a resolution, 
 the fundamental laws of the nation would prevent its 
 taking effect. On his part, he was willing to make an 
 absolute cession to the emperor of all his pretensions 
 in Italy and the Low Countries ; he promised to 
 restore to Bourbon all his lands which had been con- 
 fiscated ; he renewed his proposal of marrying the 
 emperor's sister, the Queen-dowager of Portugal ; 
 and engaged to pay a great sum by way of ransom 
 for his own person. But all mutual esteem and con- 
 fidence between the two monarchs were now entirely 
 lost ; there appeared, on the one hand, a rapacious 
 ambition, labouring to avail itself of every favourable 
 circumstance ; on the other, suspicion and resent- 
 ment, standing perpetually on their guard ; so that 
 the prospect of bringing their negotiations to an issue 
 seemed to be far distant. The Dutchess of Aleii9on, 
 the French king's sister, whom Charles permitted to 
 visit her brother in his confinement, employed all her 
 address, in order to procure his liberty on more rea- 
 sonable terms. Henry of England interposed his 
 good offices to the same purpose ; but both with so 
 little success, that Francis, in despair, took suddenly 
 the resolution of resigning his crown, with all its 
 rights and prerogatives, to his son, the dauphin, de- 
 termining rather to end his days in prison, than to 
 purchase his freedom by concessions unworthy of a 
 king. The deed for this purpose he signed with 
 legal formality in Madrid, empowering his sister to 
 carry it into France, that it might be registered in all 
 the parliaments of the kingdom ; and at the same 
 time intimating his intention to the emperor, he de-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 sired him to name the place of his confinement, and BOOK 
 
 to assign him a proper number of attendants during 
 
 the remainder of his days. h 1525 - 
 
 This resolution of the French king had great Charles 
 effect ; Charles began to be sensible, that by pushing ajarmed - 
 rigour to excess he might defeat his own measures ; 
 and instead of the vast advantages which he hoped to 
 draw from ransoming a powerful monarch, he might 
 at last find in his hands a prince without dominions 
 or revenues. About the same time, one of the King 
 of Navarre's domestics happened, by an extraordinary 
 exertion of fidelity, courage, and address, to procure 
 his master an opportunity of escaping from the prison 
 in which he had been confined ever since the battle of 
 Pavia. This convinced the emperor that the most 
 vigilant attention of his officers might be eluded by 
 the ingenuity or boldness of Francis or his attendants, 
 and one unlucky hour might deprive him of all the 
 advantages which he had been so solicitous to obtain. 
 By these considerations, he was induced to abate 
 somewhat of his former demands. On the other 
 hand, Francis's impatience under confinement daily 
 increased ; and having received certain intelligence 
 of a powerful league forming against his rival in 
 Italy, he grew more compliant with regard to his con- 
 cessions, trusting that, if he could once obtain his 
 liberty, he would soon be in a condition to resume 
 whatever he had yielded. 
 
 Such being the views and sentiments of the two 
 monarchs, the treaty which procured Francis his 
 liberty was signed at Madrid, on the fourteenth of 
 January one thousand five hundred and twenty-six. 
 The article with regard to Burgundy, which had 
 hitherto created the greatest difficulty, was compro- 
 mised, Francis engaging to restore that dutchy with 
 
 h This paper is published in Memoires Historiques, &c. par M. l'Abb6 
 Ray nal, torn. ii. p. 151 . 
 
 N 2
 
 L80 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK a ll its dependencies in full sovereignty to the emperor ; 
 
 ' and Charles consenting, that this restitution should 
 
 1526 * not be made until the king was set at liberty. In 
 order to secure the performance of this, as well as the 
 other conditions in the treaty, Francis agreed that, 
 at the same instant when he himself should be released, 
 he would deliver as hostages to the emperor, his 
 eldest son the Dauphin, his second son the Duke of 
 Orleans, or, in lieu of the latter, twelve of his prin- 
 cipal nobility, to be named by Charles. The other 
 articles swelled to a great number, and, though not 
 of such importance, were extremely rigorous. Among 
 these the most remarkable were, that Francis should 
 renounce all his pretensions in Italy ; that he should 
 disclaim any title which he had to the sovereignty of 
 Flanders and Artois ; that, within six weeks after his 
 release, he should restore to Bourbon, and his adhe- 
 rents, all their goods, moveable and immoveable, and 
 make them full reparation for the damages which 
 they had sustained by the confiscation of them ; that 
 he should use his interest with Henry d'Albret to 
 relinquish his pretensions to the crown of Navarre, 
 and should not for the future assist him in any attempt 
 to recover it ; that there should be established be- 
 tween the emperor and Francis a league of perpetual 
 friendship and confederacy, with a promise of mutual 
 assistance in every case of necessity ; that in corrobo- 
 ration of this union, Francis should marry the empe- 
 ror's sister, the Queen-dowager of Portugal ; that 
 Francis should cause all the articles of this treaty to 
 be ratified by the states, and registered in the parlia- 
 ments of his kingdom ; that, upon the emperor's 
 receiving this ratification, the hostages should be set 
 at liberty ; but, in their place, the Duke of Angou- 
 leme, the king's third son, should be delivered to 
 Charles j that, in order to manifest, as well as to 
 strengthen the amity between the two monarchs, he
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 181 
 
 might be educated at the imperial court ; and that if BOOK 
 Francis did not, within the time limited, fulfil the IV ' 
 stipulations in the treaty, he should promise, upon his 1526< 
 honour and oath, to return to Spain, and to sur- 
 render himself again a prisoner to the emperor. 1 
 
 By this treaty, Charles flattered himself that he Sentiments 
 had not only effectually humbled his rival, but that with Tc . 
 he had taken such precautions as would for ever pre- 8pec 
 vent his re-attaining any formidable degree of power. 
 The opinion, which the wisest politicians formed con- 
 cerning it, was very different ; they could not per- 
 suade themselves that Francis, after obtaining his 
 liberty, would execute articles against which he had 
 struggled so long, and to which, notwithstanding all 
 that he felt during a long and rigorous confinement, 
 he had consented with the utmost reluctance. Am- 
 bition and resentment, they knew, would conspire in 
 prompting him to violate the hard conditions to which 
 he had been constrained to submit ; nor would argu- 
 ments and casuistry be wanting to represent that 
 which was so manifestly advantageous, to be neces- 
 sary and just. If one part of Francis's conduct had 
 been known at that time, this opinion might have 
 been founded, not in conjecture, but in certainty. A 
 few hours before he signed the treaty, he assembled j* 
 such of his counsellors as were then at Madrid, and tests against 
 having exacted from them a solemn oath of secrecy, Jj^ u 
 he made a long enumeration in their presence of the 
 dishonourable arts, as well as unprincely rigour, which 
 the emperor had employed in order to ensnare or 
 intimidate him. For that reason, he took a formal 
 protest in the hands of notaries, that his consent to 
 the treaty should be considered as an involuntary 
 deed, and be deemed null and void. k By this dis- 
 ingenuous artifice, for which even the treatment that 
 
 1 Recueil des Trait, torn. ii. 1 1 2. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 102, &c. 
 k Recueil des Trait, torn. ii. p. 107. 
 N 3
 
 182 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK he had met with was no apology, Francis endeavoured 
 
 . 1_ to satisfy his honour and conscience in signing the 
 
 J526. treaty, and to provide at the same time a pretext on 
 which to break it. 
 
 Great, meanwhile, were the outward demonstra- 
 tions of love and confidence between the two mon- 
 archs ; they appeared often together in public ; they 
 frequently had long conferences in private ; they 
 travelled in the same litter, and joined in the same 
 amusements. But, amidst these signs of peace and 
 friendship, the emperor still harboured suspicion in 
 his mind. Though the ceremonies of the marriage 
 between Francis and the Queen of Portugal were per- 
 formed soon after the conclusion of the treaty, Charles 
 would not permit him to consummate it until the re- 
 turn of the ratification from France. Even then 
 Francis was not allowed to be at full liberty j his 
 guards were still continued ; though caressed as a 
 brother-in-law, he was still watched like a prisoner ; 
 and it was obvious to attentive observers, that an 
 union, in the very beginning of which there might be 
 discerned such symptoms of jealousy and distrust, 
 could not be cordial, or of long continuance. l 
 Ratified in About a month after the signing of the treaty, 
 the regent's ratification of it was brought from 
 France ; and that wise princess, preferring, on this 
 occasion, the public good to domestic affection, in- 
 formed her son, that, instead of the twelve noblemen 
 named in the treaty, she had sent the Duke of 
 Orleans along with his brother the dauphin to the 
 frontier, as the kingdom could suffer nothing by the 
 absence of a child, but must be left almost incapable 
 of defence, if deprived of its ablest statesmen, and 
 most experienced generals, whom Charles had art- 
 S5T full y included in Ws nomination. At last, Francis 
 took leave of the emperor, whose suspicion of the 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xvi. 353.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V, Ig3 
 
 king's sincerity, increasing, as the time of putting it BOOK 
 to the proof approached, he endeavoured to bind him IV ' 
 still faster by exacting new promises, which, after 1526> 
 those he had already made, the French monarch was 
 not slow to grant. He set out from Madrid, a place 
 which the remembrance of many afflicting circum- 
 stances rendered peculiarly odious to him, with the 
 joy natural on such an occasion, and began the long- 
 wished-for journey towards his own dominions. He 
 was escorted by a body of horse under the command 
 of Alarcon, who, as the king drew near the frontiers 
 of France, guarded him with more scrupulous exact- 
 ness than ever. When he arrived at the river Andaye, 
 which separates the two kingdoms, Lautrec appeared 
 on the opposite bank with a guard of horse equal in 
 number to Alarcon's. An empty bark was moored 
 in the middle of the stream ; the attendants drew up 
 in order on the opposite banks ; at the same instant, 
 Lannoy, with eight gentlemen, put off from the 
 Spanish, and Lautrec with the same number from 
 the French side of the river ; the former had the 
 king in his boat ; the latter, the dauphin and Duke 
 of Orleans ; they met in the empty vessel ; the ex- 
 change was made in a moment : Francis, after a 
 short embrace of his children, leaped into Lautrec's 
 boat, and reached the French shore. He mounted 
 at that instant a Turkish horse, waved his hand over 
 his head, and with a joyful voice crying aloud several 
 times, " I am yet a king," galloped full speed to 
 St. John de Luz, and from thence to Bayonne. 
 This event, no less impatiently desired by the French 
 nation than by their monarch, happened on the 
 eighteenth of March, a year and twenty-two days 
 after the fatal battle of Pavia. m 
 
 Soon after the emperor had taken leave of Francis, The emp<?- 
 and permitted him to begin his journey towards his 
 
 m Sandov. Hist. i. 735- Guic. lib. xvi. 355. 
 
 N 4
 
 m THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK own dominions, he set out for Seville, in order to 
 _ solemnize his marriage with Isabella, the daughter of 
 Emanuel, the late King of Portugal, and the sister of 
 John III., who had succeeded him in the throne of 
 that kingdom. Isabella was a princess of uncommon 
 beauty and accomplishments; and as the cortes, both 
 in Castile and Aragon, had warmly solicited their 
 sovereign to marry, the choice of a wife, so nearly 
 allied to the royal blood of both kingdoms, was ex- 
 tremely acceptable to his subjects. The Portuguese, 
 fond of this new connexion with the first monarch in 
 Christendom, granted him an extraordinary dowry 
 with Isabella, amounting to nine hundred thousand 
 crowns, a sum which, from the situation of his affairs 
 at that juncture, was of no small consequence to the 
 March 12. emperor. The marriage was celebrated with that 
 splendour and gaiety which became a great and 
 youthful prince. Charles lived with Isabella in 
 perfect harmony, and treated her on all occasions 
 with much distinction and regard. n 
 
 Affairs of During these transactions, Charles could hardly 
 Germany. g- ye an y a ^ention to the affairs of Germany, though 
 it was torn in pieces by commotions, which threatened 
 the most dangerous consequences. By the feudal 
 institutions, which still subsisted almost unimpaired in 
 the empire, the property of lands was vested in the 
 Grievances princes and free barons. Their vassals held of them 
 lie pea " by the strictest and most limited tenures ; while the 
 great body of the people was kept in a state but little 
 removed from absolute servitude. In some places of 
 Germany, people of the lowest class were so entirely 
 in the power of their masters, as to be subject to per- 
 sonal and domestic slavery, the most rigorous form of 
 that wretched state. In other provinces, particularly 
 in Bohemia and Lusatia, the peasants were bound to 
 
 n Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 106. Belcarius Com. Rer. Gallic, p. 565. 
 Spalatinus ap. Struv. Corp. Hist. Gertn. ii. 1081. 
 
 sants.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 185 
 
 remain on the lands to which they belonged, and, BOOK 
 making part of the estate, were transferred like any IV ' 
 other property from one hand to another. Even in 1526> 
 Suabia, and the countries on the banks of the Rhine, 
 where their condition was most tolerable, the peasants 
 not only paid the full rent of their farms to the land- 
 lord, but if they chose either to change the place of 
 their abode, or to follow a new profession, before 
 they could accomplish what they desired, they were 
 obliged to purchase this privilege at a certain price. 
 Besides this, all grants of lands to peasants expired at 
 their death, without descending to their posterity. 
 Upon that event, the landlord had a right to the 
 best of their cattle, as well as of their furniture ; and 
 their heirs, in order to obtain a renewal of the grant, 
 were obliged to pay large sums by way of fine. These 
 exactions, though grievous, were borne with patience, 
 because they were customary and ancient : but when 
 the progress of elegance and luxury, as well as the 
 changes introduced into the art of war, came to 
 increase the expence of government, and made it 
 necessary for princes to levy occasional or stated taxes 
 on their subjects, such impositions being new, ap- 
 peared intolerable ; and in Germany, these duties 
 being laid chiefly upon beer, wine, and other neces- 
 saries of life, affected the common people in the most 
 sensible manner. The addition of such a load to 
 their former burdens drove them to despair. It was 
 to the valour inspired by resentment against im- 
 positions of this kind, that the Swiss owed the acqui- 
 sition of their liberty in the fourteenth century. The 
 same cause had excited the peasants in several other 
 provinces of Germany to rebel against their superiors 
 towards the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the 
 sixteenth centuries ; and though these insurrections 
 were not attended with like success, they could not,
 
 186 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK however, be quelled without much difficulty and 
 IV " - bloodshed. 
 
 By these checks, the spirit of the peasants was 
 overawed rather than subdued ; and their grievances 
 multiplying continually, they ran to arms, in the 
 year one thousand five hundred and twenty-six, with 
 the most frantic rage. Their first appearance was 
 near Ulm, in Suabia. The peasants in the adjacent 
 country flocked to their standard with the ardour and 
 impatience natural to men who, having groaned long 
 under oppression, beheld at last some prospect of 
 deliverance ; and the contagion spreading from pro- 
 vince to province, reached almost every part of Ger- 
 many. Wherever they came, they plundered the 
 monasteries ; wasted the lands of their superiors ; 
 razed their castles, and massacred, without mercy, all 
 persons of noble birth, who were so unhappy as to 
 fall into their hands. p Having intimidated their 
 oppressors, as they imagined, by the violence of these 
 proceedings, they began to consider what would be 
 the most proper and effectual method of securing 
 themselves for the future from their tyrannical ex- 
 actions. With this view, they drew up and published 
 a memorial, containing all their demands, and de- 
 clared, that, while arms were in their hands, they 
 would either persuade or oblige- the nobles to give 
 them full satisfaction with regard to these. The 
 chief articles were, that they might have liberty to 
 choose their own pastors ; that they might be freed 
 from the payment of all tithes, except those of corn ; 
 that they might no longer be considered as the slaves 
 or bondmen of their superiors ; that the liberty of 
 hunting and fishing might be common ; that the great 
 
 Seckend. lib. ii. p. 2. 6. 
 
 p Petr. Crinitus de Bello Rusticano, ap. Freher. Script. Rer. Germ. 
 Argent. 1717, vol. iii. p. 243.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 187 
 
 forests might not be regarded as private property, but BOOK 
 be open for the use of all ; that they might be 1V> 
 delivered from the unusual burden of taxes under 1S26< 
 which they laboured ; that the administration of 
 justice might be rendered less rigorous and more 
 impartial ; that the encroachments of the nobles upon 
 meadows and commons might be restrained.* 1 
 
 Many of these demands were extremely reasonable ; q uelled 
 and, being urged by such formidable numbers, should 
 have met with some redress. But those unwieldy bo- 
 dies, assembled in different places, had neither union, 
 nor conduct, nor vigour. Being led by persons of the 
 lowest rank, without skill in war, or knowledge of 
 what was necessary for accomplishing their designs, 
 all their exploits were distinguished only by a brutal 
 and unmeaning fury. To oppose this, the princes 
 and nobles of Suabia and the Lower Rhine raised 
 such of their vassals as still continued faithful, and 
 attacking some of the mutineers with open force, and 
 others by surprise, cut to pieces or dispersed all who 
 infested those provinces ; so that the peasants, after 
 ruining the open country, and losing upwards of 
 twenty thousand of their associates in the field, were 
 obliged to return to their habitations with less hope 
 than ever of relief from their grievances/ 
 
 These commotions happened at first in provinces Their in- 
 of Germany where Luther's opinions had made little i,, jhu- 
 progress ; and being excited wholly by political nngia 
 causes, had no connection with the disputed points 
 in religion. But the frenzy reaching at last those 
 countries in which the refonnation was established, 
 derived new strength from circumstances peculiar to 
 them, and rose to a still greater pitch of extravagance. 
 The refonnation, wherever it was received, increased 
 
 " Sleid. Hist. p. 90. 
 
 r Seckend. lib. ii. p. 10. Petr. Gnodalius dc Rusticanorum Tumultu in 
 Germania, ap. Scard Script, vol. ii. p. 131, &c.
 
 188 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK that bold and innovating spirit to which it owed its 
 IV ' birth. Men who had the courage to overturn a system 
 
 1526. supported by every thing which can command respect 
 or reverence, were not to be overawed by any authority, 
 how great or venerable soever. After having been 
 accustomed to consider themselves as judges of the 
 most important doctrines in religion, to examine these 
 freely, and to reject, without scruple, what appeared 
 to them erroneous, it was natural for them to turn the 
 same daring and inquisitive eye towards government, 
 and to think of rectifying whatever disorders or im- 
 perfections were discovered there. As religious abuses 
 had been reformed in several places without the per- 
 mission of the magistrate, it was an easy transition to 
 attempt the redress of political grievances in the same 
 manner. 
 
 more for- No sooner, then, did the spirit of revolt break out 
 midabie. j n Xhuringia, a province subject to the Elector of 
 Saxony, the inhabitants of which were mostly converts 
 to Lutheranism, than it assumed a new and more 
 dangerous form. Thomas Muncer, one of Luther's 
 disciples, having established himself in that country, 
 had acquired a wonderful ascendant over the minds 
 of the people. He propagated among them the 
 wildest and most enthusiastic notions, but such as 
 tended manifestly to inspire them with boldness, and 
 Their fana- lead them to sedition. " Luther," he told them, " had 
 
 tical spirit, j , , . . , . . 
 
 done more hurt than service to religion. He had, 
 indeed, rescued the church from the yoke of popery, 
 but his doctrines encouraged, and his life set an ex- 
 ample of, the utmost licentiousness of manners. In 
 order to avoid vice (says he) men must practise per- 
 petual mortification. They must put on a grave 
 countenance, speak little, wear a plain garb, and be 
 serious in their whole deportment. Such as prepare 
 their hearts in this manner, may expect that the Su- 
 preme Being will direct all their steps, and by some
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 189 
 
 visible sign discover his will to them ; if that illumin- BOOK 
 ation be at any time withheld, we may expostulate IV ' 
 with the Almighty, who deals with us so harshly, and 1526< 
 remind him of his promises. This expostulation and 
 anger will be highly acceptable to God, and will at 
 last prevail on him to guide us with the same unerring 
 hand which conducted the patriarchs of old. Let us 
 beware, however, of offending him by our arrogance ; 
 but as all men are equal in his eye, let them return 
 to that condition of equality in which he formed them, 
 and, having all things in common, let them live to- 
 gether like brethren, without any marks of subordin- 
 ation or pre-eminence." 1 
 
 Extravagant as these tenets were, they flattered so 
 many passions in the human heart, as to make a deep 
 impression. To aim at nothing more than abridging 
 the power of the nobility, was now considered as a 
 trifling and partial reformation, not worth the con- 
 tending for ; it was proposed to level every distinc- 
 tion among mankind, and, by abolishing property, to 
 reduce them to their natural state of equality, in which 
 all should receive their subsistence from one common 
 stock. Muncer assured them, that the design was 
 approved of by heaven, and that the Almighty had 
 in a dream ascertained him of its success. The pea- 
 sants set about the execution of it, not only with the 
 rage which animated those of their order in other 
 parts of Germany, but with the ardour which enthu- 
 siasm inspires. They deposed the magistrates in all 
 the cities of which they were masters ; seized the 
 lands of the nobles, and obliged such of them as they 
 got into their hands, to put on the dress commonly 
 worn by peasants, and, instead of their former titles, 
 to be satisfied with the appellation given to people in 
 the lowest class of life. Great numbers engaged in 
 this wild undertaking ; but Muncer, their leader and 
 
 Scckend. lib. ii. p. 13. Slcid. Hist p. 83.
 
 gO THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK their prophet, was destitute of the abilities necessary 
 IV ' for conducting it. He had all the extravagance, but 
 J526. not the courage, which enthusiasts usually possess. 
 It was with difficulty he could be persuaded to take 
 the field ; and though he soon drew together eight 
 thousand men, he suffered himself to be surrounded 
 by a body of cavalry under the command of the Elector 
 of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Duke of 
 Brunswick. These princes, unwilling to shed the 
 blood of their deluded subjects, sent a young noble- 
 man to their camp, with the offer of a general pardon, 
 if they would immediately lay down their arms, and 
 deliver up the authors of the sedition. Muncer, 
 alarmed at this, began to harangue his followers with 
 his usual vehemence, exhorting them not to trust 
 these deceitful promises of their oppressors, nor to 
 desert the cause of God, and of Christian liberty. 
 
 easants But the sense of present danger making a deeper 
 
 efeated. i m p ress i on on the peasants than his eloquence, con- 
 fusion and terror were visible in every face, when a 
 rainbow, which was the emblem that the mutineers 
 had painted on their colours, happening to appear in 
 the clouds, Muncer, with admirable presence of mind, 
 laid hold of that incident, and suddenly raising his 
 eyes and hands towards heaven, " Behold," cries he, 
 with an elevated voice, " the sign which God has 
 given. There is the pledge of your safety, and a 
 token that the wicked shall be destroyed." The 
 fanatical multitude set up instantly a great shout, as 
 if victory had been certain ; and passing in a moment 
 from one extreme to another, massacred the unfor- 
 tunate nobleman who had come with the offer of 
 pardon, and demanded to be led towards the enemy. 
 The princes, enraged at this shocking violation of the 
 laws of war, advanced with no less impetuosity, and 
 
 fay 15. began the attack ; but the behaviour of the peasants 
 in the combat was not such as might have been ex-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 pected, either from their ferocity or confidence of BOOK 
 success ; an undisciplined rabble was no equal match - Iv> 
 for well-trained troops; above five thousand were 1526 ' 
 slain in the field, almost without making resistance 
 the rest fled, and among the foremost Muncer their 
 general. He was taken next day, and being con- 
 demned to such punishments as his crimes had de- 
 served, he suffered them with a poor and dastardly 
 spirit. His death put an end to the insurrections of the 
 peasants, which had filled Germany with such terror 1 ; 
 but the enthusiastic notions which he had scattered 
 were not extirpated, and produced, not long after, 
 effects more memorable, as well as more extravagant. 
 
 During these commotions, Luther acted with ex- Luther's 
 emplary prudence and moderation ; like a common JTnd'p! 
 parent, solicitous about the welfare of both parties, <] entcoa - 
 
 . i . duct. 
 
 without sparing the faults or errors of either. On 
 the one hand, he addressed a monitory discourse to 
 the nobles, exhorting them to treat their dependents 
 with greater humanity and indulgence. On the 
 other, he severely censured the seditious spirit of the 
 peasants, advising them not to murmur at hardships 
 inseparable from their condition, nor to seek for re- 
 dress by any but legal means. u 
 
 Luther's famous marriage with Catherine a Boria, a His mar- 
 nun of a noble family, who, having thrown off the veil, nage * 
 had fled from the cloister, happened this year, and was 
 far from meeting with the same approbation. Even his 
 most devoted followers thought this step indecent, at 
 a time when his country was involved in so many 
 calamities ; while his enemies never mentioned it 
 with any softer appellation than that of incestuous or 
 profane. Luther himself was sensible of the impres- 
 sion which it had made to his disadvantage ; but being 
 
 1 Sleid. Hist. p. 84. Seckend. lib. ii. p. 12. Gnodalius, Tumult. Rus- 
 tican. 155. 
 
 u Sleid. Hist. p. 87.
 
 [Q2 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK satisfied with his own conduct, he bore the censure of 
 IV ' his friends, and the reproaches of his adversaries, with 
 
 1526. m - s usua l fortitude. * 
 
 May 5. This year the reformation lost its first protector, 
 Frederic, Elector of Saxony ; but the blow was the 
 less sensibly felt, as he was succeeded by his brother 
 John, a more avowed and zealous, though less able 
 patron of Luther and his doctrines. 
 
 Another event happened about the same time, 
 which, as it occasioned a considerable change in the 
 state of Germany, must be traced back to its source. 
 While the frenzy of the crusades possessed all Europe 
 during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, several 
 orders of religious knighthood were founded in de- 
 fence of the Christian faith against heathens and in- 
 fidels. Among these, the Teutonic order in Ger- 
 many was one of the most illustrious, the knights 
 of which distinguished themselves greatly in all the 
 enterprises carried on in the Holy Land. Being 
 driven at last from their settlements in the East, they 
 were obliged to return to their native country. Their 
 zeal and valour were too impetuous to remain long 
 inactive : they invaded, on very slight pretences, the 
 province of Prussia, the inhabitants of which were 
 still idolaters ; and, having completed the conquest 
 of it about the middle of the thirteenth century, held 
 it many years as a fief depending on the crown of 
 Poland. Fierce contests arose, during this period, 
 between the grand-masters of the order and the 
 kings of Poland ; the former struggling for inde- 
 pendence, while the latter asserted their right of 
 sovereignty with great firmness. Albert, a prince of 
 the house of Brandenburg, who was elected grand- 
 master in the year one thousand five hundred and 
 eleven, engaging keenly in this quarrel, maintained a 
 long war with Sigismund, King of Poland ; but having 
 
 x Seckend. lib. ii. p. 1 5.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 193 
 
 become an early convert to Luther's doctrines, this BOOK 
 gradually lessened his zeal for the interests of his - 
 fraternity, so that he took the opportunity of the 
 confusions in the empire, and the absence of the em- 
 peror, to conclude a treaty with Sigismund, greatly 
 to his own private emolument. By it, that part of 
 Prussia which belonged to the Teutonic order was 
 erected into a secular and hereditary dutchy, and the 
 investiture of it granted to Albert, who, in return, 
 bound himself to do homage for it to the kings of 
 Poland as their vassal. Immediately after this, he 
 made public profession of the reformed religion, and 
 married a princess of Denmark. The Teutonic 
 knights exclaimed so loudly against the treachery 
 of their grand-master, that he was put under the ban 
 of the empire ; but he still kept possession of the pro- 
 vince which he had usurped, and transmitted it to 
 his posterity. In process of time, this rich inherit- 
 ance fell to the electoral branch of the family, all de- 
 pendence on the crown of Poland was shaken off, and 
 the margraves of Brandenburg, having assumed the 
 title of kings of Prussia, have not only risen to an 
 equality with the first princes in Germany, but take 
 their rank among the great monarchs of Europe. y 
 
 Upon the return of the French king to his domi- First m- 
 
 .... . _, n i suresofthe 
 
 nions, the eyes of all the powers in Europe were fixed French 
 upon him, that, by observing his first motions, they Jj"*,JJJ 
 might form a judgment concerning his subsequent u> France, 
 conduct. They were not held long in suspense. 
 Francis, as soon as he arrived at Bayonne, wrote to 
 the King of England, thanking him for the zeal and 
 affection wherewith he had interposed in his favour, 
 to which he acknowledged that he owed the recovery 
 of his liberty. Next day, the emperor's ambassadors 
 demanded audience, and, in their master's name, re- 
 quired him to issue such orders as were necessary for 
 
 y Sleid. Hist. p. 98. Pfeffel, Abrg de 1'Hist.du Droit. Publ. p. 605., tic. 
 Ch. VOL. II. O
 
 194. THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK carrying the treaty of Madrid into immediate and 
 
 ' full execution ; he coldly answered, that though, for 
 
 his own part, he determined religiously to perform 
 all that he had promised, the treaty contained so 
 many articles relative not to himself alone, but affect- 
 ing the interests of the French monarchy, that he 
 could not take any farther step without consulting 
 the states of his kingdom, and that some time would 
 be necessary, in order to reconcile their minds to the 
 hard conditions which he had consented to ratify. 2 
 This reply was considered as no obscure discovery of 
 his being resolved to elude the treaty ; and the com- 
 pliment paid to Henry appeared a very proper step 
 towards securing the assistance of that monarch in 
 the war with the emperor, to which such a resolution 
 would certainly give rise. These circumstances, 
 added to the explicit declarations which Francis 
 made in secret to the ambassadors from several of 
 the Italian powers, fully satisfied them that their 
 conjectures with regard to his conduct had been just, 
 and that, instead of intending to execute an unrea- 
 sonable treaty, he was eager to seize the first op- 
 portunity of revenging those injuries which had 
 compelled him to feign an approbation of it. Even 
 the doubts, and fears, and scruples, which used, on 
 other occasions, to hold Clement in a state of un- 
 certainty, were dissipated by Francis's seeming im- 
 patience to break through all his engagements with 
 the emperor. The situation, indeed, of affairs in 
 Italy at that time, did not allow the pope to hesitate 
 long. Sforza was still besieged by the imperialists 
 in the castle of Milan. That feeble prince, deprived 
 now of Morone's advice, and unprovided with every 
 thing necessary for defence, found means to inform 
 Clement and the Venetians, that he must soon sur- 
 render, if they did not come to his relief. The 
 
 * M<5m. de Bellay, p. 97.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 195 
 
 imperial troops, as they had received no pay since the BOOK 
 battle of Pavia, lived at discretion in the Milanese, Iv> 
 levying such exorbitant contributions in that dutchy 1S26 ' 
 as amounted, if we may rely on Guicciardini's calcu- 
 lation, to no less a sum than five thousand ducats a 
 day* ; nor was it to be doubted, but that the soldiers, 
 as soon as the castle should submit, would choose to 
 leave a ruined country, which hardly afforded them 
 subsistence, that they might take possession of more 
 comfortable quarters in the fertile and untouched ter- 
 ritories of the pope and Venetians. The assistance 
 of the French king was the only thing which could 
 either save Sforza, or enable them to protect their 
 own dominions from the insults of the imperial 
 troops. 
 
 For these reasons, the pope, the Venetians, and A league 
 Duke of Milan, were equally impatient to come to an 
 agreement with Francis, who, on his part, was no less 
 desirous of acquiring such a considerable accession 
 both of strength and reputation as such a confederacy 
 would bring along with it. The chief objects of this 
 alliance, which was concluded at Cognac on the 
 twenty-second of May, though kept secret for some 
 time, were to oblige the emperor to set at liberty the 
 French king's sons, upon payment of a reasonable 
 ransom ; and to re-establish Sforza in the quiet pos- 
 session of the Milanese. If Charles should refuse 
 either of these, the contracting parties bound them- 
 selves to bring into the field an army of thirty- 
 five thousand men, with which, after driving the 
 Spaniards out of the Milanese, they would attack the 
 kingdom of Naples. The King of England was 
 declared protector of this league, which they dignified 
 with the name of holy, because the pope was at the 
 head of it; and in order to allure Henry more 
 effectually, a principality in the kingdom of Naples, 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xvii. 360. 
 02
 
 196 
 
 BOOK 
 IV. 
 
 1526. 
 
 The pope 
 absolves 
 Francis 
 from bis 
 oath to ob- 
 serve the 
 treaty of 
 Madrid. 
 
 The empe- 
 roralarmed. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 of thirty thousand ducats' yearly revenue, was to be 
 settled on him ; and lands to the value of ten thou- 
 sand ducats on Wolsey his favourite. b 
 
 No sooner was this league concluded, than Clement, 
 by the plenitude of his papal power, absolved Francis 
 from the oath which he had taken to observe the 
 treaty of Madrid. This right, how pernicious soever 
 in its effects, and destructive of that integrity which 
 is the basis of all transactions among men, was the 
 natural consequence of the powers which the popes 
 arrogated as the infallible vicegerents of Christ upon 
 earth. But as, in virtue of this pretended preroga- 
 tive, they had often dispensed with obligations which 
 were held sacred, the interest of some men, and the 
 credulity of others, led them to imagine, that the 
 decisions of a sovereign pontiff authorized or justified 
 actions which would, otherwise, have been criminal 
 and impious. 
 
 The discovery of Francis's intention to elude the 
 treaty of Madrid, filled the emperor with a variety of 
 disquieting thoughts. He had treated an unfor- 
 tunate prince in the most ungenerous manner ; he 
 had displayed an insatiable ambition in all his negoti- 
 ations with his prisoner ; he knew what censures the 
 former had drawn upon him, and what apprehensions 
 the latter had excited in every court of Europe ; nor 
 had he reaped from the measures which he pursued 
 any of those advantages which politicians are apt to 
 consider as an excuse for the most criminal conduct, 
 and a compensation for the severest reproaches. 
 Francis was now out of his hands, and not one of all 
 the mighty consequences, which he had expected 
 from the treaty that set him at liberty, was likely to 
 take place. His rashness in relying so far on his 
 own judgment as to trust to the sincerity of the 
 
 b P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. ix. c. 3. p. 217. Recueil des Trait, ii. 124. 
 ' Goldast. Poht. Imperial, p. 1002. Pallav. Hist. p. 70.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 197 
 
 French king, in opposition to the sentiments of his BOOK 
 wisest ministers, was now apparent ; and he easily 
 conjectured, that the same confederacy, the dread of 1526< 
 which had induced him to set Francis at liberty, 
 would now be formed against him with that gallant 
 and incensed monarch at its head. Self-condemn- 
 ation and shame, on account of what was past, with 
 anxious apprehensions concerning what might happen, 
 were the necessary result of these reflections on his 
 own conduct and situation. Charles, however, was 
 naturally firm and inflexible in all his measures. To 
 have receded suddenly from any article in the treaty 
 of Madrid, would have been a plain confession of 
 imprudence, and a palpable symptom of fear ; he 
 detennined, therefore, that it was most suitable to 
 his dignity, to insist, whatever might be the conse- 
 quences, on the strict execution of the treaty, and 
 particularly not to accept of any thing which might 
 be offered as an equivalent for the restitution of 
 Burgundy. d 
 
 In consequence of this resolution, he appointed Require* 
 Lannoy and Alarcon to repair, as his ambassadors, J^5b^ to 
 to the court of France, and formally to summon the what he had 
 
 J . , , . . stipulated. 
 
 king, either to execute the treaty with the sincerity 
 that became him, or to return, according to his oath, 
 a prisoner to Madrid. Instead of giving them an im- 
 mediate answer, Francis admitted the deputies of the 
 states of Burgundy to an audience in their presence. 
 They humbly represented to him, that he had ex- 
 ceeded the powers vested in a King of France, when 
 he consented to alienate their country from the crown, 
 the domains of which he was bound by his coronation 
 oath to preserve entire and unimpaired. Francis, in 
 return, thanked them for their attachment to his 
 crown, and entreated them* though very faintly, to 
 remember the obligations which he lay under to fulfil 
 
 d Guic. lib. xii. 366 
 
 o 3
 
 198 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 ; BOOK his engagements with the emperor. The deputies, 
 assuming a higher tone, declared, that they would 
 
 15261 not obey commands which they considered as illegal ; 
 and, if he should abandon them to the enemies of 
 France, they had resolved to defend themselves to 
 the best of their power, with a firm purpose rather 
 
 Hisanswer. to perish than submit to a foreign dominion. Upon 
 which Francis, turning towards the imperial ambas- 
 sadors, represented to them the impossibility of per- 
 forming what he had undertaken, and offered, in lieu 
 of Burgundy, to pay the emperor two millions of 
 crowns. The viceroy and Alarcon, who easily per- 
 ceived, that the scene to which they had been wit- 
 nesses, was concerted between the king and his 
 subjects in order to impose upon them, signified to 
 him their master's fixed resolution not to depart in 
 the smallest point from the terms of the treaty, and 
 withdrew. 6 Before they left the kingdom, they had 
 
 June 11. the mortification to hear the holy league against the 
 emperor published with great solemnity. 
 
 Theempe- Charles no sooner received an account of this 
 confed eracy than he exclaimed, in the most public 
 manner, and in the harshest terms, against Francis, 
 as a prince void of faith and of honour. He complained 
 no less of Clement, whom he solicited in vain to 
 abandon his new allies ; he accused him of ingratitude ; 
 he taxed him with an ambition unbecoming his cha- 
 racter ; he threatened him not only with all the 
 vengeance which the power of an emperor can inflict, 
 but, by appealing to a general council, called up be- 
 fore his eyes all the terrors arising from the authority 
 of those assemblies so formidable to the papal see. 
 It was necessary, however, to oppose something else 
 than reproaches and threats to the powerful com- 
 bination formed against him ; and the emperor, 
 prompted by so many passions, did not fail to exert 
 
 Belcar. Comment, de Reb. Gal. 573, Mm. de Bellay, p. 97.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 199 
 
 himself with unusual vigour, in order to send supplies, BOOK 
 not only of men, but of money, which was still more 
 needed, into Italy. 1526 
 
 On the other hand, the efforts of the confederates Feeble ope- 
 bore no proportion to that animosity against the Se"on 
 emperor, with which they seemed to enter into the denrtes - 
 holy league. Francis, it was thought, would have 
 infused spirit and vigour into the whole body. He 
 had his lost honour to repair, many injuries to revenge, 
 and the station among the princes of Europe, from 
 which he had fallen, to recover. From all these 
 powerful incitements, added to the natural impetuosity 
 of his temper, a war more fierce and bloody than any 
 that he had hitherto made upon his rival, was ex- 
 pected. But Francis had gone through such a scene 
 of distress, and the impression it had made was still 
 so fresh in his memory, that he was become diffident 
 himself, distrustful of fortune, and desirous of 
 tranquillity. To procure the release of his sons, and 
 to avoid the restitution of Burgundy by paying some 
 reasonable equivalent, were his chief objects ; and 
 for the sake of these, he would willingly have sacrificed 
 Sforza, and the liberties of Italy, to the emperor. 
 He flattered himself, that the dread of the confederacy 
 which he had formed would of itself induce Charles 
 to listen to what was equitable ; and was afraid of 
 employing any considerable force for the relief of the 
 Milanese, lest his allies, whom he had often found to 
 be more attentive to their own interest, than punctual 
 in fulfilling their engagements, should abandon him 
 as soon as the imperialists were driven out of that 
 country, and deprive his negotiations with the emperor 
 of that weight which they derived from his being at 
 the head of a powerful league. In the mean time 
 the castle of Milan was pressed more closely than 
 ever, and Sforza was now reduced to the last extremity. 
 The pope and Venetians, trusting to Francis's con- 
 
 o 4
 
 X) THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK currence, commanded their troops to take the field, 
 
 ! in order to relieve him ; and an army more than suf- 
 
 1526t ficient for that service was soon formed. The Milanese, 
 passionately attached to their unfortunate duke, and 
 no less exasperated against the imperialists, who had 
 oppressed them so cruelly, were ready to aid the 
 confederates in all their enterprises. But the Duke 
 d'Urbino, their general, naturally slow and indecisive, 
 and restrained, besides, by his ancient enmity to the 
 family of Medici, from taking any step that m 
 aggrandize or add reputation to the pope f , lost some 
 opportunities of attacking the imperialists, and raising 
 uiy24. the siege, and refused to improve others. These 
 delays gave Bourbon time to bring up a reinforcement 
 of fresh troops, and a supply of money. He imme- 
 diately took the command of the army, and pushed 
 on the siege with such vigour, as quickly obliged 
 Sforza to surrender, who, retiring to Lodi, which the 
 confederates had surprised, left Bourbon in full pos- 
 session of the rest of the dutchy, the investiture of 
 which the emperor had promised to grant him. s 
 
 The Italians began now to perceive the game which 
 Francis had played, and to be sensible that, notwith- 
 standing all their address, and refinements in negotia- 
 tion, which they boasted of as talents peculiarly their 
 own, they had for once been over-reached in those 
 very arts by a tramontane prince. He had hitherto 
 thrown almost the whole burden of the war upon 
 them, taking advantage of their efforts, in order to 
 enforce the proposals which he often renewed at the 
 court of Madrid for obtaining the liberty of his sons. 
 The pope and Venetians expostulated and complained h ; 
 but as they were not able to rouse Francis from his 
 inactivity, their own zeal and vigour gradually abated, 
 and Clement, having already gone farther than his 
 
 f Guic. lib. xvii. 382. B Id. ibid. 376, &c. 
 
 * Ruscehi, Letterede' Principi, ii. 157, &c. 159, 160166.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 201 
 
 timidity usually permitted him, began to accuse him- BOOK 
 self of rashness, and to relapse into his natural state IV ' 
 of doubt and uncertainty. 
 
 All the emperor's motions depending on himself Measures 
 alone, were more brisk and better concerted. The eriaiiste.~ 
 narrowness of his revenues, indeed, did not allow him 
 to make any sudden or great effort in the field, but 
 he abundantly supplied that defect by his intrigues 
 and negotiations. The family of Colonna, the most 
 powerful of all the Roman barons, had adhered uni- 
 formly to the Ghibeline or imperial faction, during 
 those fierce contentions between the popes and empe- 
 rors, which, for several ages, filled Italy and Germany 
 with discord and bloodshed. Though the causes 
 which at first gave birth to these destructive factions 
 existed no longer, and the rage with which they had 
 been animated was in a great measure spent, the Co- 
 lonnas still retained their attachment to the imperial 
 interest, and, by placing themselves under the protec- 
 tion of the emperors, secured the quiet possession of 
 their own territories and privileges. The Cardinal 
 Pompeo Colonna, a man of a turbulent and ambitious 
 temper, at that time the head of the family, had long 
 been Clement's rival, to whose influence in the last 
 conclave he imputed the disappointment of all his 
 schemes for attaining the papal dignity, of which, 
 from his known connection with the emperor, he 
 thought himself secure. To an aspiring mind, this 
 was an injury too great to be forgiven ; and though 
 he had dissembled his resentment so far as to vote for 
 Clement at his election, and to accept of great offices 
 in his court, he waited with the utmost impatience for 
 an opportunity of being revenged. Don Hugo de 
 Moncada, the imperial ambassador at Rome, who was 
 no stranger to these sentiments, easily persuaded him 
 that now was the time, while all the papal troops were
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 employed in Lombardy, to attempt something, which 
 would at once avenge his own wrongs, and be of 
 essential service to the emperor his patron. The 
 pope, however, whose timidity rendered him quick- 
 sighted, was so attentive to their operations, and be- 
 gan to be alarmed so early, that he might have drawn 
 together troops sufficient to have disconcerted all 
 Colonna's measures. But Moncada amused him so 
 artfully with negotiations, promises, and false intelli- 
 gence, that he lulled asleep all his suspicions, and 
 prevented his taking any of the precautions necessary 
 for his safety ; and, to the disgrace of a prince pos- 
 sessed of great power, as well as renowned for poli- 
 tical wisdom, Colonna, at the head of three thousand 
 men, seized one of the gates of his capital, while he, 
 imagining himself to be in perfect security, was alto- 
 gether unprepared for resisting such a feeble enemy. 
 The inhabitants of Rome permitted Colonna's troops, 
 from whom they apprehended no injury, to advance 
 without opposition ; the pope's guards were dispersed 
 in a moment ; and Clement himself, terrified at the 
 danger, ashamed of his own credulity, and deserted 
 by almost every person, fled with precipitation into 
 the castle of St. Angelo, which was immediately in- 
 vested. The palace of the Vatican, the church of St. 
 Peter, and the houses of the pope's ministers and 
 servants, were plundered in the most licentious man- 
 ner. The rest of the city was left unmolested. 
 Clement, destitute of every thing necessary either for 
 subsistence or defence, was soon obliged to demand 
 a capitulation ; and Moncada being admitted into the 
 castle, prescribed to him, with all the haughtiness of a 
 conqueror, conditions which it was not in his power 
 to reject. The chief of these was, that Clement 
 should not only grant a full pardon to the Colonnas, 
 but receive them into favour, and immediately with-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 20 
 
 draw all the troops in his pay from the army of the BOOK 
 confederates in Lombardy.' 
 
 The Colonnas, who talked of nothing less than of 152 - 
 deposing Clement, and of placing Pompeo, their kins- 
 man, in the vacant chair of St. Peter, exclaimed 
 loudly against a treaty which left them at the mercy 
 of a pontiff justly incensed against them. But Mon- 
 cada, attentive only to his master's interest, paid little 
 regard to their complaints, and, by this fortunate 
 measure, broke entirely the power of the confederates. 
 
 While the army of the confederates suffered such 
 a considerable diminution, the imperialists received 
 two great reinforcements ; one from Spain, under the 
 command of Lannoy and Alarcon, which amounted 
 to six thousand men ; the other was raised in the 
 empire by George Fronsperg, a German nobleman, 
 who, having served in Italy with great reputation, had 
 acquired such influence and popularity, that multitudes 
 of his countrymen, fond on every occasion of engag- 
 ing in military enterprises, and impatient at that 
 juncture to escape from the oppression which they 
 felt in religious as well as civil matters, crowded to 
 his standard ; so that, without any other gratuity than 
 the payment of a crown to each man, fourteen thou- 
 sand enlisted in his service. To these the Archduke 
 Ferdinand added two thousand horse, levied in the 
 Austrian dominions. But although the emperor had 
 raised troops, he could not remit the sums necessary 
 for their support. His ordinary revenues were ex- 
 hausted ; the credit of princes, during the infancy of 
 commerce, was not extensive ; and the cortes of 
 Castile, though every art had been tried to gain them, 
 and some innovations had been made in the constitu- 
 tion, in order to secure their concurrence, peremp- 
 torily refused to grant Charles any extraordinary 
 
 Jovii Vita Pomp. Colon. Guic. lib. xvii. 4O7. Ruscslli Letters de' 
 Principi, i. p. 104.
 
 )4 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK supply" ; so that the more his army increased in 
 
 lv - number, the more were his generals embarrassed and 
 
 1526 - distressed. Bourbon, in particular, was involved in 
 
 such difficulties, that he stood in need of all his 
 
 address and courage in order to extricate himself. 
 
 Large sums were due to the Spanish troops already 
 
 in the Milanese, when Fronsperg arrived with sixteen 
 
 thousand hungry Germans, destitute of every thing. 
 
 , e empe- Both made their demands with equal fierceness ; the 
 
 >s fi - former claiming their arrears, and the latter, the pay 
 
 il-rt! 8 which had been promised them on their entering 
 
 Lombardy. Bourbon was altogether incapable of 
 
 giving satisfaction to either. In this situation, he 
 
 was constrained to commit acts of violence extremely 
 
 shocking to his own nature, which was generous and 
 
 humane. He seized the principal citizens of Milan, 
 
 and by threats, and even by torture, forced from them 
 
 a considerable sum ; he rifled the churches of all their 
 
 plate and ornaments ; the inadequate supply which 
 
 these afforded, he distributed among the soldiers, with 
 
 so many soothing expressions of his sympathy and 
 
 affection, that, though it fell far short of the sums 
 
 due to them, it appeased their present murmurs. 1 
 
 Among other expedients for raising money, Bour- 
 bon granted his life and liberty to Morone, who 
 having been kept in prison since his intrigue with 
 Pescara, had been condemned to die by the Spanish 
 judges empowered to try him. For this remission he 
 paid twenty thousand ducats, and such were his sin- 
 gular talents, and the wonderful ascendant which he 
 always acquired over the minds of those to whom he 
 had access, that, in a few days, from being Bourbon's 
 prisoner, he became his prime confident, with whom 
 he consulted in all affairs of importance. To his 
 insinuations must be imputed the suspicions which 
 
 k Sandov. i. 814. 
 
 1 liipamoiid. Hist. Mediol. lib. ix. p. 717.
 
 to his mo- 
 tions. 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 205 
 
 Bourbon began to entertain, that the emperor had BOOK 
 never intended to grant him the investiture of Milan, IV ' 
 but had appointed Leyva, and the other Spanish 1526< 
 generals, rather to be spies on his conduct, than to 
 co-operate heartily towards the execution of his 
 schemes. To him likewise, as he still retained, at 
 the age of fourscore, all the enterprising spirit of 
 youth, may be attributed the bold and unexpected 
 measure on which Bourbon soon after ventured. 1 " 
 
 Such, indeed, were the exigencies of the imperial His deli, 
 troops in the Milanese, that it became indispensably 
 necessary to take some immediate step for their relief. 
 The arrears of the soldiers increased daily ; the 
 emperor made no remittances to his generals ; and 
 the utmost rigour of military extortion could draw 
 nothing more from a country entirely drained and 
 ruined. In this situation there was no choice left, 
 but either to disband the army, or to march for sub- 
 sistence into the enemy's country. The territories of 
 the Venetians lay nearest at hand ; but they, with 
 their usual foresight and prudence, had taken such 
 precautions as secured them from any insult. No- 
 thing, therefore, remained but to invade the domi- 
 nions of the church, or of the Florentines ; and Cle- 
 ment had of late acted such a part, as merited the 
 severest vengeance from the emperor. No sooner 
 did the papal troops return to Rome after the insur- 
 rection of the Colonnas, than, without paying any 
 regard to the treaty with Moncada, he degraded the 
 Cardinal Colonna, excommunicated the rest of the 
 family, seized their places of strength, and wasted 
 their lands with all the cruelty which the smart of a 
 recent injury naturally excites. After this he turned 
 his arms against Naples, and as his operations were 
 seconded by the French fleet, he made some progress 
 towards the conquest of that kingdom ; the viceroy 
 
 m Giiic. lib. xvii. 419.
 
 JOOK being no less destitute than the other imperial gene- 
 IV< rals of the money requisite for a vigorous defence." 
 1527. These proceedings of the pope justified, in appear- 
 
 Se *i ance > the measures which Bourbon's situation rendered 
 t> e > ter - necessary ; and he set about executing them under 
 such disadvantages, as furnish the strongest proof both 
 of the despair to which he was reduced, and of the 
 greatness of his abilities, which were able to surmount 
 so many obstacles. Having committed the govern- 
 ment of Milan to Leyva, whom he was not unwilling 
 nuaryso. to leave behind, he began his march in the depth of 
 winter, at the head of twenty-five thousand men, 
 composed of nations differing from each other in lan- 
 guage and manners, without money, without maga- 
 zines, without artillery, without carriages ; in short, 
 without any of those things which are necessary to the 
 smallest party, and which seem essential to the ex- 
 istence and motions of a great army. His route lay 
 through a country cut by rivers and mountains, in 
 which the roads were almost impracticable : as an ad- 
 dition to his difficulties, the enemy's army, superior 
 to his own in number, was at hand to watch all his 
 motions, and to improve every advantage. But his 
 troops, impatient of their present hardships, and al- 
 lured by the hopes of immense booty, without con- 
 sidering how ill provided they were for a march, fol- 
 lowed him with great cheerfulness. His first scheme 
 was to have made himself master of Placentia, and to 
 have gratified his soldiers by the plunder of that city : 
 but the vigilance of the confederate generals rendered 
 the design abortive ; nor had he better success in his 
 project for the reduction of Bologna, which was sea- 
 sonably supplied with as many troops as secured it 
 from the insults of an army which had neither artil- 
 lery nor ammunition. Having failed in both these 
 attempts to become master of some great city, he was 
 
 n Jovii Vita Pomp. Colon. Guic. lib. xviii. 424.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 207 
 
 under a necessity of advancing. But he had now BOOK 
 
 been two months in the field ; his troops had suffered L- 
 
 every calamity that a long march, together with the 
 uncommon rigour of the season, could bring upon 
 men destitute of all necessary accommodations in an 
 enemy's country ; the magnificent promises to which 
 they trusted had hitherto proved altogether vain ; 
 they saw no prospect of relief; their patience, tried 
 to the utmost, failed at last, and they broke out into 
 open mutiny. Some officers, who rashly attempted Mutiny of 
 to restrain them, fell victims to their fury : Bourbon b roop6> 
 himself, not daring to appear during the first trans- 
 ports of their rage, was obliged to fly secretly from 
 his quarters. But this sudden ebullition of wrath 
 began at last to subside, when Bourbon, who pos- 
 sessed, in a wonderful degree, the art of governing 
 the minds of soldiers, renewed his promises with 
 more confidence than formerly, and assured them 
 that they would be soon accomplished. He en- 
 deavoured to render their hardships more tolerable, 
 by partaking of them himself; he fared no better 
 than the meanest sentinel ; he marched along with 
 them on foot ; he joined them in singing their camp 
 ballads, in which, with high praises of his valour, 
 they mingled many strokes of military raillery on his 
 poverty ; and wherever they came he allowed them, 
 as a foretaste of what he had promised, to plunder 
 the adjacent villages at discretion. Encouraged by 
 all these soothing arts, they entirely forgot their suf- 
 ferings and complaints, and followed him with the 
 same implicit confidence as fonnerly. p 
 
 Bourbon, meanwhile, carefully concealed his in- The pope's 
 tentions. Rome and Florence, not knowing on which ^Hil^ 
 the blow would fall, were held in the most disquiet- dem*. 
 ing state of suspense. Clement, equally solicitous 
 
 Guic. lib. iviii. 434. Jovii Vit. Colon. 163. 
 f CEuvresde Brant, vol. iv. p. 246, &c.
 
 )g THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK for the safety of both, fluctuated in more than his 
 
 _iZ: usual uncertainty ; and while the rapid approach of 
 
 1527< danger called for prompt and decisive measures, he 
 spent the time in deliberations which came to no 
 issue, or in taking resolutions, which, next day, his 
 restless mind, more sagacious in discerning than in 
 obviating difficulties, overturned, without being able 
 to fix on what should be substituted in their place. 
 At one time he determined to unite himself more 
 closely than ever with his allies, and to push on the 
 war with vigour ; at another, he inclined to bring all 
 differences to a final accommodation by a treaty with 
 Lannoy, who, knowing his passion for negotiation, 
 solicited him incessantly with proposals for that pur- 
 pose. His timidity at length prevailed, and led him 
 to conclude an agreement with Lannoy, of which the 
 following were the chief articles : That a suspension 
 of arms should take place between the pontifical and 
 imperial troops for eight months : that Clement should 
 advance sixty thousand crowns towards satisfying the 
 demands of the imperial army : that the Colonnas 
 should be absolved from censure, and their former dig- 
 nities and possessions be restored to them : that the 
 viceroy should come to Rome, and prevent Bourbon 
 from approaching nearer to that city, or to Florence. q 
 On this hasty treaty, which deprived him of all hopes 
 of assistance from his allies, without affording him any 
 solid foundation of security, Clement relied so firmly, 
 that, like a man extricated at once out of all diffi- 
 culties, he was at perfect ease, and, in the fulness of 
 his confidence, disbanded all his troops, except as 
 many as were sufficient to guard his own person. 
 This amazing confidence of Clement, who, on every 
 other occasion, was fearful and suspicious to excess, 
 appeared so unaccountable to Guicciardini, who, being 
 at that time the pontifical commissary-general and 
 
 q Guic. lib. xviii. 436.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 resident in the confederate army, had great oppor- BOOK 
 tunities, as well as great abilities, for observing how 
 chimerical all his hopes were, that he imputes the 1527> 
 pope's conduct, at this juncture, wholly to infatu- 
 ation, which those who are doomed to ruin cannot 
 avoid. T 
 
 Lannoy, it would seem, intended to have executed which 
 the treaty with great sincerity ; and having detached 
 Clement from the confederacy, wished to turn Bour- 
 bon's arms against the Venetians, who, of all the 
 powers at war with the emperor, had exerted the 
 greatest vigour. With this view he dispatched a 
 courier to Bourbon, informing him of the suspension 
 of arms, which, in the name of their common master, 
 he had concluded with the pope. Bourbon had other 
 schemes, and he had prosecuted them now too far to 
 think of retreating. To have mentioned a retreat to 
 his soldiers would have been dangerous ; -his com- 
 mand was independent of Lannoy ; he was fond of 
 mortifying a man whom he had many reasons to hate : 
 for these reasons, without paying the least regard to 
 the message, he continued to ravage the ecclesiastical 
 territories, and to advance towards Florence. Upon 
 this, all Clement's terror and anxiety returning with 
 new force, he had recourse to Lannoy, and entreated 
 and conjured him to put a stop to Bourbon's progress. 
 Lannoy accordingly set out for his camp, but durst 
 not approach it ; Bourbon's soldiers having got notice 
 of the truce, raged and threatened, demanding the 
 accomplishment of the promises to which they had 
 trusted ; their general himself could hardly restrain 
 them ; every person in Rome perceived that nothing 
 remained but to prepare for resisting a storm which 
 it was now impossible to dispel. Clement alone, 
 relying on some ambiguous and deceitful professions, 
 
 ' Guic. lib. xviii. 446. 
 Ch. VOL. II. P
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 which Bourbon made of his inclination towards peace, 
 sunk back into his former security. 8 
 
 Bourbon, on his part, was far from being free from 
 solicitude. All his attempts on any place of import- 
 ance had hitherto miscarried ; and Florence, towards 
 which he had been approaching for some time, was, 
 by the arrival of the Duke d'Urbino's army, put in a 
 condition to set his power at defiance. As it now 
 became necessary to change his route, and to take 
 instantly some new resolution, he fixed, without 
 hesitation, on one which was no less daring in itself 
 than it was impious, according to the opinion of that 
 age. This was to assault and plunder Rome. Many 
 reasons, however, prompted him to it. He was fond 
 of thwarting Lannoy, who had undertaken for the 
 safety of that city ; he imagined that the emperor 
 would be highly pleased to see Clement, the chief 
 author of the league against him, humbled ; he nat- 
 tered himself, that by gratifying the rapacity of his 
 soldiers with such immense booty, he would attach 
 them for ever to his interest ; or (which is still more 
 probable than any of these) he hoped, that, by means 
 of the power and fame which he would acquire from 
 the conquest of the first city in Christendom, he 
 might lay the foundation of an independent power ; 
 and that, after shaking off all connection with the 
 emperor, he might take possession of Naples, or of 
 some of the Italian states, in his own name. 1 
 
 Whatever his motives were, he executed his reso- 
 lution with a rapidity equal to the boldness with 
 which he had formed it. His soldiers, now that they 
 had their prey full in view, complained neither of 
 fatigue, nor famine, nor want of pay. No sooner did 
 they begin to move from Tuscany towards Rome, 
 
 ' Guic. lib. xviii. 437, &c. Mem. de Bellay, p. 100. 
 1 Brar.t. iv. 271. vi. 189. Belcarii Comment. 594.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 than the pope, sensible at last how fallacious the BOOK 
 hopes had been on which he reposed, started from his Iv ' 
 security. But no time now remained, even for a bold 1527> 
 and decisive pontiff, to have taken proper measures, 
 or to have formed any effectual plan of defence. 
 Under Clement's feeble conduct, all was consterna- 
 tion, disorder, and irresolution. He collected, how- 
 ever, such of his disbanded soldiers as still remained 
 in the city ; he armed the artificers of Rome, and 
 the footmen and train-bearers of the cardinals ; he 
 repaired the breaches in the walls ; he began to erect 
 new works ; he excommunicated Bourbon and all his 
 troops, branding the Germans with the name of 
 Lutherans, and the Spaniards with that of Moors." 
 Trusting to these ineffectual military preparations, or 
 to his spiritual anus, which were still more despised by 
 rapacious soldiers, he seems to have laid aside his 
 natural timidity, and, contrary to the advice of all his 
 counsellors, determined to wait the approach of an 
 enemy whom he might easily have avoided by a timely 
 retreat. 
 
 Bourbon, who saw the necessity of dispatch, now Assault of 
 that his intentions were known, advanced with such 
 speed, that he gained several marches on the Duke 
 d'Urbino's army, and encamped in the plains of Rome 
 on the evening of the fifth of May. From thence 
 he shewed his soldiers the palaces and churches of 
 that city, into which, as the capital of the Christian 
 commonwealth, the riches of all Europe had flowed 
 during many centuries, without having been once 
 violated by any hostile hand ; and commanding them 
 to refresh themselves that night, as a preparation for 
 the assault next day, promised them, in reward of 
 their toils and valour, the possession of all the trea- 
 sures accumulated there. 
 
 Early in the morning, Bourbon, who had deter- 
 
 " Setkend. lib. ii. 68.
 
 >12 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK mined to distinguish that day either by his death or 
 IV ' the success of his enterprise, appeared at the head of 
 
 1527< his troops clad in complete armour, above which he 
 wore a vest of white tissue, that he might be more 
 conspicuous both to his friends and to his enemies ; 
 and, as all depended on one bold impression, he led 
 them instantly to scale the walls. Three distinct 
 bodies, one of Germans, another of Spaniards, and the 
 last of Italians, the three different nations of whom 
 the army was composed, were appointed to this 
 service ; a separate attack was assigned to each ; and 
 the whole army advanced to support them, as occa- 
 sion should require. A thick mist concealed their 
 approach until they reached almost the brink of 
 the ditch which surrounded the suburbs : having 
 planted their ladders in a moment, each brigade 
 rushed on the assault with an impetuosity heightened 
 by national emulation. They were received at first 
 with fortitude equal to their own ; the Swiss in the 
 pope's guards, and the veteran soldiers who had been 
 assembled, fought with a courage becoming men to 
 whom the defence of the noblest city in the world 
 was intrusted. Bourbon's troops, notwithstanding 
 all their valour, gained no ground, and even began 
 to give way ; when their leader, perceiving that on 
 this critical moment the fate of the day depended, 
 leaped from his horse, pressed to the front, snatched 
 a scaling ladder from a soldier, planted it against the 
 wall, and began to mount it, encouraging his men 
 with his voice and hand to follow him. But at that 
 very instant, a musket bullet from the ramparts 
 pierced his groin with a wound, which he imme- 
 diately felt to be mortal ; but he retained so much 
 presence of mind as to desire those who were near 
 him to cover his body with a cloak, that his death 
 might not dishearten his troops ; and soon after he 
 expired with a courage worthy of a better cause, and
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 213 
 
 which would have entitled him to the highest praise, BOOK 
 if he had thus fallen in defence of his country, not at IV ' 
 the head of its enemies. x I527> 
 
 This fatal event could not be concealed from the The city 
 army ; the soldiers soon missed their general, whom teken; 
 they were accustomed to see in every time of danger : 
 but instead of being disheartened by their loss, it 
 animated them with new valour ; the name of Bourbon 
 resounded along the line, accompanied with the cry 
 of blood and revenge. The veterans who defended 
 the walls were soon overpowered by numbers ; the 
 untrained body of city recruits fled at the sight of 
 danger, and the enemy, with irresistible violence, 
 rushed into the town. 
 
 During the combat, Clement was employed at the 
 high altar of St. Peter's church in offering up to 
 heaven unavailing prayers for victory. No sooner 
 was he informed that his troops began to give way, 
 than he fled with precipitation ; and with an infatu- 
 ation still more amazing than any thing already men- 
 tioned, instead of making his escape by the opposite 
 gate, where there was no enemy to oppose it, he shut 
 himself up, together with thirteen cardinals, the 
 foreign ambassadors, and many persons of distinction, 
 in the castle of St. Angelo, which, from his late mis- 
 fortune, he might have known to be an insecure 
 retreat. In his way from the Vatican to that for- 
 tress, he saw his troops flying before an enemy, who 
 pursued without giving quarter ; he heard the cries 
 and lamentations of the Roman citizens, and beheld 
 the beginning of those calamities which his own 
 credulity and ill-conduct had brought upon his 
 subjects. y 
 
 It is impossible to describe, or even to imagine, the plundered. 
 
 * M&n. de Bellay, 101. Guic. lib. xriii. p. 445, &c. ffiuv. de Brant ir. 
 257, xc. 
 
 y Jov. Vit. Colon. 165. 
 
 p 3
 
 14 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK misery and horror of that scene which followed. 
 
 '. Whatever a city taken by storm can dread from mili- 
 
 15/21 ' tary rage, unrestrained by discipline ; whatever ex- 
 cesses the ferocity of the Germans, the avarice of the 
 Spaniards, or the licentiousness of the Italians could 
 commit, these the wretched inhabitants were obliged 
 to suffer. Churches, palaces, and the houses of 
 private persons, were plundered without distinction. 
 No age, or character, or sex, was exempt from injury. 
 Cardinals, nobles, priests, matrons, virgins, were all 
 the prey of soldiers, and at the mercy of men deaf to 
 the voice of humanity. Nor did these outrages cease, 
 as is usual in towns which are carried by assault, 
 when the first fury of the storm was over ; the im- 
 perialists kept possession of Rome several months ; 
 and, during all that time, the insolence and brutality 
 of the soldiers hardly abated. Their booty in ready 
 money alone amounted to a million of ducats ; what 
 they raised by ransoms and exactions far exceeded 
 that sum. Rome, though taken several different 
 times by the northern nations, who over-ran the 
 empire in the fifth and sixth centuries, was never 
 treated with so much cruelty by the barbarous and 
 heathen Huns, Vandals, or Goths, as now by the 
 bigoted subjects of a catholic monarch. z 
 
 After Bourbon's death, the command of the impe- 
 rial army devolved on Philibert de Chalons, Prince 
 of Orange, who with difficulty prevailed on as many 
 of his soldiers to desist from the pillage as were neces- 
 sary to invest the castle of St. Angelo. Clement was 
 immediately sensible of his error in having retired 
 into that ill-provided and untenable fort. But as the 
 imperialists, scorning discipline, and intent only on 
 plunder, pushed the siege with little vigour, he did 
 
 z Jov. Vit. Colon. 166. Guic. lib. xviii. 440, &c. Comment, de Capta 
 Jrbe Romae, ap. Scardium, ii. 230. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V. p. 1 10, &c. 
 Gianonne, Hist, of Nap. B. xxxi. c. 3. p. 507.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 not despair of holding out until the Duke d'Urbino BOOK 
 could come to his relief. That general advanced at 
 the head of an army composed of Venetians, Flo- l527 - 
 rentines, and Swiss, in the pay of France, of sufficient 
 strength to have delivered Clement from the present 
 danger. But D'Urbino, preferring the indulgence of 
 his hatred against the family of Medici to the glory 
 of delivering the capital of Christendom, and the 
 head of the church, pronounced the enterprise to be 
 too hazardous ; and, from an exquisite refinement in 
 revenge, having marched forward so far, that his army 
 being seen from the ramparts of St. Angelo, flattered 
 the pope with the prospect of certain relief, he im- 
 mediately wheeled about, and retired.* Clement, 
 deprived of every resource, and reduced to such ex- 
 tremity of famine as to feed on asses' flesh b , was 
 obliged to capitulate on such conditions as the con- 
 querors were pleased to prescribe. He agreed to pay j une & 
 four hundred thousand ducats to the army ; to sur- j^I^r* 
 render to the emperor all the places of strength prisoner, 
 belonging to the church ; and, besides giving hostages, 
 to remain a prisoner himself until the chief articles 
 were performed. He was committed to the care of 
 Alarcon, who, by his severe vigilance in guarding 
 Francis, had given full proof of his being qualified for 
 that office ; and thus, by a singular accident, the same 
 man had the custody of the two most illustrious per- 
 sonages who had been made prisoners in Europe 
 during several ages. 
 
 The account of this extraordinary and unexpected The cmpe- 
 event was no less surprising than agreeable to the Y j ourat 
 emperor. But in order to conceal his joy from his 
 subjects, who were filled with horror at the success 
 and crimes of their countrymen, and to lessen the 
 indignation of the rest of Europe, he declared that 
 Rome had been assaulted without any order from 
 
 Guic. lib. xviii. 450. b Jov. Vit. Cdon. 167. 
 
 P 4
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 him. He wrote to all the princes with whom he was 
 in alliance, disclaiming his having had any knowledge 
 of Bourbon's intention. He put himself and court 
 into mourning ; commanded the rejoicings which had 
 been ordered for the birth of his son Philip to be 
 stopped ; and, employing an artifice no less hypocritical 
 than gross, he appointed prayers and processions 
 throughout all Spain for the recovery of the pope's 
 liberty, which, by an order to his generals, he could 
 have immediately granted him. d 
 
 The good fortune of the house of Austria was no 
 less conspicuous in another part of Europe. Solyman 
 having invaded Hungary with an army of three hun- 
 dred thousand men, Lewis II., king of that country, 
 and of Bohemia, a weak and unexperienced prince, 
 advanced rashly to meet him with a body of men 
 which did not amount to thirty thousand. With an 
 imprudence still more unpardonable, he gave the 
 command of these troops to Paul Tomorri, a Fran- 
 ciscan monk, Archbishop of Golocza. This awkward 
 general, in the dress of his order, girt with its cord, 
 marched at the head of the troops ; and, hurried on 
 by his own presumption, as well as by the impetuosity 
 of nobles who despised danger, but were impatient of 
 long service, he fought the fatal battle of Mohacz, in 
 which the king, the flower of the Hungarian nobility, 
 and upwards of twenty thousand men, fell the victims 
 of his folly and ill-conduct. Solyman, after his vic- 
 tory, seized and kept possession of several towns of 
 the greatest strength in the southern provinces of 
 Hungary, and, over-running the rest of the country, 
 carried near two hundred thousand persons into cap- 
 tivity. As Lewis was the last male of the royal 
 family of Jagellon, the Archduke Ferdinand claimed 
 both his crowns. This claim was founded on a double 
 
 c Ruscelii, Lettcre de' Principi, ii. 234. 
 
 d Sleid. 109. Sandov. i. 622. Mauroc. Hist. Veneta, lib. iii, 220.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 317 
 
 title ; the one derived from the ancient pretensions of BOOK 
 the house of Austria to both kingdoms ; the other IV ' 
 from the right of his wife, the only sister of the 1527 ' 
 deceased monarch. The feudal institutions, however, 
 subsisted both in Hungary and Bohemia in such 
 vigour, and the nobles possessed such extensive power, 
 that the crowns were still elective, and Ferdinand's 
 rights, if they had not been powerfully supported, 
 would have met with little regard. But his own per- 
 sonal merit ; the respect due to the brother of the 
 greatest monarch in Christendom ; the necessity of Ferdinand 
 choosing a prince able to afford his subjects some ktogT 
 additional protection against the Turkish arms, which, 
 as they had recently felt their power, they greatly 
 dreaded ; together with the intrigues of his sister, 
 who had been married to the late king, overcame the 
 prejudices which the Hungarians had conceived against 
 the archduke as a foreigner ; and, though a consider- 
 able party voted for the Vaywode of Transylvania, at 
 length secured Ferdinand the throne of that kingdom. 
 The states of Bohemia imitated the example of their 
 neighbour kingdom ; but in order to ascertain and 
 secure their own privileges, they obliged Ferdinand, 
 before his coronation, to subscribe a deed, which they 
 term a reverse, declaring that he held that crown 
 not by any previous right, but by their gratuitous and 
 voluntary election. By such a vast accession of ter- 
 ritories, the hereditary possession of which they secured 
 in process of time to their family, the princes of the 
 hoUvse of Austria attained that pre-eminence in power 
 which hath rendered them so formidable to the rest of 
 Germany. 
 
 The dissensions between the pope and emperor Progress of 
 
 . i C T tne "".'fonn- 
 
 proved extremely favourable to the progress ot l^u- ationt 
 theranism. Charles, exasperated by Clement's con- 
 
 Steph. Broderick Procanccllarii Huttgar. Clades in Campo Mohaei, p. 
 Scardium, ii. 218. P. Barre, HisU d'Allemagne, torn. riii. part. i. p. 198.
 
 L8 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK duct, and fully employed in opposing the league 
 IV ' which he had formed against him, had little inclin- 
 1527 - ation, and less leisure, to take any measures for sup- 
 ne 23. pressing the new opinions in Germany. In a diet of 
 the empire held at Spires, the state of religion came 
 to be considered, and all that the emperor required 
 of the princes was, that they would wait patiently, 
 and without encouraging innovations, for the meeting 
 of a general council, which he had demanded of the 
 pope. They, in return, acknowledged the convo- 
 cation of a council to be the proper and regular step 
 towards reforming abuses in the church ; but con- 
 tended, that a national council held in Germany 
 would be more effectual for that purpose than what 
 he had proposed. To his advice, concerning the dis- 
 couragement of innovations, they paid so little regard, 
 that, even during the meeting of the diet at Spires, 
 the divines who attended the Elector of Saxony and 
 Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel thither, preached pub- 
 licly, and administered the sacraments, according to 
 the rites of the reformed church. f The emperor's 
 own example emboldened the Germans to treat the 
 papal authority with little reverence. During the heat 
 of his resentment against Clement, he had published 
 a long reply to an angry brief which the pope had in- 
 tended as an apology for his own conduct. In this 
 manifesto, the emperor, after having enumerated 
 many instances of that pontiffs ingratitude, deceit, 
 and ambition, all which he painted in the strongest 
 and most aggravated colours, appealed from him to a 
 general council. At the same time he wrote to the 
 college of cardinals, complaining of Clement's par- 
 tiality and injustice ; and requiring them, if he refused 
 or delayed to call a council, to shew their concern 
 for the peace of the Christian church, so shame- 
 fully neglected by its chief pastor, by summoning that 
 
 { Sleid. 103.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 assembly in their own name. 8 This manifesto, little BOOK 
 inferior in virulence to the invectives of Luther him- 
 self, was dispersed over Germany with great industry, 1527 
 and, being eagerly read by persons of every rank, did 
 much more than counterbalance the effect of all 
 Charles's declarations against the new opinions. 
 
 8 Goldast. Polit. Imper. p. 984.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 1527. THE account of the cruel manner in which the pope 
 
 General ih- had been treated filled all Europe with astonishment 
 excited " or norror - To see a Christian emperor, who, by pos- 
 against the sesshig that dignity, ought to have been the protector 
 and advocate of the holy see, lay violent hands on him 
 who represented Christ on earth, and detain his sacred 
 person in a rigorous captivity, was considered as an 
 impiety that merited the severest vengeance, and 
 which called for the immediate interposition of every 
 dutiful son of the church. Francis and Henry, 
 alarmed at the progress of the imperial arms in Italy, 
 had, even before the taking of Rome, entered into a 
 closer alliance ; and, in order to give some check to 
 the emperor's ambition, had agreed to make a vigor- 
 ous diversion in the Low Countries. The force of 
 every motive which had influenced them at that time 
 was now increased ; and to these was added the desire 
 of rescuing the pope out of the emperor's hands, a 
 measure no less politic than it appeared to be pious. 
 This, however, rendered it necessary to abandon their
 
 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 221 
 
 hostile intentions against the Low Countries, and to BOOK 
 make Italy the seat of war, as it was by vigorous v ' 
 operations there they might contribute most effec- 1527 ' 
 tually towards delivering Rome, and setting Clement 
 at liberty. Francis being now sensible that, in his 
 system with regard to the affairs of Italy, the spirit of 
 refinement had carried him too far, and that, by an 
 excess of remissness, he had allowed Charles to attain 
 advantages which he might easily have prevented, was 
 eager to make reparation for an error, of which he 
 was not often guilty, by an activity more suitable 
 to his temper. Henry thought his interposition ne- 
 cessary, in order to hinder the emperor from be- 
 coming master of all Italy, and acquiring by that 
 means such superiority of power as would enable him, 
 for the future, to dictate without control to the other 
 princes of Europe. Wolsey, whom Francis had taken 
 care to secure, by flattery and presents, the certain 
 methods of gaining his favour, neglected nothing that 
 could incense his master against the emperor. Be- 
 sides all these public considerations, Henry was in- 
 fluenced by one of a more private nature: having 
 begun, about this time, to form his great scheme of 
 divorcing Catherine of Aragon, towards the execution 
 of which he knew that the sanction of papal authority 
 would be necessary, he was desirous to acquire as 
 much merit as possible with Clement, by appearing 
 to be the chief instrument of his deliverance. 
 
 The negotiation, between princes thus disposed, Confrde- 
 
 ,. fir , i i/ i i mcyagdntt 
 
 was not tedious. Wolsey himself conducted it, on him. 
 the part of his sovereign, with unbounded powers. July Ut 
 Francis treated with him in person at Amiens, where 
 the cardinal appeared, and was received with royal 
 magnificence. A marriage between the Duke of 
 Orleans and the Princess Mary was agreed to as the 
 basis of the confederacy ; it was resolved that Italy 
 should be the theatre of war ; the strength of the
 
 222 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK army which should take the field, as well as the con- 
 tingent of troops or of money, which each prince 
 
 1527> should furnish, were settled ; and if the emperor did 
 not accept of the proposals which they were jointly 
 to make him, they bound themselves immediately to 
 declare war, and to begin hostilities. Henry, who 
 
 Aug. is. took every resolution with impetuosity, entered so 
 eagerly into this new alliance, that, in order to give 
 Francis the strongest proof of his friendship and 
 respect, he formally renounced the ancient claim of 
 the English monarchs to the crown of France, which 
 had long been the pride and ruin of the nation ; as a 
 full compensation for which he accepted a pension of 
 fifty thousand crowns, to be paid annually to himself 
 and his successors. 1 
 
 The Flo- The pope, being unable to fulfil the conditions of 
 
 rentines , . . f . M1 . , . , , 
 
 recover his capitulation, still remained a prisoner, under the 
 dom free ~ severe custody of Alarcon. The Florentines no 
 sooner heard of what had happened at Rome, than 
 they ran to arms in a tumultuous manner ; expelled 
 the Cardinal di Cortona, who governed their city in 
 the pope's name ; defaced the arms of the Medici ; 
 broke in pieces the statues of Leo and Clement ; 
 and, declaring themselves a free state, re-established 
 their ancient popular government. The Venetians, 
 taking advantage of the calamity of their ally the 
 pope, seized Ravenna, and other places belonging to 
 the church, under pretext of keeping them in de- 
 posite. The Dukes of Urbino and Ferrara laid hold 
 likewise on part of the spoils of the unfortunate pon- 
 tiff, whom they considered as irretrievably ruined. b 
 Theimpe- Lannoy, on the other hand, laboured to derive 
 inactto! ps som e solid benefit from that unforeseen event, which 
 gave such splendour and superiority to his master's 
 arms. For this purpose, he marched to Rome, to- 
 
 " Herbert, 83, &c. Rym. Feed. xiv. 203. 
 b Guic. lib. xviii. 453.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 223 
 
 gether with Moncada, and the Marquis del Guasto, BOOK 
 at the head of all the troops which they could assemble 
 in the kingdom of Naples. The arrival of this rein- 1527. 
 forcement brought new calamities on the unhappy 
 citizens of Rome ; for the soldiers, envying the wealth 
 of their companions, imitated their licence, and with 
 the utmost rapacity gathered the gleanings which had 
 escaped the avarice of the Spaniards and Germans. 
 There was not now any army in Italy capable of 
 making head against the imperialists ; and nothing 
 more was requisite to reduce Bologna, and the other 
 towns in the ecclesiastical state, than to have appeared 
 before them. But the soldiers having been so long 
 accustomed, under Bourbon, to an entire relaxation 
 of discipline, and having tasted the sweets of living at 
 discretion in a great city, almost without the control 
 of a superior, were become so impatient of military 
 subordination, and so averse to service, that they re- 
 fused to leave Rome, unless all their arrears were 
 paid ; a condition which they knew to be impossible. 
 At the same time they declared, that they would not 
 obey any other person than the Prince of Orange, 
 whom the army had chosen general. Lannoy, find- 
 ing that it was no longer safe for him to remain among 
 licentious troops, who despised his dignity and hated 
 his person, returned to Naples ; soon after, the Mar- 
 quis del Guasto and Moncada thought it prudent to 
 quit Rome for the same reason. The Prince of 
 Orange, a general only in name, and by the most 
 precarious of all tenures, the good-will of soldiers, 
 whom success and licence had rendered capricious, 
 was obliged to pay more attention to their humours 
 than they did to his commands. Thus the emperor, 
 instead of reaping any of the advantages which he 
 might have expected from the reduction of Rome, 
 had the mortification to see the most formidable body 
 of troops that he had ever brought into the field
 
 24 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK continue in a state of inactivity, from which it was 
 impossible to rouse them. 
 
 lions. 
 
 1527. This gave the King of France and the Venetians 
 
 TheFrench , . 5 r , , . . 
 
 army leisure to form new schemes, and to enter into new en- 
 Intoitai gagements for delivering the pope, and preserving the 
 liberties of Italy. The newly-restored republic of 
 Florence very imprudently joined with them, and 
 Lautrec, of whose abilities the Italians entertained a 
 much more favourable opinion than his own master, 
 was, in order to gratify them, appointed generalissimo 
 of the league. It was with the utmost reluctance he 
 undertook that office, being unwilling to expose him- 
 self a second time to the difficulties and disgraces, 
 which the negligence of the king, or the malice of 
 his favourites, might bring upon him. The best 
 troops in France marched under his command ; and 
 the King of England, though he had not yet declared 
 war against the emperor, advanced a considerable sum 
 its opera, towards carrying on the expedition. Lautrec's first 
 operations were prudent, vigorous, and successful. 
 By the assistance of Andrew Doria, the ablest sea- 
 officer of that age, he rendered himself master of 
 Genoa, and re-established in that republic the faction 
 of the Fregosi, together with the dominion of France. 
 He obliged Alexandria to surrender after a short 
 siege, and reduced all the country on that side of the 
 Tessino. He took Pavia, which had so long resisted 
 the arms of his sovereign, by assault, and plundered 
 it with that cruelty, which the memory of the fatal 
 disaster that had befallen the French nation before 
 its walls naturally inspired. All the Milanese, which 
 Antonio de Leyva defended with a small body of 
 troops, kept together, and supported by his own address 
 and industry, must have soon submitted to his power, 
 if he had continued to bend the force of his arms 
 against that country. But Lautrec durst not com- 
 
 c Guic. lib. xviii. 454.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 plete a conquest which would have been so honour- BOOK 
 able to himself, and of such advantage to the league. V ' 
 Francis knew his confederates to be more desirous of 1527 ' 
 circumscribing the imperial power in Italy, than of 
 acquiring new territories for him ; and was afraid, 
 that if Sforza were once re-established in Milan, they 
 would second but coldly the attack which he intended 
 to make on the kingdom of Naples. For this reason 
 he instructed Lautrec not to push his operations with 
 too much vigour in Lombardy ; and happily the im- 
 portunities of the pope, and the solicitations of the 
 Florentines, the one for relief, and the other for pro- 
 tection, were so urgent as to furnish him with a decent 
 pretext for marching forward, without yielding to the 
 entreaties of the Venetians and Sforza, who insisted on 
 his laying siege to Milan/ 
 
 While Lautrec advanced slowly towards Rome, the The empe- 
 
 11- in i_j- ror s* 18 * e 
 
 emperor had time to deliberate concerning the dis- pope at 
 
 posal of the pope's person, who still remained a pri- hbert y- 
 soner in the castle of St. Angelo. Notwithstanding 
 the specious veil of religion, with which he usually 
 endeavoured to cover his actions, Charles, in many 
 instances, appears to have been but little under the 
 influence of religious considerations, and had fre- 
 quently, on this occasion, expressed an inclination to 
 transport the pope into Spain, that he might indulge 
 his ambition with the spectacle of the two most illus- 
 trious personages in Europe successively prisoners in 
 his court. But the fear of giving new offence to all 
 Christendom, and of filling his own subjects with 
 horror, obliged him to forego that satisfaction.' The 
 progress of the confederates made it now necessary, 
 either to set the pope at liberty, or to remove him to 
 some place of confinement more secure than the 
 
 d Guic. lib. xviii. 461. Bellay, 107, &c. Mauroc. Hist Vcnet. lib. iii. 
 238. 
 
 e Guic. lib. sviii. 457. 
 
 Ch. VOL. II. Q
 
 226 
 
 BOOK, castle of St. Angelo. Many considerations induced 
 
 v * him to prefer the former, particularly his want of the 
 
 1527. money, requisite as well for recruiting his army, as 
 
 Feb. 11. for paying off the vast arrears due to it. In order to 
 obtain this, he had assembled the cortes of Castile at 
 Valladolid about the beginning of the year, and 
 having laid before them the state of his affairs, and 
 represented the necessity of making great prepara- 
 tions to resist the enemies, whom envy at the success 
 which had crowned his arms would unite against him, 
 he demanded a large supply in the most pressing 
 terms ; but the cortes, as the nation was already 
 exhausted by extraordinary donatives, refused to load 
 it with any new burden, and, in spite of all his endea- 
 vours to gain or to intimidate the members, persisted 
 in this resolution/ No resource, therefore, remained, 
 but the extorting from Clement, by way of ransom, a 
 sum sufficient for discharging what was due to his 
 troops, without which it was vain to mention to them 
 their leaving Rome. 
 
 Nor was the pope inactive on his part, or his in- 
 trigues unsuccessful towards hastening such a treaty. 
 By flattery, and the appearance of unbounded con- 
 fidence, he disarmed the resentment of Cardinal 
 Colonna, and wrought upon his vanity, which made 
 him desirous of shewing the world, that as his power 
 had at first depressed the pope, it could now raise 
 him to his former dignity. By favours and promises 
 he gained Morone, who, by one of those whimsical 
 revolutions which occur so often in his life, and which 
 so strongly display his character, had now recovered 
 his credit and authority with the imperialists. 
 The address and influence of two such men easily 
 removed all the obstacles which retarded an ac- 
 commodation, and brought the treaty for Clement's 
 liberty to a conclusion, upon conditions hard 
 
 ' Sandov. i. p. 814.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 227 
 
 indeed, but not more severe than a prince in his BOOK 
 situation had reason to expect. He was obliged to V ' 
 advance, in ready money, a hundred thousand 1527> 
 crowns for the use of the army ; to pay the same 
 sum at the distance of a fortnight ; and, at the end 
 of three months, a hundred and fifty thousand 
 more. He engaged not to take part in the war 
 against Charles, either in Lombardy or in Naples ; 
 he granted him a bull of cruzado, and the tenth of 
 ecclesiastical revenues in Spain ; and he not only 
 gave hostages, but put the emperor in possession of 
 several towns, as a security for the performance of 
 these articles. g Having raised the first moiety by a 
 sale of ecclesiastical dignities and benefices, and other 
 expedients equally uncanonical, a day was fixed for 
 delivering him from imprisonment. But Clement, Dec. e. 
 impatient to be free, after a tedious confinement of 
 six months, as well as full of the suspicion and dis- 
 trust natural to the unfortunate, was so much afraid 
 that the imperialists might still throw in obstacles to 
 put off his deliverance, that he disguised himself, on 
 the night preceding the day when he was to be set 
 free, in the habit of a merchant, and Alarcon having 
 remitted somewhat of his vigilance upon the conclu- 
 sion of the treaty, he made his escape undiscovered. 
 He arrived before next morning at Orvietto, without 
 any attendants but a single officer ; and from thence 
 wrote a letter of thanks to Lautrec, as the chief in- 
 strument of procuring him liberty. 11 
 
 During these transactions, the ambassadors of Overtures 
 
 c5 9 of the em- 
 
 France and England repaired to Spain, in consequence peror to 
 of the treaty which Wolsey had concluded with the " 1 
 French king. The emperor, unwilling to draw on 
 himself the united forces of the two monarchs, dis- 
 
 8 Guic. lib. iviii. 467, &c. 
 
 h Guic. lib. xviii. 467, &c. Jov. Vit. Colon. 169. Mauroc. Hist Venet. 
 lib. iii. 252. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK covered an inclination to relax somewhat the rigour 
 V> of the treaty of Madrid, to which, hitherto, he had 
 1527 ' adhered inflexibly. He offered to accept of the two 
 millions of crowns, which Francis had proposed to 
 pay as an equivalent for the dutchy of Burgundy, 
 and to set his sons at liberty, on condition that he 
 would recall his army out of Italy, and restore Genoa, 
 together with the other conquests which he had made 
 in that country. With regard to Sforza, he insisted 
 that his fate should be determined by the judges ap- 
 pointed to enquire into his crimes. These propositions 
 being made to Henry, he transmitted them to his 
 ally the French king, whom it more nearly concerned 
 to examine and to answer them ; and if Francis had 
 been sincerely solicitous, either to conclude peace or 
 preserve consistency in his own conduct, he ought 
 instantly to have closed with overtures which differed 
 but little from the prdpositions which he himself had 
 formerly made.' But his views were now. much 
 changed ; his alliance with Henry, Lautrec's progress 
 in Italy, and the superiority of his army there above 
 that of the emperor, hardly left him room to doubt 
 of the success of his enterprise against Naples. Full 
 of those sanguine hopes, he was at no loss to find 
 pretexts for rejecting or evading what the emperor 
 had proposed. Under the appearance of sympathy 
 with Sforza, for whose interests he had not hitherto 
 discovered much solicitude, he again demanded the 
 full and unconditional re-establishment of that unfor- 
 tunate prince in his dominions. Under colour of its 
 being imprudent to rely on the emperor's sincerity, 
 he insisted that his sons should be set at liberty before 
 the French troops left Italy, or surrendered Genoa. 
 The unreasonableness of these demands, as well as 
 the reproachful insinuation with which they were 
 accompanied, irritated Charles to such a degree, that 
 
 1 Rerueil des Trails, ii. 2-19.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 he could hardly listen to them with patience ; and BOOK 
 repenting of his moderation, which had made so little 
 impression on his enemies, declared that he would 1527 - 
 not depart in the smallest article from the conditions 
 which he had now offered. Upon this, the French 
 and English ambassadors (for Henry had been drawn 
 unaccountably to concur with Francis in these strange 
 propositions) demanded and obtained their audience 
 of leave." 
 
 Next day, two heralds, who had accompanied the 1528. 
 ambassadors on purpose, though they had hitherto Januar 7 22 - 
 concealed their character, having assumed the ensigns 
 of their office, appeared in the emperor's court, and 
 being admitted into his presence, they, in the name 
 of their respective masters, and with all the solemni- 
 ties customary on such occasions, denounced war 
 against him. Charles received both with a dignity Theyd*. 
 suitable to his own rank, but spoke to each in a tone against the 
 adapted to the sentiments which he entertained of em P erer - 
 their sovereigns. He accepted the defiance of the 
 English monarch with a firmness tempered by some 
 degree of decency and respect. His reply to the 
 French king abounded with that acrimony of expres- 
 sion, which personal rivalship, exasperated by the 
 memory of many injuries inflicted as well as suffered, 
 naturally suggests. He desired the French herald to 
 acquaint his sovereign, that he would henceforth con- 
 sider him not only as a base violator of public faith, 
 but as a stranger to the honour and integrity becom- 
 ing a gentleman. Francis, too high-spirited to bear 
 such an imputation, had recourse to an uncommon 
 expedient in order to vindicate his character. He 
 instantly sent back the herald with a cartel of de- Frnci 
 fiance, in which he gave the emperor the lie in form, 
 challenged him to single combat, requiring him to 
 name the time and place for the encounter, and the 
 
 f Rym. xiv. 20O. Herbert, 85. Guic. lib. xriii. 471. 
 
 Q 3
 
 230 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK weapons with which he chose to fight. Charles, as 
 V ' he was not inferior to his rival in spirit or bravery, 
 1528t readily accepted the challenge ; but, after several 
 messages concerning the arrangement of all the cir- 
 cumstances relative to the combat, accompanied with 
 mutual reproaches, bordering on the most indecent 
 scurrility, all thoughts of this duel, more becoming 
 the heroes of romance than the two greatest monarchs 
 of their age, were entirely laid aside. l 
 
 The effect The example of two personages so illustrious drew 
 promoting sucn general attention, and carried with it so much 
 
 the custom authority, that it had considerable influence in pro- 
 of duelling. _ ' 
 
 ducing an important change in manners all over 
 
 Europe. Duels, as has already been observed, had 
 long been permitted by the laws of all the European 
 nations, and, forming a part of their jurisprudence, 
 were authorized by the magistrate, on many occa- 
 sions, as the most proper method of terminating 
 questions with regard to property, or of deciding those 
 which respected crimes. But single combats being 
 considered as solemn appeals to the omniscience and 
 justice of the Supreme Being, they were allowed only 
 in public causes, according to the prescription of law, 
 and carried on in a judicial form. Men accustomed 
 to this manner of decisions in courts of justice, were 
 naturally led to apply it to personal and private 
 quarrels. Duels, which at first could be appointed 
 by the civil judge alone, were fought without the in- 
 terposition of his authority, and in cases to which the 
 laws did not extend. The transaction between 
 Charles and Francis strongly countenanced this prac- 
 tice. Upon every affront, or injury, which seemed 
 to touch his honour, a gentleman thought himself 
 entitled to draw his sword, and to call on his ad- 
 versary to give him satisfaction. Such an opinion 
 becoming prevalent among men of fierce courage, of 
 
 1 Recueil des Trails, 2. Mem. de Bellay, 103, &c. Sandov. Hist. i. 837.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 231 
 
 high spirit, and of rude manners, when offence was BOOK 
 
 often given, and revenge was always prompt, pro- '- , . 
 
 duced most fatal consequences. Much of the best 
 blood in Christendom was shed ; many useful lives 
 were sacrificed ; and, at some periods, war itself hath 
 hardly been more destructive than these private con- 
 tests of honour. So powerful, however, is the domi- 
 nion of fashion, that neither the terror of penal laws, 
 nor reverence for religion, have been able entirely to 
 abolish a practice unknown among the ancients, and 
 not justifiable by any principle of reason ; though at 
 the same time it must be admitted, that, to this absurd 
 custom, we must ascribe in some degree the extraor- 
 dinary gentleness and complaisance of modern man- 
 ners, and that respectful attention of one man to 
 another, which, at present, render the social inter- 
 courses of life far more agreeable and decent, than 
 among the most civilized nations of antiquity. 
 
 While the two monarchs seemed so eager to ter- Retreat of 
 minate their quarrel by a personal combat, Lautrec naiistsfrom 
 continued his operations, which promised to be more 
 decisive. His army, which was now increased to 
 thirty-five thousand men, advanced by great marches 
 towards Naples. The terror of their approach, as 
 well as the remonstrances and the entreaties of the 
 Prince of Orange, prevailed at last on the imperial 
 troops, though with difficulty, to quit Rome, of which 
 they had kept possession during ten months. But 
 of that flourishing army which had entered the city, 
 scarcely one half remained ; the rest, cut off by the 
 plague, or wasted by disease, the effects of their in- 
 activity, intemperance, and debauchery, fell victims 
 to their own crimes." 1 Lautrec made the greatest 
 efforts to attack them in their retreat towards the 
 Neapolitan territories, which would have finished the 
 war at one blow. But the prudence of their leaders 
 
 m Guic. lib. xviii. 478. 
 Q 4
 
 232 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK disappointed all his measures, and conducted them 
 v - with little loss to Naples. The people of that king- 
 1528 - dom, extremely impatient to shake off the Spanish 
 yoke, received the French with open arms, wherever 
 they appeared to take possession ; and, Gaeta and 
 Naples excepted, hardly any place of importance re- 
 mained in the hands of the imperialists. The pre- 
 servation of the former was owing to the strength of 
 its fortifications, that of the latter to the presence of 
 French be- the imperial army. Lautrec, however, sat down 
 before Naples ; but finding it vain to think of reduc- 
 ing a city by force while defended by a whole army, 
 he was obliged to employ the slower, but less danger- 
 ous method of blockade ; and having taken measures 
 which appeared to him effectual, he confidently as- 
 sured his master, that famine would soon compel the 
 besieged to capitulate. These hopes were strongly 
 confirmed by the defeat of a vigorous attempt made 
 by the enemy in order to recover the command of 
 the sea. The galleys of Andrew Doria, under the 
 command of his nephew Philippino, guarded the 
 mouth of the harbour. Moncada, who had suc- 
 ceeded Lannoy in the viceroyalty, rigged out a 
 number of galleys superior to Doria's, manned them 
 with a chosen body of Spanish veterans, and going 
 on board himself, together with the Marquis del 
 Guasto, attacked Philippino before the arrival of the 
 Venetian and French fleets. But the Genoese 
 admiral, by his superior skill in naval operations, 
 easily triumphed over the valour and number of the 
 Spaniards. The viceroy was killed, most of his fleet 
 destroyed, and Guasto, with many officers of distinc- 
 tion, being taken prisoners, were put on board the 
 captive galleys, and sent by Philippino as trophies of 
 his victory to his uncle. n 
 
 Notwithstanding this flattering prospect of success, 
 
 " Guic. lib. xix. 487. P. Heuter. Jib. x. c. 2. p. 231.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 233 
 
 many circumstances concurred to frustrate Lautrec's BOOK 
 
 expectations. Clement, though he always acknow- 
 
 ledged his being indebted to Francis for the recovery ~ 1528 ' 
 
 f 1 i n i t-ircum- 
 
 01 his liberty, and often complained of the cruel treat- stances 
 ment which he had met with from the emperor, was tL-d thT" 
 not influenced at this juncture by principles of grati- 
 tude, nor, which is more extraordinary, was he swayed 
 by the desire of revenge. His past misfortunes ren- 
 dered him more cautious than ever, and his recollec- 
 tion of the errors which he had committed, increased 
 the natural irresolution of his mind. While he amused 
 Francis with promises, he secretly negotiated with 
 Charles ; and being solicitous, above all things, to 
 re-establish his family in Florence with their ancient 
 authority, which he could not expect from Francis, 
 who had entered into strict alliance with the new 
 republic, he leaned rather to the side of his enemy 
 than to that of his benefactor, and gave Lautrec no 
 assistance towards carrying on his operations. The 
 Venetians viewing with jealousy the progress of the 
 French arms, were intent only upon recovering such 
 maritime towns in the Neapolitan dominions as were 
 to be possessed by their republic, while they were 
 altogether careless about the reduction of Naples, on 
 which the success of the common cause depended. 
 The King of England, instead of being able, as had 
 been projected, to embarrass the emperor by attack- 
 ing his territories in the Low Countries, found his 
 subjects so averse to an unnecessary war, which would 
 have ruined the trade of the nation, that, in order to 
 silence their clamours, and put a stop to the insurrec- 
 tions ready to break out among them, he was com- 
 pelled to conclude a truce for eight months with the 
 governess of the Netherlands. 1 * Francis himself, with 
 the same unpardonable inattention of which he had 
 formerly been guilty, and for which he had suffered 
 
 Guic. lib. xix 491. p Herbert, 90. Rymer, xir. 258.
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK so severely, neglected to make proper remittances to 
 
 v ' Lautrec for the support of his army. q 
 
 1528 - These unexpected events retarded the progress of 
 
 A^drew 0f the French, discouraging both the general and his 
 
 Doria from troops . b ut the revolt of Andrew Doria proved a 
 
 France. .. ... 
 
 fatal blow to all their measures, lhat gallant officer, 
 the citizen of a republic, and trained up from his in- 
 fancy in the sea-service, retained the spirit of indepen- 
 dence natural to the former, together with the plain 
 liberal manners peculiar to the latter. A stranger to 
 the arts of submission or flattery necessary in courts, 
 but conscious, at the same time, of his own merit and 
 importance, he always offered his advice with freedom, 
 and often preferred his complaints and remonstrances 
 with boldness. The French ministers, unaccustomed 
 to such liberties, determined to ruin a man who treated 
 them with so little deference ; and though Francis 
 himself had a just sense of Doria's services, as well as 
 a high esteem for his character, the courtiers, by 
 continually representing him as a man haughty, in- 
 tractable, and more solicitous to aggrandize himself 
 than to promote the interests of France, gradually 
 undermined the foundations of his credit, and filled 
 the king's mind with suspicion and distrust. From 
 thence proceeded several affronts and indignities put 
 upon Doria. His appointments w r ere not regularly 
 paid ; his advice, even in naval affairs, was often 
 slighted ; an attempt was made to seize the prisoners 
 taken by his nephew in the sea-fight off Naples ; all 
 which he bore with abundance of ill-humour. But 
 an injury offered to his country transported him be- 
 yond all bounds of patience. The French began to 
 fortify Savona, to clear its harbour, and, removing 
 thither some branches of trade carried on at Genoa, 
 plainly shewed that they intended to render that town, 
 which had been long the object of jealousy and hatred 
 
 q Guic. lib. xviii. 478.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 235 
 
 to the Genoese, their rival in wealth and commerce. BOOK 
 Doria, animated with a patriotic zeal for the honour V> 
 and interest of his country, remonstrated against this 1528 * 
 in the highest tone, not without threats, if the measure 
 were not instantly abandoned. This bold action, 
 aggravated by the malice of the courtiers, and placed 
 in the most odious light, irritated Francis to such a 
 degree, that he commanded Barbesieux, whom he ap- 
 pointed admiral of the Levant, to sail directly to 
 Genoa with the French fleet, to arrest Doria, and 
 to seize his galleys. This rash order, the execution, 
 of which could have been secured only by the most 
 profound secrecy, was concealed with so little care, 
 that Doria got timely intelligence of it, and retired 
 with all his galleys to a place of safety. Guasto, his 
 prisoner, who had long observed and fomented his 
 growing discontent, and had often allured him by 
 magnificent promises to enter into the emperor's 
 service, laid hold on this favourable opportunity. 
 While his indignation and resentment were at their 
 height, he prevailed on him to dispatch one of his 
 officers to the imperial court with his overtures and 
 demands. The negotiation was not long ; Charles, 
 fully sensible of the importance of such an acquisition, 
 granted him whatever terms he required. Doria sent 
 back his commission, together with the collar of St. 
 Michael, to Francis, and hoisting the imperial colours, 
 sailed with all his galleys towards Naples, not to block 
 up the harbour of that unhappy city, as he had for- 
 merly engaged, but to bring them protection and de- 
 liverance. 
 
 His arrival opened the communication with the Wretched 
 
 , T , i i_ situation of 
 
 sea, and restored plenty in Maples, which was now ^ French, 
 reduced to the last extremity; and the French, having J* be * 
 lost their superiority at sea, were soon reduced to Naples, 
 great straits for want of provisions. The Prince of 
 ( )rangc, who succeeded the viceroy in the command
 
 236 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK of the imperial army, shewed himself by his prudent 
 conduct worthy of that honour which his good fortune 
 
 15281 and the death of his generals had twice acquired him. 
 Beloved by the troops, who, remembering the pros- 
 perity which they had enjoyed under his command, 
 served him with the utmost alacrity, he let slip no 
 opportunity of harassing the enemy, and by continual 
 alarms or sallies fatigued and weakened them/ As 
 an addition to all these misfortunes, the diseases com- 
 mon in that country during the sultry months began 
 to break out among the French troops. The pri- 
 soners communicated to them the pestilence which 
 the imperial army had brought to Naples from Rome, 
 and it raged with such violence, that few, either 
 officers or soldiers, escaped the infection. Of the 
 whole army, not four thousand men, a number hardly 
 sufficient to defend the camp, were capable of doing 
 duty s ; and being now besieged in their turn, they 
 suffered all the miseries from which the imperialists 
 were delivered. Lautrec, after struggling long with 
 so many disappointments and calamities, which preyed 
 on his mind at the same time that the pestilence 
 Aug. 15. wasted his body, died, lamenting the negligence of 
 his sovereign, and the infidelity of his, allies, to which 
 so many brave men had fallen victims/ By his death, 
 and the indisposition of the other generals, the com- 
 mand devolved on the Marquis de Saluces, an officer 
 altogether unequal to such a trust. He, with troops 
 no less dispirited than reduced, retreated in disorder 
 to Aversa ; which town being invested by the Prince 
 of Orange, Saluces was under the necessity of con- 
 senting, that he himself should remain a prisoner of 
 war, that his troops should lay down their arms and 
 
 r Jovii Hist. lib. xxxvi. p. 31, & c . Sigonii Vita Doriae, p 11 39. Bellay, 
 H4,&c. 
 
 'Bellay, 117, &c. 
 ' P. Ileutcr. Rerum. Austr. lib. x. c. 2 p. 231.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 237 
 
 colours, give up their baggage, and march under a BOOK 
 guard to the frontiers of France. By this ignominious v ' 
 capitulation, the wretched remains of the French army i$28. 
 were saved ; and the emperor, by his own persever- 
 ance, and the good conduct of his generals, acquired 
 once more the superiority in Italy." 
 
 The loss of Genoa followed immediately upon the Genoa re- 
 ruin of the army in Naples. To deliver his country c versi< 
 from the dominion of foreigners was Doria's highest 
 ambition, and had been his principal inducement to 
 quit the service of France, and enter into that of the 
 emperor. A most favourable opportunity for exe- 
 cuting this honourable enterprise now presented itself. 
 The city of Genoa, afflicted by the pestilence, was 
 almost deserted by its inhabitants ; the French gar- 
 rison, being neither regularly paid nor recruited, was 
 reduced to an inconsiderable number ; Doria's emis- 
 saries found that such of the citizens as remained, 
 being weary alike of the French and imperial yoke, 
 the rigour of which they had alternately felt, were 
 ready to welcome him as their deliverer, and to second 
 all his measures. Things wearing this promising 
 aspect, he sailed towards the coast of Genoa ; on his 
 approach the French galleys retired ; a small body of 
 men which he landed surprised one of the gates 
 of Genoa in the night-time ; Trivulci, the French 
 governor, with his feeble garrison, shut himself up in 
 the citadel, and Doria took possession of the town Sept. 12. 
 without bloodshed or resistance. Want of provisions 
 quickly obliged Trivulci to capitulate ; the people, 
 eager to abolish such an odious monument of their 
 servitude, ran together with a tumultuous violence, 
 and levelled the citadel with the ground. 
 
 It was now in Doria's power to have rendered 
 himself the sovereign of his country, which he had so 
 happily delivered from oppression. The fame of his 
 
 u Bellay, 117, &c. Jovii Hist. lib. xxv. xxvi.
 
 238 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK former actions, the success of his present attempt, the 
 attachment of his friends, the gratitude of his coun- 
 
 1528. trymen, together with the support of the emperor, all 
 conspired to facilitate his attaining the supreme au- 
 thority, and invited him to lay hold of it. But with 
 a magnanimity of which there are few examples, he 
 sacrificed all thoughts of aggrandizing himself to 
 the virtuous satisfaction of establishing liberty in his 
 country, the highest object at which ambition can aim. 
 Having assembled the whole body of the people in 
 the court before his palace, he assured them that the 
 happiness of seeing them once more in possession of 
 freedom was to him a full reward for all his services ; 
 that, more delighted with the name of citizen than of 
 sovereign, he claimed no pre-eminence or power above 
 his equals ; but remitted entirely to them the right of 
 settling what form of government they would now 
 choose to be established among them. The people 
 listened to him with tears of admiration and of joy. 
 Twelve persons were elected to new-model the con- 
 stitution of the republic. The influence of Doria's 
 virtue and example communicated itself to his coun- 
 trymen ; the factions which had long torn and ruined 
 the state, seemed to be forgotten ; prudent precautions 
 were taken to prevent their reviving ; and the same 
 form of government which hath subsisted with little 
 variation since that time in Genoa, was established 
 with universal applause. Doria lived to a great age, 
 beloved, respected, and honoured by his countrymen ; 
 and adhering uniformly to his professions of modera- 
 tion, without arrogating any thing unbecoming a pri- 
 vate citizen, he preserved a great ascendant over the 
 councils of the republic, which owed its being to his 
 generosity. The authority which he possessed was 
 more flattering, as well as more satisfactory, than that 
 derived from sovereignty ; a dominion founded in 
 love and in gratitude ; and upheld by veneration for
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 339 
 
 his virtues, not by the dread of his power. His me- BOOK 
 mory is still reverenced by the Genoese, and he is v> 
 distinguished in their public monuments, and cele- 1528 * 
 brated in the works of their historians, by the most 
 honourable of all appellations, THE FATHER OF HIS 
 
 COUNTRY, AND THE RESTORER OF ITS LIBERTY.* 
 
 Francis, in order to recover the reputation of his 1529. 
 arms, discredited by so many losses, made new efforts 
 in the Milanese. But the Count of St. Pol, a rash lanese - 
 and unexperienced officer, to whom he gave the 
 command, was no match for Antonio de Leyva, the 
 ablest of the imperial generals. He, by his superior 
 skill in war, checked, with a handful of men, the 
 brisk but ill-concerted motions of the French ; and 
 though so infirm himself that he was carried constantly 
 in a litter, he surpassed them, when occasion required, 
 no less in activity than in prudence. By an unex- 
 pected march he surprised, defeated, and took prisoner 
 the Count of St. Pol, ruining the French army in 
 the Milanese as entirely as the Prince of Orange had 
 ruined that which besieged Naples. 7 
 
 Amidst these vigorous operations in the field, each Negod 
 party discovered an impatient desire of peace, and 
 continual negotiations were carried on for that pur- 
 
 1 
 
 pose. The French king, discouraged and almost 
 exhausted by so many unsuccessful enterprises, was 
 reduced now to think of obtaining the release of his 
 sons by concessions, not by the terror of his arms. 
 The pope hoped to recover by a treaty whatever he 
 had lost in the war. The emperor, notwithstanding 
 the advantages which he had gained, had many reasons 
 to make him wish for an accommodation. Solyman, 
 having over-run Hungary, was ready to break in 
 
 x Guic. lib. xix. p. 498. Sigonii Vita Dorias, p. 1146. Jovii Hist. 
 lib. xxvi. p. 36, &c. 
 
 y Guic. lib. xix. 520. P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. x. c. 3. p. 238. M6n. 
 de Bellay.p. 121.
 
 240 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK upon the Austrian territories with the whole force of 
 ' the East. The reformation gaining ground daily 
 
 152a> in Germany, the princes who favoured it had entered 
 into a confederacy which Charles thought dangerous 
 to the tranquillity of the empire. The Spaniards 
 murmured at a war of such unusual length, the weight 
 of which rested chiefly on them. The variety and 
 extent of the emperor's operations far exceeded what 
 his revenues could support : his success hitherto had 
 been owing chiefly to his own good fortune and to 
 the abilities of his generals ; nor could he flatter 
 himself that they, with troops destitute of every thing 
 necessary, would always triumph over enemies still 
 in a condition to renew their attacks. All parties, 
 however, were at equal pains to conceal or to dissemble 
 their real sentiments. The emperor, that his inability 
 to carry on the war might not be suspected, insisted 
 on high terms in the tone of a conqueror. 'The pope, 
 solicitous not to lose his present allies before he came 
 to any agreement with Charles, continued to make 
 a thousand protestations of fidelity to the former, 
 while he privately negotiated with the latter. Francis, 
 afraid that his confederates might prevent him by 
 treating for themselves with the emperor, had recourse 
 to many dishonourable artifices, in order to turn their 
 attention from the measures which he was taking to 
 adjust all differences with his rival. 
 
 In this situation of affairs, when all the contending 
 powers wished for peace, but durst not venture too 
 hastily on the steps necessary for attaining it, two 
 ladies undertook to procure this blessing so much 
 
 M y- desired by all Europe. These were Margaret of 
 Austria, Dutchess Dowager of Savoy, the emperor's 
 aunt, and Louise, Francis's mother. They agreed 
 on an interview at Cambray, and being lodged in two 
 adjoining houses, between which a communication 
 was opened, met together without ceremony or ob-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 servation, and held daily conferences, to which no BOOK 
 person whatever was admitted. As both were pro- v ' 
 foundly skilled in business, thoroughly acquainted 15as> 
 with the secrets of their respective courts, and pos- 
 sessed with perfect confidence in each other, they 
 soon made great progress towards a final accommo- 
 dation ; and the ambassadors of all the confederates 
 waited in anxious suspense to know their fate, the 
 determination of which was entirely in the hands of 
 those illustrious negotiators. 8 
 
 But whatever diligence they used to hasten forward Separate 
 a general peace, the pope had the address and in- 
 
 dustry to get the start of his allies, by concluding at 
 Barcelona a particular treaty for himself. The em- June 20 - 
 peror, impatient to visit Italy in his way to Germany, 
 and desirous of re-establishing tranquillity in the one 
 country, before he attempted to compose the disorders 
 which abounded in the other, found it necessary to 
 secure at least one alliance among the Italian states, 
 on which he might depend. That with Clement, 
 who courted it with unwearied importunity, seemed 
 more proper than any other. Charles, being ex- 
 tremely solicitous to make some reparation for the 
 insults which he had offered to the sacred character 
 of the pope, and to redeem past offences by new 
 merit, granted Clement, notwithstanding all his mis- 
 fortunes, terms more favourable than he could have 
 expected after a continued series of success. Among 
 other articles, he engaged to restore all the territories 
 belonging to the ecclesiastical state; to re-establish 
 the dominion of the Medici in Florence ; to give his 
 natural daughter in marriage to Alexander, the head 
 of that family ; and to put it in the pope's power to 
 decide concerning the fate of Sforza, and the pos- 
 session of the Milanese. In return for these ample 
 concessions, Clement gave the emperor the investiture 
 
 z P. Heuter. Her. Austr. lib. x. c. 3. p. 133. M6n. de Bellay, p. 1M. 
 Ch. VOL. II. R
 
 BOOK 
 v> 
 
 1S29t 
 
 Augusts. 
 
 SSrf 
 between 
 
 emperor 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 of Naples without the reserve of any tribute, but the 
 present of a white steed, in acknowledgment of his 
 sovereignty ; absolved all who had been concerned in 
 assaulting and plundering Rome, and permitted 
 Charles and his brother Ferdinand to levy the fourth 
 of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their do- 
 
 mnons. 
 
 The account of this transaction quickened the ne- 
 gotiations at Cambray, and brought Margaret and 
 Louise to an immediate agreement. The treaty of 
 Madrid served as the basis of that which they con- 
 cluded ; the latter being intended to mitigate the 
 rigour of the former. The chief articles were, that 
 the emperor should not, for the present, demand the 
 restitution of Burgundy, reserving, however, in full 
 force, his rights and pretensions to that dutchy ; that 
 Francis should pay two millions of crowns as the ran- 
 som of his sons, and, before they were set at liberty, 
 should restore such towns as he still held in the Mi- 
 lanese ; that he should resign his pretensions to the 
 sovereignty of Flanders and of Artois ; that he should 
 renounce all his pretensions to Naples, Milan, Genoa, 
 and every other place beyond the Alps ; that he 
 should immediately consummate the marriage con- 
 cluded between him and the emperor's sister Elea- 
 
 nora. 
 
 Thus Francis, chiefly from his impatience to pro- 
 cure liberty to his sons, sacrificed every thing which . 
 had at first prompted him to take anns, or which had 
 induced him, by continuing hostilities during nine 
 successive campaigns, to protract the war to a length 
 hardly known in Europe before the establishment of 
 standing armies, and the imposition of exorbitant 
 taxes, became universal. The emperor, by this 
 
 * Guic. lib. six. 522. 
 
 b P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. x c. 3. p. 234. 
 Car. V. ii. 28. 
 
 Sandov. Hist, del Emper.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 243 
 
 treaty, was rendered sole arbiter of the fate of Italy ; BOOK 
 he delivered his territories in the Netherlands from v * 
 an unpleasant badge of subjection ; and after having 1S29t 
 baffled his rival in the field, he prescribed to him the 
 conditions of peace. The different conduct and spirit 
 with which the two monarchs carried on the opera- 
 tions of war, led naturally to such an issue of it. 
 Charles, inclined by temper, as well as obliged by his 
 situation, concerted all his schemes with caution, pur- 
 sued them with perseverance, and, observing circum- 
 stances and events with attention, let none escape 
 that could be improved to advantage. Francis, more 
 enterprising than steady, undertook great designs 
 with warmth, but often executed them with remiss- 
 ness ; and diverted by his pleasures, or deceived by 
 his favourites, he lost, on several occasions, the most 
 promising opportunities of success. Nor had the 
 character of the two rivals themselves greater influence 
 on the operations of war, than the opposite qualities 
 of the generals whom they employed. Among the 
 imperialists, valour tempered with prudence ; fertility 
 of invention aided by experience ; discernment to 
 penetrate the designs of their enemies ; a provident 
 sagacity in conducting their own measures ; in a 
 word, all the talents which form great commanders, 
 and ensure victory, were conspicuous. Among the 
 French, these qualities were either wanting, or the 
 very reverse of them abounded ; nor could they boast 
 of one man (unless we except Lautrec, who was 
 always unfortunate) that equalled the merit of Pes- 
 cara, Leyva, Guasto, the Prince of Orange, and 
 other leaders, whom Charles had to set in opposition 
 to them. Bourbon, Morone, Doria, who, by their 
 abilities and conduct, might have been capable of ba- 
 lancing the superiority which the imperialists had 
 acquired, were induced to abandon the service of 
 France, by the carelessness of the king, and the malice 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK or injustice of his counsellors ; and the most fatal 
 
 , blows given to France during the progress of the 
 
 1529. waF} proceeded from the despair and resentment of 
 
 these three persons, 
 dishonour- The hard conditions to which Francis was obliged 
 
 able to . 
 
 Francis, to submit were not the most afflicting circumstances 
 to him in the treaty of Cambray. He lost his repu- 
 tation and the confidence of all Europe, by abandon- 
 ing his allies to his rival. Unwilling to enter into 
 the details necessary for adjusting their interests, or 
 afraid that whatever he claimed for them must have 
 been purchased by farther concessions on his own 
 part, he gave them up in a body ; and, without the 
 least provision in their behalf, left the Venetians, the 
 Florentines, the Duke of Ferrara, together with such 
 of the Neapolitan barons as had joined his army, to 
 the mercy of the emperor. They exclaimed loudly 
 against this base and perfidious action, of which 
 Francis himself was so much ashamed, that, in order 
 to avoid the pain of hearing from their ambassadors 
 the reproaches which he justly merited, it was some 
 time before he would consent to allow them an 
 audience. Charles, on the other hand, was attentive 
 to the interest of every person who had adhered to 
 him : the rights of some of his Flemish subjects, who 
 had estates or pretensions in France, were secured ; 
 one article was inserted, obliging Francis to restore 
 the blood and memory of the Constable Bourbon ; and 
 to grant his heirs the possession of his lands which 
 had been forfeited ; another, by which indemnifica- 
 tion was stipulated for those French gentlemen who 
 had accompanied Bourbon in his exile. This con- 
 duct, laudable in itself, and placed in the most strik- 
 ing light by a comparison with that of Francis, gained 
 Charles as much esteem as the success of his arms had 
 acquired him glory. 
 
 c Guic. lib. xix. p. 525. P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. x. c. 4. p. 235.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES Y. 34,5 
 
 Francis did not treat the King of England with BOOK 
 the same neglect as his other allies. He communi- v ' 
 cated to him all the steps of his negotiation at Cam- 1529 * 
 
 i -i i i i / i i t Henry ao- 
 
 bray, and luckily round that monarch in a situation quiescin 
 which left him no choice but to approve implicitly of !t * 
 his measures, and to concur with them. Henry had His scheme 
 been soliciting the pope for some time, in order to diorced 
 obtain a divorce from Catharine of Aragon, his fromhi8 
 
 . queen. 
 
 queen. Several motives combined in prompting the 
 king to urge his suit. As he was powerfully influ- 
 enced at some seasons by religious considerations, he 
 entertained many scruples concerning the legitimacy 
 of his marriage with his brother's widow ; his affections 
 had long been estranged from the queen, who was 
 older than himself, and had lost all the charms which 
 she possessed in the earlier part of her life ; he was 
 passionately desirous of having male issue : Wolsey 
 artfully fortified his scruples, and encouraged his 
 hopes, that he might widen the breach between 
 him and the emperor, Catharine's nephew; and, 
 what was more forcible, perhaps, in its operation than 
 all these united, the king had conceived a violent love 
 for the celebrated Anne Boleyn, a young lady of 
 great beauty, and of greater accomplishments, whom, 
 as he found it impossible to gain her on other terms, 
 he determined to raise to the throne. The papal 
 authority had often been interposed to grant divorces 
 for reasons less specious than those which Henry 
 produced. When the matter was first proposed to 
 Clement, during his imprisonment in the castle of 
 St. Angelo, as his hopes of recovering liberty de- 
 pended entirely on the King of England, and his ally 
 of France, he expressed the warmest inclination to 
 gratify him. But no sooner was he set free, than he 
 discovered other sentiments. Charles, who espoused 
 the protection of his aunt with zeal inflamed by re- 
 sentment, alarmed the pope, on the one hand, with 
 
 B 3
 
 246 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK threats, which made a deep impression on his timid 
 v * mind, and allured him, on the other, with those pro- 
 1529. m ises in favour of his family which he afterwards 
 accomplished. Upon the prospect of these, Clement 
 not only forgot all his obligations to Henry, but ven- 
 tured to endanger the interests of the Romish religion 
 in England, and to run the risk of alienating that 
 kingdom for ever from the obedience of the papal 
 see. After amusing Henry during two years, with 
 all the subtleties and chicane which the court of Rome 
 can so dexterously employ to protract or defeat any 
 cause ; after displaying the whole extent of his am- 
 biguous and deceitful policy, the intricacies of which 
 the English historians, to whom it properly belongs, 
 have found it no easy matter to trace and unravel, 
 he, at last, recalled the powers of the delegates, 
 whom he had appointed to judge in the point, avo- 
 cated the cause to Rome, leaving the king no other 
 hope of obtaining a divorce, but from the personal 
 decision of the pope himself. As Clement was now 
 in strict alliance with the emperor, who had pur- 
 chased his friendship by the exorbitant concessions 
 which have been mentioned, Henry despaired of 
 procuring any sentence from the former but what was 
 dictated by the latter. His honour, however, and 
 passions concurred in preventing him from relinquish- 
 ing his scheme of a divorce, which he determined to 
 accomplish by other means, and at any rate ; and the 
 continuance of Francis's friendship being necessary 
 to counterbalance the emperor's power, he, in order 
 to secure that, not only offered no remonstrances 
 against the total neglect of their allies in the treaty of 
 Cambray, but made Francis the present of a large 
 sum, as a brotherly contribution towards the payment 
 of the ransom for his sons. d 
 Aug. 12. Soon after the treaty of peace was concluded, the 
 
 a Herbert, M<5m. de Bellay, ] 22.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 24-7 
 
 emperor landed in Italy with a numerous train of the BOOK 
 
 Spanish nobility, and a considerable body of troops. 1 
 
 He left the government of Spain, during his absence, ^ 
 to the Empress Isabella. By his long residence in rorvisiu 
 that country, he had acquired such thorough know- y " 
 ledge of the character of the people, that he could 
 perfectly accommodate the maxims of his government 
 to their genius. He could even assume, upon some 
 occasions, such popular manners as gained wonderfully 
 upon the Spaniards. A striking instance of his dis- 
 position to gratify them had occurred a few days be- 
 fore he embarked for Italy : he was to make his public 
 entry into the city of Barcelona ; and some doubts 
 having arisen among the inhabitants, whether they 
 should receive him as emperor, or as Count of Bar- 
 celona, Charles instantly decided in favour of the 
 latter, declaring that he was more proud of that 
 ancient title than of his imperial crown. Soothed with 
 this flattering expression of his regard, the citizens 
 welcomed him with acclamations of joy, and the states 
 of the province swore allegiance to his son Philip, as 
 heir of the county of Barcelona. A similar oath had 
 been taken in all the kingdoms of Spain, with equal 
 satisfaction. e 
 
 The emperor appeared in Italy with the pomp and 
 power of a conqueror. Ambassadors from all the 
 princes and states of that country attended his court, 
 waiting to receive his decision with regard to their 
 fate. At Genoa, where he first landed, he was re- 
 ceived with the acclamations due to the protector of 
 their liberties. Having honoured Doria with many 
 marks of distinction, and bestowed on the republic 
 several new privileges, he proceeded to Bologna, the 
 place fixed upon for his interview with the pope. 
 He affected to unite in his public entry into that city NOT. $. 
 the state and majesty that suited an emperor, with 
 
 Sandov. ii. p. 50. Ferrer, . 116. 
 R 4
 
 248 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the humility becoming an obedient son of the church ; 
 
 _ * and while at the head of twenty thousand veteran 
 
 1529 * soldiers, able to give law to all Italy, he kneeled down 
 to kiss the feet of that very pope whom he had so 
 lately detained a prisoner. The Italians, after suf- 
 fering so much from the ferocity and licentiousness 
 of his armies, and after having been long accustomed 
 to form in their imagination a picture of Charles, 
 which bore some resemblance to that of the barbarous 
 monarchs of the Goths or Huns, who had formerly 
 afflicted their country with like calamities, were sur- 
 prised to see a prince of a graceful appearance, affable 
 and courteous in his deportment, of regular manners, 
 and of exemplary attention to all the offices of 
 religion/ They were still more astonished when he 
 settled all the concerns of the princes and states 
 which now depended on him, with a degree of mo- 
 deration and equity much beyond what they had 
 expected. 
 
 His mode- Charles himself, when he set out from Spain, far 
 
 ration, and _ 
 
 the motives from intending to give any such extraordinary proof 
 of his self-denial, seems to have been resolved to avail 
 himself to the utmost of the superiority which he had 
 acquired in Italy. But various circumstances con- 
 curred in pointing out the necessity of pursuing a 
 very different course. The progress of the Turkish 
 
 Sept is. sultan, who, after over-running Hungary, had pene- 
 trated into Austria, and laid siege to Vienna, with 
 an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men, loudly 
 called upon him to collect his whole force to oppose 
 that torrent j and though the valour of the Germans, 
 the prudent conduct of Ferdinand, together with the 
 
 Oct. i& treachery of the vizier, soon obliged Solyman to 
 abandon that enterprise with disgrace and loss, the 
 religious disorders still growing in Germany rendered 
 
 f Sandov. Hist, del Erap. Carl. V. ii. 50. 53, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 24-9 
 
 the presence of the emperor highly necessary there. 8 BOOK 
 The Florentines, instead of giving their consent to ^ 
 the re-establishment of the Medici, which, by the 1529 " 
 treaty of Barcelona, the emperor had bound himself 
 to procure, were preparing to defend their liberty by 
 force of arms ; the preparations for his journey had 
 involved him in unusual expences ; and on this, as 
 well as many other occasions, the multiplicity of his 
 affairs, together with the narrowness of his revenues, 
 obliged him to contract the schemes which his bound- 
 less ambition was apt to form, and to forego present 
 and certain advantages, that he might guard against 
 more remote but unavoidable dangers. Charles, from 
 all these considerations, finding it necessary to assume 
 an air of moderation, acted his part with a good 
 grace. He admitted Sforza into his presence, and 
 not only gave him a full pardon of all past offences, 
 but granted him the investiture of the dutchy, together 
 with his niece, the King of Denmark's daughter, in 
 marriage. He allowed the Duke of Ferrara to keep 
 possession of all his dominions, adjusting the points 
 in dispute between him and the pope with an impar- 
 tiality not very agreeable to the latter. He came to 
 a final accommodation with the Venetians, upon the 
 reasonable condition of their restoring whatever they 
 had usurped during the late war, either in the Nea- 
 politan or papal territories. In return for so many 
 concessions, he exacted considerable sums from each 
 of the powers with whom he treated, which they paid 
 without reluctance, and which afforded him the 
 means of proceeding on his journey towards Germany 
 with a magnificence suitable to his dignity. 11 
 
 These treaties, which restored tranquillity to Italy 15S - 
 
 f !_ 1_ 1. J - 
 
 after a tedious war, the calamities or which had 
 chiefly affected that country, were published at Bo- 
 
 logna with great solemnity on the first day of the 
 
 in Flo. 
 
 v 
 
 Sleidan, 121. Guic. lib. xx. 550. * SandoT. ii. 55, &c.
 
 250 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK year one thousand five hundred and thirty, amidst 
 
 -. ! the universal acclamations of the people, applauding 
 
 1530t the emperor, to whose moderation and generosity they 
 ascribed the blessings of peace which they had so long 
 desired. The Florentines alone did not partake of 
 this general joy. Animated with a zeal for liberty 
 more laudable than prudent, they determined to op- 
 pose the restoration of the Medici. The imperial 
 army had already entered their territories, and formed 
 the siege of their capital. But though deserted by 
 all their allies, and left without any hope of succour, 
 they defended themselves many months with an obsti- 
 nate valour worthy of better success ; and even when 
 they surrendered, they obtained a capitulation which 
 gave them hopes of securing some remains of their 
 liberty. But the emperor, from his desire to gratify 
 the pope, frustrated all their expectations, and, abolish- 
 ing their ancient form of government, raised Alex- 
 ander de' Medici to the same absolute dominion over 
 that state, which his family have retained to the pre- 
 sent times. Philibert de Chalons, Prince of Orange, 
 the imperial general, was killed during this siege. 
 His estate and titles descended to his sister, Claude 
 de Chalons, who was married to Rene, Count of 
 Nassau, and she transmitted to her posterity of the 
 house of Nassau the title of Princes of Orange, which, 
 by their superior talents and valour, they have ren- 
 dered so illustrious.' 
 state of After the publication of the peace at Bologna, and 
 
 affairs, civil , r r t 
 
 and reii- the ceremony of his coronation as King of Lombardy 
 SerSanV ^ Em P eror f the Romans, which the pope per- 
 Feb. 22. formed with the accustomed formalities, nothing de- 
 tained Charles in Italy*; and he began to prepare 
 for his journey to Germany. His presence became 
 every day more necessary in that country, and was 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xx. p. 341, &c. P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. ii. c. 4. p. 236. 
 k H. Cornel. Agrippa dc duplici coronatione Car. V. ap. Scard. ii. 226.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 25! 
 
 solicited with equal importunity by the catholics and BOOK 
 by the favourers of the new doctrines. During that _ 
 long interval of tranquillity, which the absence of the 153 * 
 emperor, the contests between him and the pope, and 
 his attention to the war with France, afforded them, 
 the latter gained much ground. Most of the princes 
 who had embraced Luther's opinions, had not only 
 established in their territories that form of worship 
 which he approved, but had entirely suppressed the 
 rites of the Romish church. Many of the free cities 
 had imitated their conduct. Almost one half of the 
 Germanic body had revolted from the papal see, and 
 its authority, even in those provinces which had 
 not hitherto shaken off the yoke, was considerably 
 weakened, partly by the example of revolt in the 
 neighbouring states, partly by the secret progress of 
 the reformed doctrine even in those countries where 
 it was not openly embraced. Whatever satisfaction 
 the emperor, while he was at open enmity with 
 the see of Rome, might have felt in those events 
 which tended to mortify and embarrass the pope, he 
 could not help perceiving now, that the religious 
 divisions in Germany would, in the end, prove ex- 
 tremely hurtful to the imperial authority. The weak- 
 ness of former emperors had suffered the great vassals 
 of the empire to make such successful encroachments 
 upon their power and prerogative, that, during the 
 whole course of a war, which had often required the 
 exertion of his utmost strength, Charles hardly drew 
 any effectual aid from Germany, and found that mag- 
 nificent titles or obsolete pretensions were almost the 
 only advantages which he had gained by swaying the 
 imperial sceptre. He became fully sensible, that if 
 he did not recover in some degree the prerogatives 
 which his predecessors had lost, and acquire the 
 authority, as well as possess the name, of head of the 
 empire, his high dignity would contribute more to
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK obstruct than to promote his ambitious schemes* 
 v * Nothing, he saw, was more essential towards attaining 
 1530. this, than to suppress opinions which might form new 
 bonds of confederacy among the princes of the empire, 
 and unite them by ties stronger and more sacred than 
 any political connection. Nothing seemed to lead more 
 certainly to the accomplishment of his design, than to 
 employ zeal for the established religion, of which he 
 was the natural protector, as the instrument of ex- 
 tending his civil authority. 
 
 Proceed- Accordingly, a prospect no sooner opened of coming 
 aSa? "* to an accommodation with the pope, than, by the em- 
 Spires. peror's appointment, a diet of the empire was held at 
 1529. Spires, in order to take into consideration the state of 
 religion. The decree of the diet assembled there in 
 the year one thousand five hundred and twenty-six, 
 which was almost equivalent to a toleration of Luther's 
 opinions, had given great offence to the rest of Christen- 
 dom. The greatest delicacy of address, however, was 
 requisite in proceeding to any decision more rigorous. 
 The minds of men, kept in perpetual agitation by a 
 controversy carried on, during twelve years, without 
 intermission of debate, or abatement of zeal, were now 
 inflamed to a high degree. They were accustomed 
 to innovations, and saw the boldest of them successful. 
 Having not only abolished old rites, but substituted 
 new forms in their place, they were influenced as 
 much by attachment to the system which they had 
 embraced, as by aversion to that which they had aban- 
 doned. Luther himself, of a spirit not to be worn 
 out by the length and obstinacy of the combat, or to 
 become remiss upon success, continued the attack with 
 as much vigour as he had begun it. His disciples, of 
 whom many equalled him in zeal, and some surpassed 
 him in learning, were no less capable than their master 
 to conduct the controversy in the properest manner. 
 Many of the laity, some even of the princes, trained
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 353 
 
 up amidst these incessant disputations, and in the BOOK 
 habit of listening to the arguments of the contending v> _ 
 parties, who alternately appealed to them as judges, I530> 
 came to be profoundly skilled in all the questions 
 which were agitated, and, upon occasion, could shew 
 themselves not inexpert in any of the arts with which 
 these theological encounters were managed. It was 
 obvious from all these circumstances, that any violent 
 decision of the diet must have immediately precipitated 
 matters into confusion, and have kindled in Germany 
 the flames of a religious war. All, therefore, that the 
 archduke, and the other commissioners appointed by 
 the emperor, demanded of the diet, was, to enjoin 
 those states of the empire which had hitherto obeyed 
 the decree issued against Luther at Worms, in the 
 year one thousand five hundred and twenty-four, to 
 persevere in the observation of it, and to prohibit the 
 other states from attempting any farther innovation in 
 religion, particularly from abolishing the mass, before 
 the meeting of a general council. After much dis- 
 pute, a decree to that effect was approved of by a 
 majority of voices. 1 
 
 The Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Branden- Th fo1 - 
 burg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Dukes of Lunen- Luther 
 burg, the Prince of Anhalt, together with the 
 deputies of fourteen imperial or free cities 1 ", entered 
 a solemn protest against this decree, as unjust and 
 impious. On that account they were distinguished 
 by the name of PROTESTANTS", an appellation which 
 hath since become better known, and more honoura- 
 ble, by its being applied indiscriminately to all the 
 sects, of whatever denomination, which have revolted 
 from the Roman see. Not satisfied with this declar- 
 
 Sleid. Hist. 117. 
 
 m The fourteen cities were Strasburgh, Nuremburgh, Ulm, Constance, 
 Reutlingen, Winclsheim, Meinengen, Lindaw, Kempten, Hailbron, Isna, 
 ^Vcissemburgh, Nordlingen, and St. Gal. 
 
 n Sleid. Hist. 119. F. Paul, Hist. p. 45. Seckend. ii. 127.
 
 BOOK 
 
 v. 
 
 1530. 
 Delibera- 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 ation of their dissent from the decree of the diet, the 
 protestants sent ambassadors into Italy, to lay their 
 grievances before the emperor, from whom they met 
 with the most discouraging reception. Charles was 
 at that time in close union with the pope, and solicit- 
 ous to attach him inviolably to his interest. During 
 their long residence at Bologna, they held many con- 
 sultations concerning the most effectual means of 
 extirpating the heresies which had sprung up in 
 Germany. Clement, whose cautious and timid mind 
 the proposal of a general council filled with horror, 
 even beyond what popes, the constant enemies of such 
 assemblies, usually feel, employed every argument to 
 dissuade the emperor from consenting to that measure. 
 He represented general councils as factious, ungovern- 
 able, presumptuous, formidable to civil authority, and 
 too slow in their operations to remedy disorders which 
 required an immediate cure. Experience, he said, 
 had now taught both the emperor and himself, that 
 forbearance and lenity, instead of soothing the spirit 
 of innovation, had rendered it more enterprising and 
 presumptuous ; it was necessary, therefore, to have re- 
 course to the rigorous methods which such a desperate 
 case required ; Leo's sentence of excommunication, to- 
 gether with the decree of the diet at Worms, should 
 be carried into execution, and it was incumbent on 
 the emperor to employ his whole power, in order to 
 overawe those on whom the reverence due either to 
 ecclesiastical or civil authority had no longer any in- 
 fluence. Charles, whose views were very different 
 from the pope's, and who became daily more sensible 
 how obstinate and deep-rooted the evil was, thought 
 of reconciling the protestants by means less violent, 
 and considered the convocation of a council as no im- 
 proper expedient for that purpose ; but promised, if 
 gentler arts failed of success, that then he would exert 
 himself with rigour to reduce to the obedience of
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 the holy see those stubborn enemies of the catholic BOOK 
 faith. ' v - 
 
 Such were the sentiments with which the emperor 15sa 
 set out for Germany, having already appointed a diet 
 
 of the empire to be held at Augsburg. In his journey t 
 towards that city, he had many opportunities of observ- March 22> 
 ing the disposition of the Germans with regard to the 
 points in controversy, and found their minds every 
 where so much irritated and inflamed, as convinced 
 him, that nothing tending to severity or rigour ought 
 to be attempted, until all other measures proved in- 
 effectual. He made his public entry into Augsburg J" ne 
 with extraordinary pomp ; and found there such a 
 full assembly of the members of the diet, as was suit- 
 able both to the importance of the affairs which were 
 to come under their consideration, and to the honour 
 of an emperor, who, after a long absence, returned to 
 them crowned with reputation and success. His pre- 
 sence seems to have communicated to all parties an 
 unusual spirit of moderation and desire of peace. The 
 Elector of Saxony would not permit Luther to ac- 
 company him to the diet, lest he should offend the 
 emperor by bringing into his presence a person ex- 
 communicated by the pope, and who had been the 
 author of all those dissensions which it now appeared 
 so difficult to compose. At the emperor's desire, all 
 the protestant princes forbade the divines who ac- 
 companied them to preach in public during their 
 residence at Augsburg. For the same reason, they TIM? con- 
 employed Melancthon, the man of the greatest learn- 
 ing, as well as of the most pacific and gentle spirit 
 among the reformers, to draw up a confession of their 
 faith, expressed in terms as little offensive to the 
 Roman catholics as a regard for truth would permit. 
 Melancthon, who seldom suffered the rancour of con- 
 
 F. Paul, xlvii. Seek. lib. ii. 142. Hist, de la Confer. d f Augsburg, 
 par D. Chytreus,4to. Antw. 1572. p. 6.
 
 256 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK troversy to envenom his style, even in writings purely 
 v ' polemical, executed a task so agreeable to his natural 
 1530. disposition with great moderation and address. The 
 creed which he composed, known by the name of the 
 Confession of Augsburg, from the place where it 
 was presented, was read publicly in the diet. Some 
 popish divines were appointed to examine it ; they 
 brought in their animadversions ; a dispute ensued be- 
 tween them and Melancthon, seconded by some of 
 his brethren ; but though Melancthon softened some 
 articles, made concessions with regard to others, and 
 put the least exceptionable sense upon 'all ; though 
 the emperor himself laboured with great earnestness 
 to reconcile the contending parties ; so many marks 
 of distinction were now established, and such insuper- 
 able barriers placed between the two churches, that 
 all hopes of bringing about a coalition seemed utterly 
 desperate. 15 
 
 From the divines, among whom his endeavours had 
 been so unsuccessful, Charles turned to the princes 
 their patrons. Nor did he find them, how desirous 
 soever of accommodation, or willing to oblige the 
 emperor, more disposed than the fonner to renounce 
 their opinions. At that time, zeal for religion took 
 possession of the minds of men, to a degree which can 
 scarcely be conceived by those who live in an age when 
 the passions excited by the first manifestation of truth, 
 and the first recovery of liberty, have in a great 
 measure ceased to operate. This zeal was then of 
 such strength as to overcome attachment to their po- 
 litical interests, which is commonly the predominant 
 motive among princes. The Elector of Saxony, the 
 Landgrave of Hesse, and other chiefs of the protest- 
 ants, though solicited separately by the emperor, and 
 allured by the promise or prospect of those advantages 
 
 p Seckend. lib. ii. 159, &c. Abr. Sculteti Annales Evangelic! ap. Herm. 
 Yonder Hard. Hist. Liter. Reform. Lips. 1717. fol. p. 159.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 which it was known they were more solicitous to BOOK 
 attain, refused, with a fortitude highly worthy of v ' 
 imitation, to abandon what they deemed the cause of 153 ' 
 God, for the sake of any earthly acquisition.* 1 
 
 Every scheme in order to gain or disunite the Sewede- 
 protestant party proving abortive, nothing now re- ST^" 
 mained for the emperor but to take some vigorous tesunts * 
 measures towards asserting the doctrines and autho- 
 rity of the established church. These, Campeggio, 
 the papal nuncio, had always recommended as the 
 only proper and effectual course of dealing with such 
 obstinate heretics. In compliance with his opinions 
 and remonstrances, the diet issued a decree, con- NOT. 19. 
 demning most of the peculiar tenets held by the 
 protestants ; forbidding any person to protect or 
 tolerate such as taught them ; enjoining a strict ob- 
 servance of the established rites ; and prohibiting 
 any further innovation under severe penalties. All 
 orders of men were required to assist with their 
 persons and fortunes in carrying this decree into 
 execution ; and such as refused to obey it, were 
 declared incapable of acting as judges, or of appear- 
 ing as parties in the imperial chamber, the supreme 
 court of judicature in the empire. To all which was 
 subjoined a promise, that an application should be 
 made to the pope, requiring him to call a general 
 council within six months, in order to terminate all 
 controversies by its sovereign decisions. T 
 
 The severity of this decree, which was considered Jhey emer 
 as a prelude to the most violent persecution, alarmed league i 
 the protestants, and convinced them that the emperor s 
 was resolved on their destruction. The dread of 
 those calamities which were ready to fall on the 
 church, oppressed the feeble spirit of Melancthon ; 
 and, as if the cause had already been desperate, he 
 gave himself up to melancholy and lamentation. But 
 
 " Slcid; 132. Scultet. Annul. 158. r Sleid. 139. 
 
 Ch. VOL. II. S
 
 58 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Luther, who during the meeting of the diet had en- 
 v " deavoured to confirm and animate his party by several 
 153a treatises which he addressed to them, was not dis- 
 concerted or dismayed at the prospect of this new 
 danger. He comforted Melancthon and his other 
 desponding disciples, and exhorted the princes not 
 to abandon those truths which they had lately asserted 
 with such laudable boldness. s His exhortations 
 made the deeper impression upon them, as they were 
 greatly alarmed at that time by the account of a com- 
 bination among the popish princes of the empire for 
 the maintenance of the established religion, to which 
 Charles himself had acceded. ' This convinced them 
 that it was necessary to stand on their guard ; and 
 that their own safety, as well as the success of their 
 cause, depended on union. Filled with this dread 
 of the adverse party, and with these sentiments con- 
 cerning the conduct proper for themselves, they 
 
 Dec. 22. assembled at Smalkalde. There they concluded a 
 league of mutual defence against all aggressors", by 
 which they formed the protestant states of the empire 
 into one regular body, and, beginning already to con- 
 sider themselves as such, they resolved to apply to 
 the Kings of France and England, and to implore 
 them to patronise and assist their new confederacy. 
 Theempe. ^ n a ff a i r no ^ connected with religion furnished 
 
 ror proposes 
 
 to have them with a pretence for courting the aid of foreign 
 
 his brother f-^-, , -, .... , -. . 
 
 elected princes. Charles, whose ambitious views enlarged in 
 P ro P rt i n to ^ increase of his power and grandeur, 
 had formed a scheme of continuing the imperial crown 
 in his family, by procuring his brother Ferdinand to 
 be elected King of the Romans. The present junc- 
 ture was favourable for the execution of that design. 
 The emperor's arms had been every where victorious ; 
 he had given law to all Europe at the late peace ; no 
 
 ' Seek. ii. 180. Sleid. 140. ' Seek. ii. 200. iii. 11. 
 
 " Sleid. 142.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 259 
 
 rival now remained in a condition to balance or to BOOK 
 control him ; and the electors, dazzled with the ' 
 splendour of his success, or overawed by the great- 
 ness of his power, durst scarcely dispute the will of a 
 prince, whose solicitations carried with them the au- 
 thority of commands. Nor did he want plausible 
 reasons to enforce the measure. The affairs of his 
 other kingdoms, he said, obliged him to be often 
 absent from Germany ; the growing disorders oc- 
 casioned by the controversies about religion, as well 
 as the formidable neighbourhood of the Turks, who 
 continually threatened to break in with their desolat- 
 ing armies into the heart of the empire, required the 
 constant presence of a prince endowed with prudence 
 capable of composing the former, and with power as 
 well as valour sufficient to repel the latter. His 
 brother Ferdinand possessed these qualities in an 
 eminent degree ; by residing long in Germany, he 
 had acquired a thorough knowledge of its constitu- 
 tion and manners ; having been present almost from 
 the first rise of the religious dissensions, he knew 
 what remedies were most proper, what the Germans 
 could bear, and how to apply them ; as his own 
 dominions lay on the Turkish frontier, he was the 
 natural defender of Germany against the invasions of 
 the infidels, being prompted by interest no less than 
 he would be bound in duty to oppose them. 
 
 These arguments made little impression on the The pro- 
 protestants. Experience taught them, that nothing 
 had contributed more to the undisturbed progress of 
 their opinions, than the interregnum after Maximi- 
 lian's death, the long absence of Charles, and the 
 slackness of the reins of government which these oc- 
 casioned. Conscious of the advantages which their 
 cause had derived from this relaxation of government, 
 they were unwilling to render it more vigorous, by 
 giving themselves a new and a fixed master. They 
 
 s 2
 
 260 
 
 BOOK 
 V. 
 
 
 
 1530. 
 
 1531. 
 January 5. 
 
 He is 
 chosen. 
 
 Negotia- 
 tions of the 
 protestants 
 with 
 France ; 
 
 Feb. 29. ; 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 perceived clearly the extent of Charles's ambition, 
 that he aimed at rendering the imperial crown here- 
 ditary in his family, and would of course establish in 
 the empire an absolute dominion, to which elective 
 princes could not have aspired with equal facility. 
 They determined, therefore, to oppose the election of 
 Ferdinand with the utmost vigour, and to rouse 
 their countrymen, by their example and exhortations, 
 to withstand this encroachment on their liberties. 
 The Elector of Saxony, accordingly, not only refused 
 to be present at the electoral college, which the 
 emperor summoned to meet at Cologne, but instructed 
 his eldest son to appear there, and to protest against 
 the election as informal, illegal, contrary to the arti- 
 cles of the golden bull, and subversive of the liberties 
 of the empire. But the other electors, whom Charles 
 had been at great pains to gain, without regarding 
 either his absence or protest, chose Ferdinand King 
 of the Romans ; who, a few days after, was crowned 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle. x 
 
 When the protestants, who were assembled a 
 second time at Smalkalde, received an account of this 
 transaction, and heard, at the same time, that prose- 
 cutions were commenced, in the imperial chamber, 
 against some of their number, on account of their re- 
 ligious principles, they thought it necessary, not only 
 to renew their former confederacy, but immediately 
 to dispatch their ambassadors into France and England. 
 Francis had observed, with all the jealousy of a rival, 
 the reputation which the emperor had acquired by 
 his seeming disinterestedness and moderation in 
 settling the affairs in Italy ; and beheld with great 
 concern the successful step which he had taken to- 
 wards perpetuating and extending his authority in 
 Germany by the election of a king of the Romans. 
 Nothing, however, would have been more impolitic 
 
 x Sleid. 142. Seek. iii. 1. P. Renter. Her. Anstr. lib. x. c. 6. p. 240.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 26l 
 
 than to precipitate his kingdom into a new war, when BOOK 
 
 exhausted by extraordinary efforts, and discouraged ' 
 
 by ill success, before it had got time to recruit its 
 strength, or to forget past misfortunes. As no pro- 
 vocation had been given by the emperor, and hardly 
 a pretext for a rupture had been afforded him, he 
 could not violate a treaty of peace which he himself 
 had so lately solicited, without forfeiting the esteem 
 of all Europe, and being detested as a prince void of 
 probity and honour. He observed, with great joy, 
 powerful factions beginning to form in the empire ; 
 he listened with the utmost eagerness to the com- 
 plaints of the protestant princes ; and, without seem- 
 ing to countenance their religious opinions, deter- 
 mined secretly to cherish those sparks of political 
 discord which might be afterwards kindled into a 
 flame. For this purpose, he sent William de Bellay, 
 one of the ablest negotiators in France, into Germany, 
 who, visiting the courts of the malecontent princes, and 
 heightening their ill humour by various arts, concluded 
 an alliance between them and his master y , which, 
 though concealed at that time, and productive of no 
 immediate effects, laid the foundation of an union 
 fatal on many occasions to Charles's ambitious projects ; 
 and shewed the discontented princes of Germany 
 where, for the future, they might find a protector no 
 less able than willing to undertake their defence 
 against the encroachments of the emperor. 
 
 The King of England, highly incensed against 
 Charles, in complaisance to whom, the pope had long 
 retarded, and now openly opposed his divorce, was 
 no less disposed than Francis to strengthen a league 
 
 which might be rendered so formidable to the emperor. 
 
 111* * 
 But his favourite project of the divorce led him into 
 
 such a labyrinth of schemes and negotiations, and In- 
 was at the same time, so intent on abolishing the 
 
 " M&n. de Bellay, I b. Seek. Hi. 14. 
 
 S 3
 
 262 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK papal jurisdiction in England, that he had no leisure 
 - '- for foreign affairs. This obliged him to rest satisfied 
 
 giving general promises, together with a small 
 supply in money, to the confederates of Smalkalde. 2 
 Charles Meanwhile, many circumstances convinced Charles 
 
 that this was not a juncture when the extirpation of 
 heresy was to be attempted by violence and rigour ; 
 that, in compliance with the pope's inclinations, he 
 had already proceeded with imprudent precipitation ; 
 and that it was more his interest to consolidate 
 Germany into one united and vigorous body, than 
 to divide and enfeeble it by a civil war. The pro- 
 testants, who were considerable as well by their 
 numbers as by their zeal, had acquired additional 
 weight and importance by their joining in that con- 
 federacy into which the rash steps taken at Augsburg 
 had forced them. Having now discovered their own 
 strength, they despised the decisions of the imperial 
 chamber ; and, being secure of foreign protection, 
 were ready to set the head of the empire at defiance. 
 At the same time, the peace with France was preca- 
 rious, the friendship of an irresolute and interested 
 pontiff was not to be relied on ; and Solyman, in 
 order to repair the discredit and loss which his arms 
 had sustained in the former campaign, was preparing 
 to enter Austria with more numerous forces. On all 
 these accounts, especially the last, a speedy accom- 
 modation with the malecontent princes became neces- 
 sary, not only for the accomplishment of his future 
 schemes, but for ensuring his present safety. Nego- 
 tiations were, accordingly, carried on by his direction 
 with the Elector of Saxony and his associates ; after 
 many delays, occasioned by their jealousy of the em- 
 peror, and of each other ; after innumerable difficul- 
 ties arising from the inflexible nature of religious 
 tenets, which cannot admit of being altered, modified, 
 
 * Herbert, 152, 154.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 363 
 
 or relinquished in the same manner as points of BOOK 
 political interest,' terms of pacification were agreed 
 upon at Nuremberg, and ratified solemnly in the 15S1 - 
 diet at Ratisbon. In this treaty it was stipulated, ^ nnt f 
 that universal peace be established in Germany, ourabie 
 until the meeting of a general council, the convocation jas. 
 of which within six months the emperor shall endea- Au at 3 - 
 vour to procure ; that no person shall be molested 
 on account of religion ; that a stop shall be put to 
 all processes begun by the imperial chamber against 
 protestants, and the sentences already passed to their 
 detriment shall be declared void. On their part, the 
 protestants engaged to assist the emperor with all 
 their forces in resisting the invasion of the Turks. 1 
 Thus by their firmness in adhering to their principles, 
 by the unanimity with which they urged all their 
 claims, and by their dexterity in availing themselves 
 of the emperor's situation, the protestants obtained 
 terms which amounted almost to a toleration of their 
 religion ; all the concessions were made by Charles, 
 none by them ; even the favourite point of their ap- 
 proving his brother's election was not mentioned ; 
 and the protestants of Germany, who had hitherto 
 been viewed only as a religious sect, came henceforth 
 to be considered as a political body of no small con- 
 sequence. 6 
 
 The intelligence which Charles received of Soly- 15S ?- 
 
 CamMMB 
 
 man's having entered Hungary at the head of three in Hun- 
 hundred thousand men, brought the deliberations of 8 
 the diet at Ratisbon to a period ; the contingent both 
 of troops and money which each prince was to fur- 
 nish towards the defence of the empire having been 
 already settled. The protestants, as a testimony of 
 their gratitude to the emperor, exerted themselves 
 with extraordinary zeal, and brought into the field 
 
 Du Mont, Corps Diplomatique, torn. IT. part. ii. 87. 89. 
 6 Slcitl. 149,&c. Seek. Hi. 19. 
 
 s 4
 
 264 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK forces which exceeded in number the quota imposed 
 on them ; and the catholics imitating their example, 
 
 1532. one Q f fa e greatest and best-appointed armies that had 
 ever been levied in Germany assembled near Vienna. 
 Being joined by a body of Spanish and Italian 
 veterans, under the Marquis del Guasto ; by some 
 heavy-armed cavalry from the Low Countries ; and 
 by the troops which Ferdinand had raised in Bo- 
 hemia, Austria, and his other territories, it amounted 
 in all to ninety thousand disciplined foot, and thirty 
 thousand horse, besides a prodigious swarm of irre- 
 gulars. Of this vast army, worthy the first prince in 
 Christendom, the emperor took the command in per- 
 son, and mankind waited in suspense the issue of a 
 decisive battle between the two greatest monarchs in 
 the world. But each of them dreading the other's 
 power and good fortune, they both conducted their 
 operations with such excessive caution, that a cam- 
 paign, for which such immense preparations had been 
 September made, ended without any memorable event. Soly- 
 
 andOcto- ' .. . . _* . * 
 
 ber. man, finding it impossible to gam ground upon an 
 
 enemy always attentive and on his guard, marched 
 back to Constantinople, towards the end of autumn. 
 It is remarkable, that in such a martial age, when 
 every gentleman was a soldier, and every prince a 
 general, this was the first time that Charles, who had 
 already carried on such extensive wars, and gained so 
 many victories, appeared at the head of his troops. 
 In this first essay of his arms, to have opposed such a 
 leader as Solyman was no small honour ; to have 
 obliged him to retreat, merited very considerable 
 praise. 
 
 August is. About the beginning of this campaign, the Elector 
 of Saxony died, and was succeeded by his son, John 
 Frederick. The reformation rather gained than lost 
 by that event ; the new elector, no less attached than 
 
 c Jovii Hist. lib. xxx. p. 100, &c. Barre, Hist, de 1'Empire, i. 8. 347.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 265 
 
 his predecessors to the opinions of Luther, occupied BOOK 
 the station which they had held at the head of the 
 protestant party, and defended, with the boldness and 1532 - 
 zeal of youth, that cause which they had fostered and 
 reared with the caution of more advanced age. 
 
 Immediately after the retreat of the Turks, Charles, The 
 impatient to revisit Spain, set out on his way thither, 
 for Italy. As he was extremely desirous of an in- 
 
 . , , . his way to 
 
 terview with the pope, they met a second time at Spain. 
 Bologna, with the same external demonstrations of 
 respect and friendship, but with little of that con- 
 fidence which had subsisted between them during 
 their late negotiations there. Clement was much 
 dissatisfied with the emperor's proceedings at Augs- 
 burg ; his concessions with regard to the speedy con- 
 vocation of a council having more than cancelled all 
 the merit of the severe decree against the doctrines of 
 the reformers. The toleration granted to the pro- 
 testants at Ratisbon, and the more explicit promise 
 concerning a council, with which it was accompanied, 
 had irritated him still farther. Charles, however, 
 
 i / 11 / i tions con- 
 
 partly from conviction that the meeting of a council coming 
 
 would be attended with salutary effects, and partly 
 from his desire to please the Germans, having solicited 
 the pope by his ambassadors to call that assembly 
 without delay, and now urging the same thing in 
 person, Clement was greatly embarrassed what reply 
 he should make to a request which it was indecent to 
 refuse, and dangerous to grant. He endeavoured at 
 first to divert Charles from the measure ; but, finding 
 him inflexible, he had recourse to artifices which he 
 knew would delay, if not entirely defeat, the calling 
 of that assembly. Under the plausible pretext of its 
 being previously necessary to settle, with all parties 
 concerned, the place of the council's meeting, the 
 manner of its proceedings, the right of the persons 
 who should be admitted to vote, and the authority of
 
 266 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK their decisions, he dispatched a nuncio, accompanied 
 by an ambassador from the emperor, to the Elector 
 
 1532< of Saxony, as head of the protestants. With regard 
 to each of these articles, inextricable difficulties and 
 contests arose. The protestants demanded a council 
 to be held in Germany; the pope insisted that it 
 should meet in Italy : they contended, that all points 
 in dispute should be determined by the words of holy 
 scripture alone ; he considered not only the decrees of 
 the church, but the opinions of fathers and doctors, 
 as of equal authority : they required a free council, 
 in which the divines, commissioned by different 
 churches, should be allowed a voice ; he aimed at 
 modelling the council in such a manner as would 
 render it entirely dependent on his pleasure. Above 
 all, the protestants thought it unreasonable that they 
 should bind themselves to submit to the decrees of a 
 council, before they knew on what principles these 
 decrees were to be founded, by what persons they 
 were to be pronounced, and what forms of proceed- 
 ing they would observe. The pope maintained it to 
 be altogether unnecessary to call a council, if those 
 who demanded it did not previously declare their 
 resolution to acquiesce in its decrees. In order to 
 adjust such a variety of points, many expedients 
 were proposed, and the negotiations spun out to such 
 a length, as effectually answered Clement's purpose 
 of putting off the meeting of a council, without draw- 
 ing on himself the whole infamy of obstructing a 
 measure which all Europe deemed so essential to the 
 good of the church. d 
 
 ^gS" T g eth er with this negotiation about calling a 
 ? itS' 1Iit3r counc ^' the em peror carried on another, which he 
 had still more at heart, for securing the peace esta- 
 blished in Italy. As Francis had renounced his pre- 
 tensions in that country with great reluctance, Charles 
 
 ' F. Paul, Hist. 61. Seckend. iii. 73.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 made no doubt but that he would lay hold on the BOOK 
 first pretext afforded him, or embrace the first op- V * 
 portunity which presented itself, of recovering what 1532 ' 
 he had lost. It became necessary, on this account, 
 to take measures for assembling an army able to op- 
 pose him. As his treasury, drained by a long war, 
 could not supply the sums requisite for keeping such 
 a body constantly on foot, he attempted to throw 
 that burden on his allies, and to provide for the 
 safety of his own dominions at their expence, by pro- 
 posing that the Italian states should enter into a 
 league of defence against all invaders ; that, on the 
 first appearance of danger, an army should be raised 
 and maintained at the common charge ; and that 
 Antonio de Leyva should be appointed the gene- 
 ralissimo. Nor was the proposal unacceptable to 
 Clement, though for a reason very different from 
 that which induced the emperor to make it. He -i-sss. 
 hoped, by this expedient, to deliver Italy from the 
 German and Spanish veterans, which had so long 
 filled all the powers in that country with terror, and 
 still kept them in subjection to the imperial yoke. 
 A league was accordingly concluded ; all the Italian Feb. s<. 
 states, the Venetians excepted, acceded to it ; the 
 sum which each of the contracting parties should 
 furnish towards maintaining the army was fixed ; the 
 emperor agreed to withdraw the troops which gave so 
 much umbrage to his allies, and which he was unable 
 any longer to support. Having disbanded part of 
 them, and removed the rest to Sicily and Spain, he 
 embarked on board Doria's galleys, and arrived at 
 Barcelona. 6 April w. 
 
 Notwithstanding all his precautions for securing Detign* 
 
 i /> t-*< i i_ * n d nego- 
 
 the peace of Germany, and maintaining that system dat i ns of 
 which he had established in Italy, the emperor j g French 
 became every day more and more apprehensive that gnt the 
 
 Guic. lib. xx. 551. Ferrers*, ix. H9.
 
 268 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK both would be soon disturbed by the intrigues or 
 V< arms of the French king. His apprehensions were 
 
 i5ss. we u f oim ded, as nothing but the desperate situation 
 of his affairs could have brought Francis to give his 
 consent to a treaty so dishonourable and disadvan- 
 tageous as that of Cambray : he, at the very time of 
 ratifying it, had formed a resolution to observe it no 
 longer than necessity compelled him, and took a 
 solemn protest, though with the most profound 
 secrecy, against several articles in the treaty, particu- 
 larly that whereby he renounced all pretensions to 
 the dutchy of Milan, as unjust, injurious to his heirs, 
 and invalid. One of the crown lawyers, by his com- 
 mand, entered a protest to the same purpose, and 
 with the like secrecy, when the ratification of the 
 treaty was registered in the parliament of Paris/ 
 Francis seems to have thought that, by employing 
 an artifice unworthy of a king, destructive of public 
 faith, and of the mutual confidence on which all trans- 
 actions between nations are founded, he was released 
 from any obligation to perform the most solemn 
 promises, or to adhere to the most sacred engage- 
 ments. From the moment he concluded the peace 
 of Cambray, he wished and watched for an oppor- 
 tunity of violating it with safety. He endeavoured 
 for that reason to strengthen his alliance with the 
 King of England, whose friendship he cultivated 
 with the greatest assiduity. He put the military 
 force of his own kingdom on a better and more re- 
 spectable footing than ever. He artfully fomented 
 the jealousy and discontent of the German princes, 
 particularly But above all, Francis laboured to break the strict 
 confederacy which subsisted between Charles and 
 Clement ; and he had soon the satisfaction to observe 
 appearances of disgust and alienation arising in the 
 mind of that suspicious and interested pontiff, which 
 
 1 Du Mont, Corps Dillon!, torn. iv. part. ii. p. 52.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 269 
 
 gave him hopes that their union would not be lasting. BOOK 
 As the emperor's decision in favour of the Duke of v ' _ 
 Ferrara had greatly irritated the pope, Francis aggra- 1538< 
 vated the injustice of that proceeding, and flattered 
 Clement that the papal see would find in him a more 
 impartial and no less powerful protector. As the 
 importunity with which Charles demanded a council 
 was extremely offensive to the pope, Francis artfully 
 created obstacles to prevent it, and attempted to 
 divert the German princes, his allies, from insisting 
 so obstinately on that point. s As the emperor had 
 gained such an ascendant over Clement by contribut- 
 ing to aggrandize his family, Francis endeavoured to 
 allure him by the same irresistible bait, proposing 
 a marriage between his second son, Henry Duke of 
 Orleans, and Catharine, the daughter of the pope's 
 cousin, Laurence de' Medici. On the first overture 
 of this match, the emperor could not persuade 
 himself that Francis really intended to debase the 
 royal blood of France by an alliance with Catharine, 
 whose ancestors had been so lately private citizens 
 and merchants in Florence, and believed that he 
 meant only to flatter or amuse the ambitious pontiff. 
 He thought it necessary, however, to efface the im- 
 pression which such a dazzling offer might have 
 made, by promising to break off the marriage which 
 had been agreed on between his own niece, the King 
 of Denmark's daughter, and the Duke of Milan, and 
 to substitute Catharine in her place. But the French 
 ambassador producing unexpectedly full powers to 
 conclude the marriage treaty with the Duke of 
 Orleans, this expedient had no effect. Clement was 
 so highly pleased with an honour which added such 
 lustre and dignity to the house of Medici, that he 
 offered to grant Catharine the investiture of consi- 
 derable territories in Italy, by way of portion ; he 
 
 Mem. de Bellay, 141, &c. Seek. iii. 48. F. Paul, 63.
 
 270 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK seemed ready to support Francis in prosecuting his 
 ancient claims in that country, and consented to a 
 
 1533. personal interview with that monarch, 
 interview Charles was at the utmost pains to prevent a meet- 
 
 the^!ope ing, in which nothing was likely to pass but what 
 
 ^ d . would be of detriment to him : nor could he bear, 
 
 1- rui ic is. . . , 
 
 after he had twice condescended to visit the pope in 
 his own territories, that Clement should bestow such 
 a mark of distinction on his rival, as to venture on a 
 voyage by sea, at an unfavourable season, in order to 
 pay court to Francis in the French dominions. But 
 the pope's eagerness to accomplish the match over- 
 came all the scruples of pride, or fear, or jealousy, 
 which would probably have influenced him on any other 
 Octcber. occasion. The interview, notwithstanding several 
 artifices of the emperor to prevent it, took place at 
 Marseilles with extraordinary pomp, and demonstra- 
 tions of confidence on both sides ; and the marriage, 
 which the ambition and abilities of Catharine rendered 
 in the sequel as pernicious to France, as it was then 
 thought dishonourable, was consummated. But what- 
 ever schemes may have been secretly concerted by the 
 pope and Francis in favour of the Duke of Orleans, 
 to whom his father proposed to make over all his 
 rights in Italy, so careful were they to avoid giving 
 any cause of offence to the emperor, that no treaty 
 was concluded between them 1 ; and even in the 
 marriage-articles, Catharine renounced all claims and 
 pretensions in Italy, except to the dutchy of Urbino." 
 Pope's But at the very time when he was carrying on 
 
 Sithregard t ^ iese negotiations, and forming this connection with 
 U En King F ranc * s > wmcn g ave so great umbrage to the emperor, 
 land's such was the artifice and duplicity of Clement's cha- 
 rce ' racter, that he suffered the latter to direct all his pro- 
 ceedings with regard to the King of England, and 
 
 * Guie. lib. xx. 551. 553. M(-m. de Bellay, 138. 
 
 1 Guic. lib. xx. 555. k Du Mont, Corps Diplom. iv. part. ii. 101.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 271 
 
 was no less attentive to gratify him in that particular, BOOK 
 than if the most cordial union had subsisted be- . 
 
 tween them. Henry's suit for a divorce had now 153S * 
 continued near six years ; during all which period 
 the pope negotiated, promised, retracted, and con- 
 cluded nothing. After bearing repeated delays and 
 disappointments longer than could have been ex- 
 pected from a prince of such a choleric and impetuous 
 temper, the patience of Henry was at last so much 
 exhausted, that he applied to another tribunal for that 
 decree which he had solicited in vain at Rome. 
 Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, by a sentence 
 founded on the authority of universities, doctors, 
 and rabbies, who had been consulted with respect 
 to the point, annulled the king's marriage with 
 Catharine ; her daughter was declared illegitimate ; 
 and Anne Boleyne acknowledged as Queen of Eng- 
 land. At the same time, Henry began not only to 
 neglect and to threaten the pope, whom he had 
 hitherto courted, but to make innovations in the 
 church, of which he had formerly been such a zeal- 
 ous defender. Clement, who had already seen so 
 many provinces and kingdoms revolt from the holy 
 see, became apprehensive at last that England might 
 imitate their example ; and partly from his solicitude 
 to prevent that fatal blow, partly in compliance with 
 the French king's solicitations, determined to give 
 Henry such satisfaction as might retain him within 15S 4. 
 the bosom of the church. But the violence of the March 2S - 
 cardinals, devoted to the emperor, did not allow the 
 pope leisure for executing this prudent resolution, 
 and hurried him, with a precipitation fatal to the 
 Roman see, to issue a bull rescinding Cranmer's sen- 
 tence, confirming Henry's marriage with Catharine, 
 and declaring him excommunicated, if, within a time 
 specified, he did not abandon the wife he had taken, 
 and return to her whom he had deserted. Enraged 
 at this unexpected decree, Henry kept no longer any
 
 272 
 
 BOOK 
 . V. 
 
 1534. 
 
 Papal au- 
 thority 
 abolished 
 in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Death of 
 
 Clement 
 
 VII. 
 
 Sept. 25. 
 
 Election of 
 Paul III. 
 Oct. 13. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 measures with the court of Rome ; his subjects 
 seconded his resentment and indignation ; an act of 
 parliament was passed, abolishing the papal power and 
 jurisdiction in England ; by another, the king was 
 declared supreme head of the church, and all the 
 authority of which the popes were deprived was vested 
 in him. That vast fabric of ecclesiastical dominion 
 which had been raised with such art, and of which 
 the foundations seemed to have been laid so deep, 
 being no longer supported by the veneration of the 
 people, was overturned in a moment. Henry himself, 
 with the caprice peculiar to his character, continued 
 to defend the doctrines of the Romish church as 
 fiercely as he attacked its jurisdiction. He alternately 
 persecuted the protestants for rejecting the former, 
 and the catholics for acknowledging the latter. But 
 his subjects, being once permitted to enter into 
 new paths, did not choose to stop short at the precise 
 point prescribed by him. Having been encouraged 
 by his example to break some of their fetters, they 
 were so impatient to shake off what still remained, 1 
 that, in the following reign, with the applause of the 
 greater part of the nation, a total separation was made 
 from the church of Rome in articles of doctrine, as 
 well as in matters of discipline and jurisdiction. 
 
 A short delay might have saved the see of Rome 
 from all the unhappy consequences of Clement's rash- 
 ness. Soon after his sentence against Henry, he fell 
 into a languishing distemper, which gradually wasting 
 his constitution, put an end to his pontificate, the 
 most unfortunate, both during its continuance, and 
 by its effects, that the church had known for many 
 ages. The very day on which the cardinals entered 
 the conclave, they raised to the papal throne Alex- 
 ander Farnese, dean of the sacred college, and the 
 oldest member of that body, who assumed the name 
 
 1 Herbert. Burn. Hist, of Reform.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 of Paul III. The account of his promotion was re- BOOK 
 
 ceived with extraordinary acclamations of joy by the L_ 
 
 people of Rome, highly pleased, after an interval of 1534 ' 
 more than a hundred years, to see the crown of 
 St. Peter placed on the head of a Roman citizen. 
 Persons more capable of judging, formed a favourable 
 presage of his administration, from the experience 
 which he had acquired under four pontificates, as 
 well as the character of prudence and moderation 
 which he had uniformly maintained in a station of 
 great eminence, and during an active period, that re- 
 quired both talents and address." 1 
 
 Europe, it is probable, owed the continuance of its 
 peace to the death of Clement ; for, although no 
 traces remain in history of any league concluded be- 
 tween him and Francis, it is scarcely to be doubted 
 but that he would have seconded the operations of the 
 French anns in Italy, that he might have gratified his 
 ambition by seeing one of his family possessed of the 
 supreme power in Florence, and another in Milan. 
 But upon the election of Paul III., who had hitherto 
 adhered uniformly to the imperial interest, Francis 
 found it necessary to suspend his operations for some 
 time, and to put off* the commencement of hostilities 
 against the emperor, on which, before the death of 
 Clement, he had been fully determined. 
 
 While Francis waited for an opportunity to renew 
 a war which had hitherto proved so fatal to himself 2, 
 and his subjects, a transaction of a very singular na- in Ger - 
 ture was carried on in Germany. Among many be- 
 neficial and salutary effects of which the reformation 
 was the immediate cause, it was attended, as must be 
 the case in all actions and events wherein men are 
 concerned, with some consequences of an opposite 
 nature. When the human mind is roused by grand 
 
 m Guic. lib. . 556. F. Paul, 64. 
 Ch. VOL. II. T
 
 274 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK objects, and agitated by strong passions, its operations 
 v ' acquire such force, that they are apt to become irre- 
 1534 - gular and extravagant. Upon any great revolution 
 in religion, such irregularities abound most, at that 
 particular period, when men, having thrown off the 
 authority of their ancient principles, do not yet fully 
 comprehend the nature, or feel the obligation, of those 
 new tenets which they have embraced. The mind, 
 in that situation, pushing forward with the boldness 
 which prompted it to reject established opinions, and 
 not guided by a clear knowledge of the system sub- 
 stituted in their place, disdains all restraint, and runs 
 into wild notions, which often lead to scandalous or 
 immoral conduct. Thus, in the first ages of the 
 Christian church, many of the new converts, having 
 renounced their ancient systems of religious faith, and 
 being but imperfectly acquainted with the doctrines 
 and precepts of Christianity, broached the most ex- 
 travagant opinions, equally subversive of piety and 
 virtue ; all which errors disappeared or were exploded 
 when the knowledge of religion increased, and came 
 to be more generally diffused. In like manner, soon 
 after Luther's appearance, the rashness or ignorance 
 of some of his disciples led them to publish tenets no 
 less absurd than pernicious, which being proposed to 
 men extremely illiterate, but fond of novelty, and at 
 a time when their minds were occupied chiefly with 
 religious speculations, gained too easy credit and 
 authority among them. To these causes must be 
 imputed the extravagances of Muncer, in the year one 
 thousand five hundred and twenty-five, as well as the 
 rapid progress which his opinions made among the 
 peasants ; but though the insurrection excited by that 
 fanatic was soon suppressed, several of his followers 
 lurked in different places, and endeavoured privately 
 to propagate his opinions.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 275 
 
 In those provinces of Upper Germany, which had 
 already been so cruelly wasted by their enthusiastic 
 rage, the magistrates watched their motions with 
 such severe attention, that many of them found it tenet? oT 
 necessary to retire into other countries, some were thatsect * 
 punished, others driven into exile, and their errors 
 were entirely rooted out. But in the Netherlands 
 and Westphalia, where the pernicious tendency of 
 their opinions was more unknown, and guarded 
 against with less care, they got admittance into several 
 towns, and spread the infection of their principles. 
 The most remarkable of their religious tenets related 
 to the sacrament of baptism, which, as they con- 
 tended, ought to be administered only to persons 
 grown up to years of understanding, and should be 
 performed not by sprinkling them with water, but by 
 dipping them in it : for this reason, they condemned 
 the baptism of infants, and rebaptising all whom they 
 admitted into their society, the sect came to be dis- 
 tinguished by the name of anabaptists. To this 
 peculiar notion concerning baptism, which has the 
 appearance of being founded on the practice of the 
 church in the apostolic age, and contains nothing in- 
 consistent with the peace and order of human society, 
 they added other principles of a most enthusiastic as 
 well as dangerous nature. They maintained that, 
 among Christians who had the precepts of the gospel 
 to direct, and the spirit of God to guide them, the 
 office of magistracy was not only unnecessary, but an 
 unlawful encroachment on their spiritual liberty; that 
 the distinctions occasioned by birth, or rank, or 
 wealth, being contrary to the spirit of the gospel, 
 which considers all men as equal, should be entirely 
 abolished ; that all Christians, throwing their posses- 
 sions into one common stock, should live together in 
 that state of equality which becomes members of the 
 same family ; that as neither the laws of nature, nor 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the precepts of the New Testament, had imposed 
 any restraints upon men with regard to the number 
 
 1534< of wives which they might marry, they should use 
 that liberty which God himself had granted to the 
 patriarchs. 
 Settle in $uch opinions, propagated and maintained with 
 
 Munster. , . , 
 
 enthusiastic zeal and boldness, were not long without 
 producing the violent effects natural to them. Two 
 anabaptist prophets, John Matthias, a baker of 
 Haerlem, and John Boccold, or Beiikels, a journey- 
 man tailor of Leyden, possessed with the rage of 
 making proselytes, fixed their residence at Munster, 
 an imperial city in Westphalia, of the first rank, 
 under the sovereignty of its bishop, but governed by 
 its own senate and consuls. As neither of these 
 fanatics wanted the talents requisite in desperate 
 enterprises, great resolution, the appearance of 
 sanctity, bold pretensions to inspiration, and a con- 
 fident and plausible manner of discoursing, they soon 
 gained many converts. Among these were Rothman, 
 who had first preached the protestant doctrine in 
 Munster, and Cnipperdoling, a citizen of good birth 
 and considerable eminence. Emboldened by the 
 countenance of such disciples, they openly taught 
 their opinions ; and not satisfied with that liberty, 
 they made several attempts, though without success, 
 to become masters of the town, in order to get their 
 mas'terTof tenets established by public authority. At last, 
 that city, having secretly called in their associates from the 
 neighbouring country, they suddenly took possession 
 of the arsenal and senate-house in the night-time, 
 and running through the streets with drawn swords, 
 and horrible howlings, cried out alternately, "Repent, 
 and be baptised;" and " Depart, ye ungodly." The 
 February, senators, the canons, the nobility, together with the 
 more sober citizens, whether papists or protestants, 
 terrified at their threats and outcries, fled in confu-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V, 277 
 
 sion, and left the city under the dominion of a frantic BOOK 
 multitude, consisting chiefly of strangers. Nothing ' 
 now remaining to overawe or control them, they set 1534- 
 about modelling the government according to their 
 own wild ideas ; and though at first they shewed so Esubiiih 
 
 > . . J , new form 
 
 much reverence for the ancient constitution, as to 
 elect senators of their own sect, and to appoint Cnip- 
 perdoling and another proselyte consuls, this was 
 nothing more than form ; for all their proceedings 
 were directed by Matthias, who, in the style, and 
 with the authority of a prophet, uttered his com- 
 mands, which it was instant death to disobey. Having 
 begun with encouraging the multitude to pillage the 
 churches, and deface their ornaments ; he enjoined 
 them to destroy all books except the Bible, as useless 
 or impious ; he ordered the estates of such as fled 
 to be confiscated, and sold to the inhabitants of the 
 adjacent country ; he commanded every man to bring 
 forth his gold, silver, and other precious effects, and 
 to lay them at his feet ; the wealth amassed by these 
 means, he deposited in a public treasury, and named 
 deacons to dispense it for the common use of all. 
 The members of his commonwealth being thus 
 brought to a perfect equality, he commanded all of 
 them to eat at tables prepared in public, and even 
 prescribed the dishes which were to be served up 
 each day. Having finished his plan of reformation, 
 his next care was to provide for the defence of the 
 city ; and he took measures for that purpose with a 
 prudence which savoured nothing of fanaticism. He 
 collected large magazines of every kind ; he repaired 
 and extended the fortifications, obliging every person 
 without distinction to work in his turn ; he formed 
 such as were capable of bearing arms into regular 
 bodies, and endeavoured to add the stability of dis- 
 cipline to the impetuosity of enthusiasm. He sent 
 emissaries to the anabaptists in the Low Countries, 
 
 T 3
 
 278 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK inviting them to assemble at Munster, which he 
 
 v ' dignified with the name of Mount Sion, that from 
 
 1534 - thence they might set out to reduce all the nations 
 
 of the earth under their dominion. He himself was 
 
 unwearied in attending to every thing necessary for 
 
 the security or increase of the sect ; animating his 
 
 disciples by his own example to decline no labour, 
 
 as well as to submit to every hardship ; and their 
 
 enthusiastic passions being kept from subsiding by a 
 
 perpetual succession of exhortations, revelations, and 
 
 prophecies, they seemed ready to undertake or to 
 
 suffer any thing in maintenance of their opinions. 
 
 The Bishop While they were thus employed, the Bishop of 
 
 takes arms Munster, having assembled a considerable army, ad- 
 
 vanced to besiege the town. On his approach, 
 Matthias sallied out at the head of some chosen troops, 
 attacked one quarter of his camp, forced it, arid, after 
 great slaughter, returned to the city loaded with glory 
 and spoil. Intoxicated with this success, he appeared 
 next day brandishing a spear, and declared, that, in 
 imitation of Gideon, he would go forth with a hand- 
 May. ful of men, and smite the host of the ungodly. Thirty 
 persons, whom he named, followed him without 
 hesitation in this wild enterprise, and, rushing on 
 the enemy with a frantic courage, were cut off to a 
 man. The death of their prophet occasioned at first 
 John of great consternation among his disciples ; but Boccold, 
 acquires by the same gifts and pretensions which had gained 
 great au- Matthias credit, soon revived their spirits and hopes 
 among the to such a degree, that he succeeded the deceased 
 
 anabap- . " 
 
 tuts. prophet in the same absolute direction of all their 
 affairs. As he did not possess that enterprising 
 courage which distinguished his predecessor, he satis- 
 fied himself with carrying on a defensive war ; and, 
 without attempting to annoy the enemy by sallies, 
 he waited for the succours he expected from the 
 Low Countries, the arrival of which was often fore-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 79 
 
 told and promised by their prophets. But though BOOK 
 less daring in action than Matthias, he was a wilder 
 enthusiast, and of more unbounded ambition. Soon 1S3<I - 
 after the death of his predecessor, having, by obscure 
 visions and prophecies, prepared the multitude for 
 some extraordinary event, he stripped himself naked, 
 and, marching through the streets, proclaimed with 
 a loud voice, " That the kingdom of Sion was at 
 hand ; that whatever was highest on earth should be 
 brought low, and whatever was lowest should be 
 exalted." In order to fulfil this, he commanded the 
 churches, as the most lofty buildings in the city, to 
 be levelled with the ground ; he degraded the senators 
 chosen by Matthias, and depriving Cnipperdoling 
 of the consulship, the highest office in the common- 
 wealth, appointed him to execute the lowest and most 
 infamous, that of common hangman, to which strange 
 transition the other agreed, not only without mur- 
 muring, but with the utmost joy ; and such was the 
 despotic rigour of Boccold's administration, that he 
 was called almost every day to perform some duty or 
 other of his wretched function. In place of the de- 
 posed senators, he named twelve judges, according 
 to the number of tribes in Israel, to preside in all 
 affairs ; retaining to himself the same authority which 
 Moses anciently possessed as legislator of that people. 
 
 Not satisfied, however, with power or titles which Elected 
 were not supreme, a prophet, whom he had gained ng ' 
 and tutored, having called the multitude together, 
 declared it to be the will of God, that John Boccold 
 should be King of Sion, and sit on the throne of 
 David. John, kneeling down, accepted of the hea- June 94, 
 venly call, which he solemnly protested had been 
 revealed likewise to himself, and was immediately 
 acknowledged as monarch by the deluded multitude. 
 From that moment he assumed all the state and 
 pomp of royalty. He wore a crown of gold, and was 
 
 T 4
 
 280 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK clad in the richest and most sumptuous garments. 
 
 v - A Bible was carried on his one hand, a naked sword 
 
 1534 - on the other. A great body of guards accompanied 
 
 him when he appeared in public. He coined money 
 
 stamped with his own image, and appointed the great 
 
 officers of his household and kingdom, among whom 
 
 Cnipperdoling was nominated governor of the city, 
 
 as a reward for his former submission. 
 
 His licen. Having now attained the height of power, Boccold 
 andcon. ncts began to discover passions, which he had hitherto 
 duct - restrained, or indulged only in secret. As the ex- 
 cesses of enthusiasm have been observed in every age 
 to lead to sensual gratifications, the same constitution 
 that is susceptible of the former being remarkably 
 prone to the latter, he instructed the prophets and 
 teachers to harangue the people for several days con- 
 cerning the lawfulness, and even necessity, of taking 
 more wives than one, which they asserted to be one 
 of the privileges granted by God to the saints. When 
 their ears were once accustomed to this licentious 
 doctrine, and their passions inflamed with the pros- 
 pect of such unbounded indulgence, he himself set 
 them an example of using what he called their Christian 
 liberty, by marrying at once three wives, among 
 which the widow of Matthias, a woman of singular 
 beauty, was one. As he was allured by beauty, or 
 the love of variety, he gradually added to the number 
 of his wives, until they amounted to fourteen, though 
 the widow of Matthias was the only one dignified 
 with the title of queen, or who shared with him the 
 splendour and ornaments of royalty. After the ex- 
 ample of their prophet, the multitude gave themselves 
 up to the most licentious and uncontrolled gratifi- 
 cation of their desires. No man remained satisfied 
 with a single wife. Not to use their Christian liberty 
 was deemed a crime. Persons were appointed to 
 search the houses for young women grown up to
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 281 
 
 maturity, whom they instantly compelled to marry. BOOK 
 Together with polygamy, freedom of divorce, its V ' 
 inseparable attendant, was introduced, and became a 1534< 
 new source of corruption. Every excess was com- 
 mitted, of which the passions of men are capable, 
 when restrained neither by the authority of laws nor 
 the sense of decency n ; and by a monstrous and 
 almost incredible conjunction, voluptuousness was 
 engrafted on religion, and dissolute riot accompanied 
 the austerities of fanatical devotion. 
 
 Meanwhile, the German princes were highly of- Aconfede- 
 fended at the insult offered to their dignity by 
 Boccold's presumptuous usurpation of royal honours ; 
 and the profligate manners of his followers, which 
 were a reproach to the Christian name, filled men of 
 all professions with horror. Luther, who had testified 
 against this fanatical spirit on its first appearance, 
 now deeply lamented its progress, and having exposed 
 the delusion with great strength of argument, as 
 well as acrimony of style, called loudly on all the 
 states of Germany to put a stop to a phrensy no less 
 pernicious to society, than fatal to religion. The 
 emperor, occupied with other cares and projects, had 
 not leisure to attend to such a distant object ; but 
 the princes of the empire, assembled by the King of 
 the Romans, voted a supply of men and money to 
 the Bishop of Munster, who, being unable to keep a 
 sufficient army on foot, had converted the siege of 
 the town into a blockade. The forces raised in con- 1535. 
 
 n Prophetse et concionatorum autoritate juxta et exetnplo, tota urbe ad 
 rapiendas pulcherrimas quasque fceminas discursum est. Nee intra paucos 
 dies, in tanta hominum turba, fere ulla repertaest supra annum decimum quar- 
 tum, qua stuprum passa non fuerit. Lamb. Hortens. p. 303. Vulgo virii 
 quinas esse uxores, pluribus senas, nonnullis septenas et octonas. Puellas 
 supra duodecimum aeiatis annum statim amare. Id. 305. Nemo una conten- 
 tus fuit, neque cuiquam extra effoetas et viris immaturas continent! esse licuit. 
 Id. 307. Tacebo hie, ut sit suus honor auribus, quanta barbaria et militia usi 
 sunt in puellis vitiandis nondum aptis matrimonio, id quod mihi neque ex 
 vano, neque ex vulgi sermonibus haustum est, sod ex ca vetulA, cui cure we 
 vitiatarum dcmandata fnit, auditum. Job. Corvinus, 316.
 
 282 . THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK sequence of this resolution, were put under the com- 
 V ' mand of an officer of experience, who approaching 
 
 1535. t h e town towards the end of spring, in the year one 
 
 Besiege the ^^nd fi ve hundred and thirty-five, pressed it more 
 
 closely than formerly ; but found the fortifications so 
 
 strong, and so diligently guarded, that he durst not 
 
 attempt an assault* It was now above fifteen months 
 
 since the anabaptists had established their dominion 
 
 in Munster ; they had during that time undergone 
 
 prodigious fatigue in working on the fortifications, 
 
 Ma y- and performing military duty. Notwithstanding the 
 
 Distress / i i i n -! 
 
 and fanati- prudent attention of their king to provide for their 
 subsistence, and his frugal as well as regular economy 
 in their public meals, they began to feel the approach 
 of famine. Several small bodies of their brethren, 
 who were advancing to their assistance from the Low 
 Countries, had been intercepted and cut to pieces ; 
 and, while all Germany was ready to combine against 
 them, they had no prospect of succour. But such was 
 the ascendant which Boccold had acquired over the 
 multitude, and so powerful the fascination of enthu- 
 siasm, that their hopes were as sanguine as ever, and 
 they hearkened with implicit credulity to the visions 
 and predictions of their prophets, who assured them, 
 that the Almighty would speedily interpose, in order 
 to deliver the city. The faith, however, of some 
 few, shaken by the violence and length of their suf- 
 ferings, began to fail ; but being suspected of an 
 inclination to surrender to the enemy, they were 
 punished with immediate death, as guilty of impiety 
 in distrusting the power of God. One of the king's 
 wives, having uttered certain words which implied 
 some doubt concerning his divine mission, he instantly 
 called the whole number together, and command- 
 ing the blasphemer, as he called her, to kneel down, 
 cut off her head with his own hands ; and so far were 
 the rest froin expressing any horror at this cruel
 
 'EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 deed, that they joined him in dancing with a frantic BOOK 
 joy around the bleeding body of their companion. 
 
 By this time, the besieged endured the utmost 1535 - 
 rigour of famine ; but they chose rather to suffer 2enf y 
 hardships, the recital of which is shocking to humanity, June l ' 
 than to listen to the terms of capitulation offered 
 them by the bishop. At last a deserter, whom they 
 had taken into their service, being either less in- 
 toxicated with the fumes of enthusiasm, or unable any 
 longer to bear such distress, made his escape to the 
 enemy. He informed their general of a weak part 
 in the fortifications which he had observed, and as- 
 suring him that the besieged, exhausted with hunger 
 and fatigue, kept watch there with little care, he 
 offered to lead a party thither in the night. The 
 proposal was accepted, and a chosen body of troops 
 appointed for the service ; who, scaling the walls 
 unperceived, seized one of the gates, and admitted 
 the rest of the army. The anabaptists, though sur- 
 prised, defended themselves in the market-place 
 with valour heightened by despair ; but being over- 
 powered by numbers, and surrounded on every 
 hand, most of them were slain, and the remainder 
 taken prisoners. Among the last were the king 
 and Cnipperdoling. The king, loaded with chains, 
 
 was carried from city to city as a spectacle to king Tnd 
 gratify the curiosity of the people, and was exposed ^ 8 a * 80CI " 
 to all their insults. His spirit, however, was not 
 broken or humbled by this sad reverse of his con- 
 dition ; and he adhered with unshaken firmness to 
 the distinguishing tenets of his sect. After this, he 
 was brought back to Munster, the scene of his royalty 
 and crimes, and put to death with the most exquisite 
 as well as lingering tortures, all which he bore with 
 astonishing fortitude. This extraordinary man, who 
 had been able to acquire such amazing dominion over 
 the minds of his followers, and to excite commotions
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK so dangerous to society, was only twenty-six years of 
 v< age." 
 
 1535. Together with its monarch, the kingdom of 
 SStSt tne anabaptists came to an end. Their principles 
 since that having taken deep root in the Low Countries, the 
 party still subsists there, under the name of Menno- 
 nites ; but, by a very singular revolution, this sect, 
 so mutinous and sanguinary at its first origin, hath 
 become altogether innocent and pacific. Holding it 
 unlawful to wage war, or to accept of civil offices, 
 they devote themselves entirely to the duties of pri- 
 vate citizens, and by their industry and charity 
 endeavour to make reparation to human society for 
 the violence committed by their founders/ A small 
 number of this sect which is settled in England, 
 retain its peculiar tenets concerning baptism, but 
 without any dangerous mixture of enthusiasm. 
 Proceed- The mutiny of the anabaptists, though it drew 
 authority of general attention, did not so entirely engross the 
 Ponces f Germany, as not to allow leisure for other 
 transactions. The alliance between the French king 
 and the confederates at Smalkalde, began about this 
 time to produce great effects. Ulric, Duke of Wur- 
 temberg, having been expelled his dominions in the 
 year one thousand five hundred and nineteen, on 
 account of his violent and oppressive administration, 
 the house of Austria had got possession of his dutchy. 
 That prince having now by a long exile atoned for 
 the errors in his conduct, which were the effect 
 rather of inexperience than of a tyrannical disposition, 
 was become the object of general compassion. The 
 Landgrave of Hesse, in particular, his near relation, 
 
 Sleid. 190, &c; Tumultuum Anabaptistarum liber unus. Ant. Larn- 
 berto Hortensio Auctore, ap. Scardium, vol. ii. p. 298, &c. De Miserabili 
 Monasteriensium Obsidione, &c. libellus Antonii Corvini, ap. Scar. 313. An- 
 nales Anabaptistici a Job. Henrico Ottio, 4to. Basileae, 1672. Cor. Heers- 
 bachius, Hist. Anab. edit. 1637, p. 140. 
 
 p Bayle, Diction, art. Anahiplistet.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 285 
 
 warmly espoused his interest, and used many efforts BOOK 
 to recover for him his ancient inheritance. But the ' 
 King of the Romans obstinately refused to relinquish I535< 
 a valuable acquisition which his family had made with 
 so much ease. The landgrave, unable to compel 
 him, applied to the King of France, his new ally. 
 Francis, eager to embrace any opportunity of dis- 
 tressing the house of Austria, and desirous of wresting 
 from it a territory, which gave it footing and influence 
 in a part of Germany at a distance from its other 
 dominions, encouraged the landgrave to take arms, 
 and secretly supplied him with a large sum of money. 
 This he employed to raise troops ; and, marching with 
 great expedition towards Wurtemberg, attacked, de- 
 feated, and dispersed a considerable body of Austrians, 
 intrusted with the defence of the country. All the 
 duke's subjects hastened, with emulation, to receive 
 their native prince, and re-invested him with that 
 authority which is still enjoyed by his descendants. 
 At the same time the exercise of the protestant 
 religion was established in his dominions.* 1 
 
 Ferdinand, how sensible soever of this unexpected TI* King 
 
 . . . . r 11 A U ofthe Ro - 
 
 blow, not daring to attack a prince whom all the ina ns 
 protestant powers in Germany were ready to support, 
 judged it expedient to conclude a treaty with him, 
 by which, in the most ample form, he recognized his 
 title to the dutchy. The success of the landgrave's 
 operations in behalf of the Duke of Wurtemberg, 
 having convinced Ferdinand that a rupture with a 
 league so formidable as that of Smalkalde, was to be 
 avoided with the utmost care, he entered likewise 
 into a negotiation with the Elector of Saxony, the 
 head of that union, and by some concessions in favour 
 of the protestant religion, and others of advantage to 
 the elector himself, he prevailed on him, together 
 with his confederates, to acknowledge his title as King 
 
 Sleid. 172. Mem. dc Bellay, 159, Kc.
 
 286 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK of the Romans. At the same time, in order to pre- 
 vent any such precipitate or irregular election in times 
 
 1535. to come, it was agreed that no person should here- 
 after be promoted to that dignity without the unani- 
 mous consent of the electors j and the emperor soon 
 after confirmed this stipulation/ 
 
 Paul in. These acts of indulgence towards the protestants, 
 neraicoun- and the close union into which the King of the 
 at 1 Mantua. Romans seemed to be entering with the princes of 
 that party, gave great offence at Rome. Paul III., 
 though he had departed from a resolution of his 
 predecessor, never to consent to the calling of a 
 general council, and had promised in the first con- 
 sistory held after his election, that he would convoke 
 that assembly so much desired by all Christendom, 
 was no less enraged than Clement at the innovations 
 in Germany, and no less averse to any scheme for 
 reforming either the doctrines of the church, or the 
 abuses in the court of Rome. But having been a 
 witness of the universal censure which Clement had 
 incurred by his obstinacy with regard to these points, 
 he hoped to avoid the same reproach by the seeming 
 alacrity with which he proposed a council ; flattering 
 himself, however, that such difficulties would arise 
 concerning the time and place of meeting, the per- 
 sons who had a right to be present, and the order of 
 their proceedings, as would effectually defeat the 
 intention of those who demanded that assembly, 
 without exposing himself to any imputation for re- 
 fusing to call it. With this view, he dispatched nun- 
 cios to the several courts, in order to make known 
 his intention, and that he had fixed on Mantua as a 
 proper place in which to hold the council. Such diffi- 
 culties as the pope had foreseen, immediately pre- 
 sented themselves in great number. The French 
 king did not approve of the place which Paul had 
 
 r Sleid. 173. Corps Diplom. torn. iv. p. 2. 119.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 287 
 
 chosen, as the papal and imperial influence would BOOK 
 necessarily be too great in a town situated in that v> 
 part of Italy. The King of England not only con- 1535 ' 
 curred with Francis in urging that objection, but 
 refused, besides, to acknowledge any council called 
 in the name and by the authority of the pope. The Dec. 12. 
 German protestants having met together at Smalkalde, 
 insisted on their original demand of a council to be 
 held in Germany, and pleading the emperor's promise, 
 as well as the agreement at Ratisbon to that effect, 
 declared that they would not consider an assembly 
 held at Mantua as a legal or free representative of 
 the church. By this diversity of sentiments and 
 views, such a field for intrigue and negotiation 
 opened, as made it easy for the pope to assume the 
 merit of being eager to assemble a council, while at 
 the same time he could put off its meeting at pleasure. 
 The protestants, on the other hand, suspecting his 
 designs, and sensible of the importance which they 
 derived from their union, renewed for ten years the 
 league of Smalkalde, which now became stronger and 
 more formidable by the accession of several new 
 members. 8 
 
 During these transactions in Germany, the emperor The empe- 
 undertook his famous enterprise against the piratical JjiUon tT" 
 states in Africa. That part of the African continent Africa, and 
 
 i r- i TI/T T 1-1 of that 
 
 lying along the coast or the Mediterranean sea, which country, 
 anciently formed the kingdoms of Mauritania and 
 Massylia, together with the republic of Carthage, 
 
 * This league was concluded December, one thousand five hundred and 
 thirty-five, but not extended or signed in form till September in the following 
 year. The princes who acceded to it were, John, Elector of Saxony, Ernest, 
 Duke of Brunswick, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, Ulric, Duke of Wurtem- 
 berg, Barnim and Philip, Dukes of Pomorania, John, George, and Joachim, 
 Princes of Anhalt, Gebhard and Albert, Counts of Mansfield, William, Count 
 of Nassau. The cities, Strasburg, Nuremberg, Constance, Ulm, Magdeburg, 
 Bremen, Reutlingen, Hailbron, Memmengen, Lindau, Campcn, Isna, Bi- 
 brac, Windsheim, Augsbuig, Frankfort, Esling, Brunswick, Goslar, Hano- 
 ver, Gottingen, Eimbeck, Hamburg, Minden.
 
 288 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and which is now known by the general name of 
 v ' Barbary, had undergone many revolutions. Subdued 
 1535< by the Romans, it became a province of their empire. 
 When it was conquered afterwards by the Vandals, 
 they erected a kingdom there. That being over- 
 turned by Belisarius, the country became subject to 
 the Greek emperors, and continued to be so until it 
 was over-run, towards the end of the seventh century, 
 by the rapid and irresistible arms of the Arabians. It 
 remained for some time a part of that vast empire 
 which the caliphs governed with absolute authority. 
 Its immense distance, however, from the seat of 
 government, encouraged the descendants of those 
 leaders who had subdued the country, or the chiefs 
 of the Moors, its ancient inhabitants, to throw off 
 the yoke, and to assert their independence. The 
 caliphs, who derived their authority from a spirit of 
 enthusiasm, more fitted for making conquests than 
 for preserving them, were obliged to connive at acts 
 of rebellion which they could not prevent ; and 
 Barbary was divided into several kingdoms, of which 
 Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis were the most con- 
 siderable. The inhabitants of these kingdoms were 
 a mixed race, Arabs, Negroes from the southern 
 provinces, and Moors, either natives of Africa, or 
 who had been expelled out of Spain ; all zealous pro- 
 fessors of the Mahometan religion, and inflamed 
 against Christianity with a bigoted hatred propor- 
 tional to their ignorance and barbarous manners. 
 Rise of the Among these people, no less daring, inconstant, 
 states^* and treacherous, than the ancient inhabitants of the 
 same country described by the Roman historians, 
 frequent seditions broke out, and many changes in 
 government took place. These, as they affected only 
 the internal state of a country extremely barbarous, 
 are but little known, and deserve to be so. But about 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century a sudden re-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 289 
 
 volution happened, which, by rendering the states of BOOK 
 Barbary formidable to the Europeans, hath made V ' 
 their history worthy of more attention. This revo- 1535 ' 
 lution was brought about by persons born in a rank 
 of life which entitled them to act no such illustrious 
 part. Horuc and Hayradin, the sons of a potter in and of the 
 the isle of Lesbos, prompted by a restless and enter- 
 prising spirit, forsook their father's trade, ran to sea, 
 and joined a crew of pirates. They soon distin- 
 guished themselves by their valour and activity, and, 
 becoming masters of a small brigantine, carried on 
 their infamous trade with such conduct and success, 
 that they assembled a fleet of twelve galleys, besides 
 many vessels of smaller force. Of this fleet Horuc, 
 the elder brother, called Barbarossa from the red 
 colour of his beard, was admiral, and Hayradin 
 second in command, but with almost equal authority. 
 They called themselves the friends of the sea, and 
 the enemies of all who sail upon it ; and their names 
 soon became terrible from the Straits of the Dar- 
 danelles to those of Gibraltar. Together with their 
 fame and power, their ambitious views extended, and 
 while acting as corsairs, they adopted the ideas and 
 acquired the talents of conquerors. They often 
 carried the prizes which they took on the coasts of 
 Spain and Italy into the ports of Barbary, and, 
 enriching the inhabitants by the sale of their booty, 
 and the thoughtless prodigality of their crews, were 
 welcome guests in every place at which they touched. 
 The convenient situation of these harbours, lying so 
 near the greatest commercial states at that time in 
 Christendom, made the brothers wish for an esta- 
 blishment in that country. An opportunity of ac- 
 complishing this quickly presented itself, which they 
 did not suffer to pass unimproved. Eutemi, King of 
 Algiers, having attempted several times, without 
 success, to take a fort which the Spanish governors of 
 Ch. VOL. II. u
 
 290 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Oran had built not far from his capital, was so ill 
 
 _ v ' , advised as to apply for aid to Barbarossa, whose valour 
 
 the Africans considered as irresistible. The active 
 
 1516. corsair gladly accepted of the invitation, and, leaving 
 
 his brother Hayradin with the fleet, marched at the 
 
 head of five thousand men to Algiers, where he was 
 
 received as their deliverer. Such a force gave him 
 
 the command of the town ; and as he perceived that 
 
 the Moors neither suspected him of any bad inten- 
 
 tion, nor were capable with their light-armed troops 
 
 of opposing his disciplined veterans, he secretly mur- 
 
 Horuc.the dered the monarch whom he had come to assist, and 
 
 ther,be- " proclaimed himself King of Algiers in his stead. 
 
 au th r ity which he had thus boldly usurped, he 
 giers. endeavoured to establish by arts suited to the genius 
 of the people whom he had to govern ; by liberality 
 without bounds to those who favoured his promotion, 
 and by cruelty no less unbounded towards all whom 
 he had any reason to distrust. Not satisfied with 
 the throne which he had acquired, he attacked the 
 neighbouring King of Tremecen, and having van- 
 quished him in battle, added his dominions to those 
 of Algiers. At the same time, he continued to infest 
 the coast of Spain and Italy with fleets which re- 
 sembled the armaments of a great monarch, rather 
 1518. than the light squadrons of a corsair. Their fre- 
 quent and cruel devastations obliged Charles, about 
 the beginning of his reign, to furnish the Marquis de 
 Comares, governor of Oran, with troops sufficient to 
 attack him. That officer, assisted by the dethroned 
 King of Tremecen, executed the commission with 
 such spirit, that Barbarossa's troops being beat in 
 several encounters, he himself was shut up in 
 Tremecen. After defending it to the last extremity, 
 he was overtaken in attempting to make his escape, 
 and slain while he fought with an obstinate valour, 
 worthy of his former fame and exploits.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 His brother Hayradin, known likewise by the BOOK 
 name of Barbarossa, assumed the sceptre of Algiers 
 with the same ambition and abilities, but with better 1535 - 
 fortune. His reign being undisturbed by the anns 
 of the Spaniards, which had full occupation in the 
 wars among the European powers, he regulated with brother - 
 admirable prudence the interior police of his kingdom, 
 carried on his naval operations with great vigour, and 
 extended his conquests on the continent of Africa. 
 But perceiving that the Moors and Arabs submitted 
 to his government with the utmost reluctance, and 
 being afraid that his continual depredations would, 
 one day, draw upon him the arms of the Christians, 
 he put his dominions under the protection of the PutsW 
 grand seignior, and received from him a body of under the 
 Turkish soldiers sufficient for his security against his onhHulu 
 domestic as well as his foreign enemies. At last, Un< 
 the fame of his exploits daily increasing, Solyman 
 offered him the command of the Turkish fleet, as the 
 only person whose valour and skill in naval affairs 
 entitled him to command against Andrew Doria, the 
 greatest sea-officer of that age. Proud of this dis- 
 tinction, Barbarossa repaired to Constantinople, and 
 with a wonderful versatility of mind, mingling the 
 arts of a courtier with the boldness of a corsair, 
 gained the entire confidence both of the sultan and 
 his vizier. To them he communicated a scheme 
 which he had formed of making himself master of 
 Tunis, the most flourishing kingdom at that time 
 on the coast of Africa ; and this being approved of 
 by them, he obtained whatever he demanded for 
 carrying it into execution. 
 
 His hopes of success in this undertaking were Hi* scheme 
 founded on the intestine divisions in the kingdom of H 
 Tunis. Mahmed, the last king of that country, Tunb - 
 having thirty-four sons by different wives, appointed 
 Muley-Hascen, one of the youngest among them, 
 
 u 2
 
 292 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK to be his successor. That weak prince, who owed this 
 preference, not to his own merit, but to the ascend- 
 
 1535t ant which his mother had acquired over a monarch 
 doting with age, first poisoned Mahmed, his father, 
 in order to prevent him from altering his destination 
 with respect to the succession ; and then, with the 
 barbarous policy which prevails wherever polygamy is 
 permitted, and the right of succession is not precisely 
 fixed, he put to death all his brothers whom he could 
 get into his power. Alraschid, one of the eldest, 
 was so fortunate as to escape his rage ; and, finding a 
 retreat among the wandering Arabs, made several 
 attempts, by the assistance of some of their chiefs, to 
 recover the throne, which of right belonged to him. 
 But these proving unsuccessful, and the Arabs, from 
 their natural levity, being ready to deliver him up to 
 his merciless brother, he fled to Algiers, the only 
 place of refuge remaining, and implored the protec- 
 tion of Barbarossa ; who, discerning at once all the 
 advantages which might be gained by supporting his 
 title, received him with every possible demonstration 
 of friendship and respect. Being ready, at that time, 
 to set sail for Constantinople, he easily persuaded 
 Alraschid, whose eagerness to obtain a crown dis- 
 posed him to believe or undertake any thing, to 
 accompany him thither, promising him effectual as- 
 sistance from Solyman, whom he represented to be 
 the most generous, as well as most powerful monarch 
 in the world. But no sooner were they arrived at 
 Constantinople, than the treacherous corsair, regard- 
 less of all his promises to him, opened to the sultan 
 a plan for conquering Tunis, and annexing it to the 
 Turkish empire, by making use of the name of this 
 exiled prince, and co-operating with the party in the 
 kingdom which was ready to declare in his favour. 
 Solyman approved, with too much facility, of this 
 perfidious proposal, extremely suitable to the cha-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 293 
 
 racter of its author, but altogether unworthy of a BOOK 
 great prince. A powerful fleet and numerous army V> 
 were soon assembled ; at the sight of which the ere- 1585 * 
 dulous Alraschid flattered himself that he should soon 
 enter his capital in triumph. 
 
 But just as this unhappy prince was going to ita success, 
 embark, he was arrested by order of the sultan, shut 
 up in the seraglio, and was never heard of more. 
 Barbarossa sailed with a fleet of two hundred and 
 fifty vessels towards Africa. After ravaging the 
 coasts of Italy, and spreading terror through every 
 part of that country, he appeared before Tunis ; and, 
 landing his men, gave out that he came to assert the 
 right of Alraschid, whom he pretended to have left 
 sick aboard the admiral's galley. The fort of Goletta, 
 which commands the bay, soon fell into his hands, 
 partly by his own address, partly by the treachery of 
 its commander ; and the inhabitants of Tunis, weary 
 of Muley-Hascen's government, took arms, and de- 
 clared for Alraschid with such zeal and unanimity, 
 as obliged the former to fly so precipitately, that he 
 left all his treasures behind him. The gates were 
 immediately set open to Barbarossa, as the restorer 
 of their lawful sovereign. But when Alraschid him- 
 self did not appear, and when, instead of his name, 
 that of Solyman alone was heard among the acclama- 
 tions of the Turkish soldiers marching into the town, 
 the people of Tunis began to suspect the corsair's 
 treachery. Their suspicions being soon converted 
 into certainty, they ran to arms with the utmost fury, 
 and surrounded the citadel, into which Barbarossa 
 had led his troops. But having foreseen such a re- 
 volution, he was not unprepared for it ; he imme- 
 diately turned against them the artillery on the 
 ramparts, and by one brisk discharge dispersed the 
 numerous but undirected assailants, and forced them 
 
 U 3
 
 294 
 
 BOOK 
 V. 
 
 1535. 
 Barbaras- 
 sa's formi- 
 dable 
 power. 
 
 The etiled 
 King of 
 Tunis im- 
 plores the 
 emperor's 
 assistance. 
 April 21. 
 1535. 
 
 His prepa- 
 ration for 
 the expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 to acknowledge Solyman as their sovereign, and to 
 submit to himself as his viceroy. 
 
 His first care was to put the kingdom, of which 
 he had thus got possession, in a proper posture of 
 defence. He strengthened the citadel which com- 
 mands the town ; and, fortifying the Goletta in a 
 regular manner, at vast expence, made it the princi- 
 pal station for his fleet, and his great arsenal for 
 military as well as naval stores. Being now possessed 
 of such extensive territories, he carried on his de- 
 predations against the Christian states to a greater 
 extent, and with more destructive violence than ever. 
 Daily complaints of the outrages committed by his 
 cruizers were brought to the emperor by his subjects, 
 both in' Spain and Italy. All Christendom seemed 
 to expect from him, as its greatest and most fortunate 
 prince, that he would put an end to this new and 
 odious species of oppression. At the same time 
 Muley-Hascen, the exiled King of Tunis, finding 
 none of the Mahometan princes in Africa willing or 
 able to assist him in recovering his throne, applied 
 to Charles as the only person who could assert his 
 rights in opposition to such a formidable usurper. 
 The emperor, equally desirous of delivering his do- 
 minions from the dangerous neighbourhood of Bar- 
 barossa ; of appearing as the protector of an unfortu- 
 nate prince ; and of acquiring the glory annexed in 
 that age to every expedition against the Mahometans, 
 readily concluded a treaty with Muley-Hascen, and 
 began to prepare for invading Tunis. Having made 
 trial of his own abilities for war in the late campaign 
 in Hungary, he was now become so fond of the 
 military character, that he determined to command 
 on this occasion in person. The united strength of 
 his dominions was called out upon an enterprise in 
 which the emperor was about to hazard his glory, and 
 which drew the attention of all Europe. A Flemish
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 fleet carried from the ports of the Low Countries a BOOK 
 body of German infantry' ; the galleys of Naples and v ' 
 Sicily took on board the veteran bands of Italians 15S5 - 
 and Spaniards, which had distinguished themselves 
 by so many victories over the French ; the emperor 
 himself embarked at Barcelona with the flower of the 
 Spanish nobility, and was joined by a considerable 
 squadron from Portugal, under the command of the 
 Infant Don Lewis, the empress's brother ; Andrew 
 Doria conducted his own galleys, the best appointed 
 at that time in Europe, and commanded by the most 
 skilful officers ; the pope furnished all the assistance 
 in his power towards such a pious enterprise ; and 
 the order of Malta, the perpetual enemies of the in- 
 fidels, equipped a squadron, which, though small, was 
 formidable by the valour of the knights who served 
 on board it. The port of Cagliari in Sardinia was 
 the general place of rendezvous. Doria was appointed 
 high-admiral of the fleet ; the command of the 
 land-forces under the emperor was given to the 
 Marquis del Guasto. 
 
 On the sixteenth of July, the fleet, consisting of Lands in 
 near five hundred vessels, having on board above AfnC8> 
 thirty thousand regular troops, set sail from Cagliari, 
 and, after a prosperous navigation, landed within sight 
 of Tunis. Barbarossa having received early intelli- 
 gence of the emperor's immense armament, and sus- 
 pecting its destination, prepared with equal prudence 
 and vigour for the defence of his new conquest. He 
 called in all his corsairs from their different stations ; 
 he drew from Algiers what forces could be spared ; 
 he dispatched messengers to all the African princes, 
 Moors as well as Arabs, and, by representing Muley- 
 Hascen as an infamous apostate, prompted by ambition 
 and revenge, not only to become the vassal of a 
 ( 'hristism prince, but to conspire with him to extirpate 
 
 1 II ir:i-i Anivilrs I?nib;m' 
 
 u 4
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK the Mahometan faith, he inflamed those ignorant 
 v ' - and bigoted chiefs to such a degree, that they took 
 
 1535t arms as in a common cause. Twenty thousand horse, 
 together with a great body of foot, soon assembled at 
 Tunis ; and, by a proper distribution of presents 
 among them from time to time, Barbarossa kept the 
 ardour which had brought them together from sub- 
 siding. But as he was too well acquainted with the 
 enemy whom he had to oppose, to think that these 
 light troops could resist the heavy-armed cavalry and 
 veteran infantry which composed the imperial army, 
 his chief confidence was in the strength of the Goletta, 
 and in his body of Turkish soldiers, who were armed 
 and disciplined after the European fashion. Six 
 thousand of these, under the command of Sinan, a 
 renegado Jew, the bravest and most experienced of 
 all his corsairs, he threw into that fort, which the 
 lays siege emperor immediately invested. As Charles had the 
 command of the sea, his camp was so plentifully sup- 
 plied not only with the necessaries, but with all the 
 luxuries of life, that Muley-Hascen, who had not 
 been accustomed to see war carried on with such order 
 and magnificence, was filled with admiration of the 
 emperor's power. His troops, animated by his pre- 
 sence, and considering it as meritorious to shed their 
 blood in such a pious cause, contended with each 
 other for the posts of honour and danger. Three 
 separate attacks were concerted, and the Germans, 
 Spaniards, and Italians, having one of these committed 
 to each of them, pushed them forward with the eager 
 courage which national emulation inspires. Sinan 
 displayed resolution and skill becoming the confidence 
 which his master had put in him ; the garrison per- 
 formed the hard service on which they were ordered 
 with great fortitude. But though he interrupted the 
 besiegers by frequent sallies, though the Moors and 
 Arabs alarmed the camp with their continual incur-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 297 
 
 sions ; the breaches soon became so considerable to- BOOK 
 wards the land, while the fleet battered those parts V ' 
 of the fortifications which it could approach with no 1535 ' 
 less fury and success, that, an assault being given on 
 all sides at once, the place was taken by storm. Sinan, ukes u b/ 
 with the remains of his garrison, retired, after an ob- 
 stinate resistance, over a shallow part of the bay to- 
 wards the city. By the reduction of the Goletta, 
 the emperor became master of Barbarossa's fleet, con- 
 sisting of eighty-seven galleys and galliots, together 
 with his arsenal, and three hundred cannon, mostly 
 brass, which were planted on the ramparts ; a pro- 
 digious number in that age, and a remarkable proof 
 of the strength of the fort, as well as of the greatness 
 of the corsair's power. The emperor marched into the 
 Goletta through the breach, and turning to Muley- 
 Hascen, who attended him, " Here," says he, " is a 
 gate open to you, by which you shall return to take 
 possession of your dominions." 
 
 Barbarossa, though he felt the full weight of the 
 blow which he had received, did not, however, lose 
 courage, or abandon the defence of Tunis. But as 
 the walls were of great extent, and extremely weak ; 
 as he could not depend on the fidelity of the in- 
 habitants, nor hope that the Moors and Arabs would 
 sustain the hardships of a siege, he boldly determined 
 to advance with his army, which amounted to fifty 
 thousand men", towards the imperial camp, and to 
 decide the fate of his kingdom by the issue of a 
 battle. This resolution he communicated to his 
 principal officers, and representing to them the fatal 
 consequences which might follow, if ten thousand 
 Christian slaves, whom he had shut up in the citadel, 
 should attempt to mutiny during the absence of the 
 army, he proposed, as a necessary precaution for the 
 public security, to massacre them without mercy 
 
 u Epistres des Princes, psr Ruscelli, p. 119, Ac.
 
 BOOK 
 
 v. 
 
 1535. 
 
 defeats 
 Barbaros- 
 sa's army. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 before he began his march. They all approved 
 warmly of his intention to fight ; but inured as they 
 were, in their piratical depredations, to scenes of 
 bloodshed and cruelty, the barbarity of his proposal 
 concerning the slaves filled them with horror ; and 
 Barbarossa, rather from the dread of irritating them, 
 than swayed by motives of humanity, consented to 
 spare the lives of the slaves. 
 
 By this time the emperor had begun to advance 
 towards Tunis; and though his troops suffered in- 
 conceivable hardships in their march, over burning 
 sands, destitute of water, and exposed to the intoler- 
 able heat of the sun, they soon came up with the 
 enemy. The Moors and Arabs, emboldened by their 
 vast superiority in number, immediately rushed on 
 to the attack with loud shouts, but their undisciplined 
 courage could not long stand the shock of regular 
 battalions ; and though Barbarossa, with admirable 
 presence of mind, and by exposing his own person to 
 the greatest dangers, endeavoured to rally them, the 
 rout became so general, that he himself was hurried 
 along with them in their flight back to the city. 
 There he found every thing in the utmost confusion ; 
 some of the inhabitants flying with their families and 
 effects ; others ready to set open their gates to the 
 conqueror ; the Turkish soldiers preparing to retreat ; 
 and the citadel, which in such circumstances might 
 have afforded him some refuge, already in the posses- 
 sion of the Christian captives. These unhappy men, 
 rendered desperate by their situation, had laid hold 
 on the opportunity which Barbarossa dreaded. As 
 soon as his army was at some distance from the town, 
 they gained two of their keepers, by whose assistance, 
 knocking off their fetters, and bursting open their 
 prisons, they overpowered the Turkish garrison, and 
 turned the artillery of the fort against their former 
 masters* Barbarossa, disappointed and enraged, ex-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. ggg 
 
 claiming sometimes against the false compassion of BOOK 
 his officers, and sometimes condemning his own im- V ' 
 prudent compliance with their opinion, fled precipi- 15S5 ' 
 tately to Bona. 
 
 Meanwhile Charles, satisfied with the easy and Tunis SU r- 
 almost bloodless victory which he had gained, and Tendenu 
 advancing slowly with the precaution necessary in an 
 enemy's country, did not yet know the whole extent 
 of his own good fortune. But at last, a messenger 
 dispatched by the slaves acquainted him with the 
 success of their noble effort for the recovery of their 
 liberty ; and at the same time deputies arrived from 
 the town, in order to present him the keys of their 
 gates, and to implore his protection from military 
 violence. While he was deliberating concerning the 
 proper measures for this purpose, the soldiers, fearing 
 that they should be deprived of the booty which they 
 had expected, rushed suddenly, and without orders, 
 into the town, and began to kill and plunder without 
 distinction. It was then too late to restrain their 
 cruelty, their avarice, or licentiousness. All the 
 outrages of which soldiers are capable in the fury of 
 a storm, all the excesses of which men can be guilty 
 when their passions are heightened by the contempt 
 and hatred which difference in manners and religion 
 inspires, were committed. Above thirty thousand of 
 the innocent inhabitants perished on that unhappy 
 day, and ten thousand were carried away as slaves. 
 Muley-Hascen took possession of a throne surrounded 
 with carnage, abhorred by his subjects, on whom he 
 had brought such calamities, and pitied even by those 
 whose rashness had been the occasion of them. The 
 emperor lamented the fatal accident which had stained 
 the lustre of his victory ; and amidst such a scene of 
 horror there was but one spectacle that afforded him 
 tiny satisfaction. Ten thousand Christian slaves,
 
 300 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK among whom were several persons of distinction, met 
 _ him as he entered the town ; and, falling on their 
 
 1535 * knees, thanked and blessed him as their deliverer. 
 Restores At the same time that Charles accomplished his 
 king to C his promise to the Moorish king, of re-establishing him 
 throne. m hj s dominions, he did not neglect what was neces- 
 sary for bridling the power of the African corsairs, 
 for the security of his own subjects, and for the 
 interest of the Spanish crown. In order to gain these 
 ends, he concluded a treaty with Muley-Hascen on 
 the following conditions : That he should hold the 
 kingdom of Tunis in fee of the crown of Spain, and 
 do homage to the emperor as his liege lord ; that all 
 the Christian slaves now within his dominions, of 
 whatever nation, should be set at liberty without ran- 
 som ; that no subject of the emperor's should for the 
 future be detained in servitude ; that no Turkish 
 corsair should be admitted into the ports of his do- 
 minions ; that free trade, together with the public 
 exercise of the Christian religion, should be allowed 
 to all the emperor's subjects ; that the emperor should 
 not only retain the Goletta, but that all the other 
 sea-ports in the kingdom which were fortified should 
 be put into his hands ; that Muley-Hascen should 
 pay annually twelve thousand crowns for the subsist- 
 ence of the Spanish garrison in the Goletta ; that he 
 should enter into no alliance with any of the emperor's 
 enemies, and should present to him every year, as an 
 acknowledgment of his vassalage, six Moorish horses, 
 and as many hawks.* Having thus settled the affairs 
 of Africa ; chastised the insolence of the corsairs ; 
 secured a safe retreat for the ships of his subjects, 
 and a proper station to his own fleets, on that coast 
 from which he was most infested by piratical depre- 
 AugitT. dations; Charles embarked again for Europe, the 
 
 * Du Mont, Corps Diplomat, ii. 128. Summonte> Hist, di Naptili, iv. 89.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 301 
 
 tempestuous weather, and sickness among his troops, BOOK 
 not permitting him to pursue Barbarossa. y 
 
 By this expedition, the merit of which seems to i85 * 
 have been estimated in that age, rather by the appa- 
 rent generosity of the undertaking, the magnificence 
 wherewith it was conducted, and the success which 
 crowned it, than by the importance of the conse- 
 quences that attended it, the emperor attained a 
 greater height of glory than at any other period of 
 his reign. Twenty thousand slaves whom he freed 
 from bondage, either by his arms, or by his treaty 
 with Muley-Hascen 2 , each of whom he clothed and 
 furnished with the means of returning to their re- 
 spective countries, spread all over Europe the fame 
 of their benefactor's munificence, extolling his power 
 and abilities with the exaggeration flowing from gra- 
 titude and admiration. In comparison with him, the 
 other monarchs of Europe made an inconsiderable 
 figure. They seemed to be solicitous about nothing 
 but their private and particular interests ; while 
 Charles, with an elevation of sentiment which became 
 the chief prince in Christendom, appeared to be con- 
 cerned for the honour of the Christian name, and 
 attentive to the public security and welfare. 
 
 * Job. Etropii Diarium Expedition. Tunetanae, ap. Scard. v. ii. p. 320, 
 &c. Jovii Histor. lib. xxxiv. 153, &c. Sandov. ii. 154, &c. Vertot, Hist, 
 des Cheval. de Malthe. Epistres des Princes, par Ruscelli, traduites par 
 Belleforest, p. 119, 120, 8. c. Anton. Pontii Consentini Hist. Belli ad?. 
 JJarbar. ap. Matthaei Analecta. 
 
 * Summonte, Hist dj Nap. vol. iv. p. 103.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 war be- 
 tween the 
 emperor 
 and 
 Francis. 
 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 1535. UNFORTUNATELY for the reputation of Francis I. 
 
 The causes . . , , . . 
 
 of a new among his contemporaries, his conduct, at this junc- 
 ture, appeared a perfect contrast to that of his rival, 
 as he laid hold on the opportunity afforded him, by 
 the emperor's having turned his whole force against 
 the common enemy of Christendom, to revive his 
 pretensions in Italy, and to plunge Europe into a 
 new war. The treaty of Cambray, as has been 
 observed, did not remove the causes of enmity 
 between the two contending princes ; it covered up, 
 but did not extinguish, the flames of discord. Francis 
 in particular, who waited with impatience for a proper 
 occasion of recovering the reputation as well as the 
 territories which he had lost, continued to carry on 
 his negotiations in different courts against the em- 
 peror, taking the utmost pains to heighten the jealousy 
 which many princes entertained of his power or de- 
 signs, and to inspire the rest with the same suspicion 
 and fear : among others, he applied to Francis Sforza, 
 who, though indebted to Charles for the possession 
 of the dutchy of Milan, had received it on such hard
 
 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. SOS 
 
 conditions, as rendered him not only a vassal of the BOOK 
 empire, but a tributary dependent upon the emperor. V * 
 The honour of having married the emperor's niece 1585 ' 
 did not reconcile him to this ignominious state of 
 subjection, which became so intolerable even to Sforza, 
 though a weak and poor-spirited prince, that he 
 listened with eagerness to the first proposals Francis 
 made of rescuing him from the yoke. These pro- 
 posals were conveyed to him by Maraviglia, or Mer- 
 veille, as he is called by the French historians, a 
 Milanese gentleman residing at Paris ; and soon after, 
 in order to carry on the negotiation with greater 
 advantage, Merveille was sent to Milan, on pretence 
 of visiting his relations, but with secret credentials 
 from Francis as his envoy. In this character he was 
 received by Sforza. But, notwithstanding his care 
 to keep that circumstance concealed, Charles, suspect- 
 ing or having received information of it, remonstrated 
 and threatened in such a high tone, that the duke 
 and his ministers, equally intimidated, gave the 
 world immediately a most infamous proof of their 
 servile fear of offending the emperor. As Merveille 
 had neither the prudence nor the temper which the 
 function wherein he was employed required, they 
 artfully decoyed him into a quarrel, in which he 
 happened to kill his antagonist, one of the duke's December, 
 domestics, and having instantly seized him, they 
 ordered him to be tried for that crime, and to be 
 beheaded. Francis, no less astonished at this viola- 
 tion of a character held sacred among the most 
 uncivilized nations, than enraged at the insult offered 
 to the dignity of his crown, threatened Sforza with 
 the effects of his indignation, and complained to the 
 emperor, whom he considered as the real author of 
 that unexampled outrage. But receiving no satis- 
 faction from either, he appealed to all the princes 
 of Europe, and thought himself now entitled to
 
 304 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK take vengeance for an injury, which it would have 
 v> been indecent and pusillanimous to let pass with im- 
 
 1535. 
 
 Francis Being thus furnished with a pretext for beginning 
 
 au ute f a war, on which he had already resolved, he multi- 
 plied his efforts in order to draw in other princes to 
 take part in the quarrel. But all his measures for 
 this purpose were disconcerted by unforeseen events. 
 After having sacrificed the honour of the royal family 
 of France by the marriage of his son with Catharine 
 of Medici, in order to gain Clement, the death of 
 that pontiff had deprived him of all the advantages 
 which he expected to derive from his friendship. 
 Paul, his successor, though attached by inclination to 
 the imperial interest, seemed determined to maintain 
 the neutrality suitable to his character as the common 
 father of the contending princes. The King of 
 England, occupied with domestic cares and projects, 
 declined, for once, engaging in the affairs of the con- 
 tinent, and refused to assist Francis, unless he would 
 imitate his example, in throwing off the papal su- 
 Hisnego- premacy. These disappointments led him to solicit, 
 wtththe with greater earnestness, the aid of the protestant 
 princes associated by the league of Smalkalde. That 
 he might the more easily acquire their confidence, he 
 endeavoured to accommodate himself to their pre- 
 dominant passion, zeal for their religious tenets. He 
 affected a wonderful moderation with regard to the 
 points in dispute ; he permitted Bellay, his envoy in 
 Germany, to explain his sentiments concerning some 
 of the most important articles, in terms not far dif- 
 ferent from those used by the protestants a ; he even 
 condescended to invite Melancthon, whose gentle 
 manners and pacific spirit distinguished him among 
 the reformers, to visit Paris, that by his assistance he 
 
 Freheri Script. Rer. German. Hi. 354, &c. Sleid. Hist. 178. 183. 
 Seckend. lib. iii. 103.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 805 
 
 might concert the most proper measures for reconcil- BOOK 
 ing the contending sects which so unhappily divided _ 
 the church. b These concessions must be considered 1535> 
 rather as arts of policy than the result of conviction ; 
 for, whatever impression the new opinions in religion 
 had made on his sisters, the Queen of Navarre and 
 Dutchess of Ferrara, the gaiety of Francis's own 
 temper, and his love of pleasure, allowed him lit'tle 
 leisure to examine theological controversies. 
 
 But soon after he lost all the fruits of this disin- irritate* 
 genuous artifice, by a step very inconsistent with his * 
 declarations to the German princes. This step, how- 
 ever, the prejudices of the age, and the religious sen- 
 timents of his own subjects, rendered it necessary for 
 him to take. His close union with the King of 
 England, an excommunicated heretic ; his frequent 
 negotiations with the German protestants ; but, above 
 all, his giving public audience to an envoy from Sultan 
 Solyman, had excited violent suspicions concerning 
 the sincerity of his attachment to religion. To have 
 attacked the emperor, who, on all occasions, made 
 high pretensions to zeal in defence of the catholic 
 faith, and at the very juncture when he was prepar- 
 ing for his expedition against Barbarossa, which was 
 then considered as a pious enterprise, could not have 
 failed to confirm such unfavourable sentiments with 
 regard to Francis, and called on him to vindicate 
 himself by some extraordinary demonstration of his 
 reverence for the established doctrines of the church. 
 The indiscreet zeal of some of his subjects, who had 
 imbibed the protestant opinions, furnished him with 
 such an occasion as he desired. They had affixed to 
 the gates of the Louvre, and other public places, 
 papers containing indecent reflections on the doc- 
 trines and rites of the popish church. Six of the 
 persons concerned in this rash action were discovered 
 
 Camerarii Vita Ph. Melancthonis, 12. Hag. 1655. p. 12. 
 Ch. VOL. II. X
 
 306 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK and seized. The king, in order to avert the judg- 
 ments which it was supposed their blasphemies might 
 
 1535t draw down upon the nation, appointed a solemn pro- 
 cession. The holy sacrament was carried through 
 the city in great pomp ; Francis walked uncovered 
 before it, bearing a torch in his hand ; the princes of 
 the blood supported the canopy over it ; the nobles 
 marched in order behind. In the presence of this 
 numerous assembly, the king, accustomed to express 
 himself on every subject in strong and animated 
 language, declared that if one of his hands were in- 
 fected with heresy, he would cut it off with the other, 
 and would not spare even his own children, if found 
 guilty of that crime. As a dreadful proof of his 
 being in earnest, the six unhappy persons were pub- 
 licly burnt before the procession was finished, with 
 circumstances of the most shocking barbarity attend- 
 ing their execution. c 
 
 They refuse The princes of the league of Smalkalde, filled with 
 ura * resentment and indignation at the cruelty with which 
 their brethren were treated, could not conceive 
 Francis to be sincere, when he offered to protect in 
 Germany those very tenets, which he persecuted with 
 such rigour in his own dominions ; so that all Bellay's 
 art and eloquence in vindicating his master, or apolo- 
 gising for his conduct, made but little impression 
 upon them. They considered, likewise, that the empe- 
 ror, who hitherto had never employed violence against 
 the doctrines of the reformers, nor even given them 
 much molestation in their progress, was now bound 
 by the agreement at Ratisbon, not to disturb such 
 as had embraced the new opinions ; and the protest- 
 ants wisely regarded this as a more certain and im- 
 mediate security, than the precarious and distant 
 hopes with which Francis endeavoured to allure 
 them. Besides, the manner in which he had behaved 
 
 B Belcarii Comment. Rer. Gallic. 646. Sleid. Hist. 175, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 to his allies at the peace of Cambray was too recent BOOK 
 to be forgotten, and did not encourage others to rely 
 much on his friendship or generosity. Upon all these 1535< 
 accounts, the protestant princes refused to assist the 
 French king in any hostile attempt against the em- 
 peror. The Elector of Saxony, the most zealous 
 among them, in order to avoid giving any umbrage to 
 Charles, would not permit Melancthon to visit the 
 court of France, although that reformer, flattered per- 
 haps by the invitation of so great a monarch, or hop- 
 ing that his presence there might be of signal advan- 
 tage to the protestant cause, discovered a strong in- 
 clination to undertake the journey. d 
 
 But though none of the many princes who envied The French 
 or dreaded the power of Charles, would second 
 Francis's efforts in order to reduce and circumscribe 
 it, he, nevertheless, commanded his army to advance 
 towards the frontiers of Italy. As his sole pretext 
 for taking anus was that he might chastise the Duke 
 of Milan for his insolent and cruel breach of the law 
 of nations, it might have been expected that the 
 whole weight of his vengeance was to have fallen on 
 his territories. But on a sudden, and at their very 
 commencement, the operations of war took another 
 direction. Charles, Duke of Savoy, one of the least 
 active and able princes of the line from which he de- 
 scended, had married Beatrix of Portugal, the sister 
 of the empress. By her great talents, she soon ac- 
 quired an absolute ascendant over her husband ; and, 
 proud of her affinity to the emperor, or allured by the 
 magnificent promises with which he flattered her am- 
 bition, she formed an union between the duke and 
 the imperial court, extremely inconsistent with that 
 neutrality, which wise policy as well as the situation 
 of his dominions, had hitherto induced him to observe 
 in all the quarrels between the contending monarchs. 
 
 d Camerarii Vita Melan. 1-12, &c. 415. Seckend. lib. iii. 107. 
 
 x C 2
 
 308 
 
 BOOK 
 VI. 
 
 1535. 
 
 takes pos- 
 session of 
 the Duke 
 of Savoy's 
 dominions. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 Francis was abundantly sensible of the distress to 
 which he might be exposed, if, when he entered Italy, 
 he should leave behind him the territories of a prince, 
 devoted so obsequiously to the emperor, that he had 
 sent his eldest son to be educated in the court of 
 Spain, as a kind of hostage for his fidelity. Clement 
 the Seventh, who had represented this danger in a 
 strong light during his interview with Francis at Mar- 
 seilles, suggested to him, at the same time, the proper 
 method of guarding against it, having advised him to 
 begin his operations against the Milanese, by taking pos- 
 session of Savoy and Piedmont, as the only certain way 
 of securing a communication with his own dominions. 
 Francis, highly irritated with the duke on many ac- 
 counts, particularly for having supplied the Constable 
 Bourbon with the money that enabled him to levy the 
 body of troops which ruined the French army in the 
 fatal battle of Pavia, was not unwilling to let him 
 now feel both how deeply he resented, and how 
 severely he could punish these injuries. Nor did he 
 want several pretexts which gave some colour of 
 equity to the violence that he intended. The terri- 
 tories of France and Savoy lying contiguous to each 
 other, and intermingled in many places, various dis- 
 putes, unavoidable in such a situation, subsisted be- 
 tween the two sovereigns concerning the limits of 
 their respective property ; and besides, Francis, in 
 right of his mother Louise of Savoy, had large claims 
 upon the duke her brother, for her share in their 
 father's succession. Being unwilling, however, to 
 begin hostilities without some cause of quarrel more 
 specious than these pretensions, many of which were 
 obsolete, and others dubious, he demanded permission 
 to march through Piedmont in his way to the Mi- 
 lanese, hoping that the duke, from an excess of attach- 
 ment to the imperial interest, might refuse this request, 
 and thus give a greater appearance of justice to al]
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 399 
 
 his operations against him. But, if we may believe BOOK 
 the historians of Savoy, who appear to be better in- VL 
 formed with regard to this particular than those of 1S35 ' 
 France, the duke readily, and with a good grace, 
 granted what it was not in his power to deny, pro- 
 mising free passage to the French troops as was de- 
 sired ; so that Francis, as the only method now left 
 of justifying the measures which he determined to 
 take, was obliged to insist for full satisfaction with 
 regard to every thing that either the crown of France 
 or his mother Louise could demand of the house of 
 Savoy/ Such an evasive answer, as might have been 
 expected, being made to this requisition, the French 
 army, under the Admiral Brion, poured at once into 
 the duke's territories at different places. The coun- 
 tries of Bresse and Bugey, united at that time to 
 Savoy, were over-run in a moment. Most of the 
 towns in the dutchy of Savoy opened their gates at 
 the approach of the enemy ; a few which attempted 
 to make resistance were easily taken; and before the 
 end of the campaign, the duke saw himself stripped 
 of all his dominions, but the province of Piedmont, 
 in which there were not many places in a condition 
 to be defended. 
 
 To complete the duke's misfortunes, the city of The city of 
 Geneva, the sovereignty of which he claimed, and in covers its 
 some degree possessed, threw off his yoke, and its b 
 revolt drew along with it the loss of the adjacent ter- 
 ritories. Geneva was, at that time, an imperial city; 
 and though under the direct dominion of its own 
 bishops, and the remote sovereignty of the dukes of 
 Savoy, the form of its internal constitution was purely 
 republican, being governed by syndics and a council 
 chosen by the citizens. From these distinct and 
 often clashing jurisdictions, two opposite parties took 
 
 e Histdire Gn<-alogique cie Savoye, par Guichenon, 2 torn. fol. Lyon< 
 1660. i. 639, id 
 
 x 3
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK their rise, and had long subsisted in the state : the 
 VL _ one, composed of the advocates for the privileges of 
 1535. t h e community, assumed the name of eignotz, or 
 confederates in defence of liberty ; and branded the 
 other, which supported the episcopal or ducal prero- 
 gatives, with the name' of mamelukes, or slaves. 
 1532. At length, the protestant opinions beginning to spread 
 among the citizens, inspired such as embraced them 
 with that bold enterprising spirit which always accom- 
 panied or was naturally produced by them in their 
 first operations. As both the duke and bishop were 
 from interest, from prejudice, and from political con- 
 siderations, violent enemies of the reformation, all the 
 new converts joined with warmth the party of the 
 eignotz ; and zeal for religion, mingling with the 
 love of liberty, added strength to that generous pas- 
 sion. The rage and animosity of two factions, shut 
 up within the same walls, occasioned frequent insur- 
 rections, which tenninating mostly to the advantage 
 of the friends of liberty, they daily became more 
 powerful. 
 
 The duke and bishop, forgetting their ancient con 
 tests about jurisdiction, had united against their com. 
 mon enemies, and each attacked them with his propel 
 weapons. The bishop excommunicated the people 
 of Geneva as guilty of a double crime ; of impiety 
 in apostatising from the established religion ; and o 
 sacrilege, in invading the rights of his see. Th( 
 duke attacked them as rebels against their lawfu 
 prince, and attempted to render himself master o 
 the city, first by surprise, and then by open force 
 1534, The citizens, despising the thunder of the bishop'; 
 censures, boldly asserted their independence agains 
 the duke ; and partly by their own valour, partly ty 
 the powerful assistance which they received from th< 
 canton of Berne, together with some small supplies botl 
 of men and inoney, secretly furnished by the King o
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 France, they defeated all his attempts. Not satisfied BOOK 
 with having repulsed him, or with remaining always VL 
 upon the defensive themselves, they now took advan- 1535 * 
 tage of the duke's inability to resist them, while over- 
 whelmed by the armies of France, and seized several 
 castles and places of strength, which he possessed in 
 the neighbourhood of Geneva; thus delivering the 
 city from those odious monuments of its former sub- 
 jection, and rendering the public liberty more secure 
 for the future. At the same time the canton of 
 Berne invaded and conquered the Pays de Vaud, to 
 which it had some pretensions. The canton of Fri- 
 burgh, though zealously attached to the catholic reli- 
 gion, and having no subject of contest with the duke, 
 laid hold on part of the spoils of that unfortunate 
 prince. A great portion of these conquests or 
 usurpations being still retained by the two cantons, 
 add considerably to their power, and have become 
 the most valuable part of their territories. Geneva, 
 notwithstanding many schemes and enterprises of the 
 dukes of Savoy to re-establish their dominion over it, 
 still keeps possession of its independence ; and, in 
 consequence of that blessing, has attained a degree of 
 consideration, wealth, and elegance, which it could 
 not otherwise have reached/ 
 
 Amidst such a succession of disastrous events, the Theempe- 
 Duke of Savoy had no other resource but the em- r j* t b |]; 
 peror's protection, which, upon his return from Tunis, Duke of 
 he demanded with the most earnest importunity ; 
 and as his misfortunes were occasioned chiefly by his 
 attachment to the imperial interest, he had a just title 
 to immediate assistance. Charles, however, was not 
 in a condition to support him with that vigour and 
 dispatch which the exigency of his affairs called for. 
 
 f Hist, de la Villc de Geneve, par Spon, 12. Utr. 1685. p. 99. Hist d 
 la Re-formation dc Suisse, par Roucnat, Gen. 1728. torn. iv. p. CfH, Ac. 
 
 t')in. v. p. 2lC>,Sic. Mt'in. d.' Ik-May, 181. 
 
 x 4
 
 Oct. 24. 
 Death of 
 Sforza, 
 Duke of 
 
 Milan. 
 
 312 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Most of the troops employed in the African expedition 
 VL having been raised for that service alone, were dis- 
 l535 ' banded as soon as it was finished ; the veteran forces 
 under Antonio de Leyva were hardly sufficient for 
 the defence of the Milanese ; and the emperor's trea- 
 sury was entirely drained by his extraordinary efforts 
 against the infidels. 
 
 But the death of Francis Sforza, occasioned, ac- 
 cording to some historians, by the terror of a French 
 invasion, which had twice been fatal to his family, 
 afforded the emperor full leisure to prepare for action. 
 By this unexpected event, the nature of the war, and 
 the causes of discord, were totally changed. Francis's 
 first pretext for taking arms, in order to chastise 
 Sforza for the insult offered to the dignity of his 
 crown, was at once cut off ; but as that prince died 
 without issue, all Francis's rights to the dutchy of 
 Milan, which he had yielded only to Sforza and his 
 posterity, returned back to him in full force. As the 
 recovery of the Milanese was the favourite object of 
 that monarch, he instantly renewed his claim to it ; 
 and if he had supported his pretensions by ordering 
 the powerful army quartered in Savoy to advance 
 without losing a moment towards Milan, he could 
 hardly have failed to secure the important point of 
 possession. But Francis, who became less enterpris- 
 ing as he advanced in years, and who was overawed 
 at some times into an excess of caution by the re- 
 membrance of his past misfortunes, endeavoured to 
 establish his rights by negotiation, not by arms ; and 
 
 pretensions f rom a timid moderation, fatal in all great affairs, 
 
 to that 
 
 neglected to improve the favourable opportunity which 
 presented itself. Charles was more decisive in his 
 operations, and, in quality of sovereign, took possession 
 of the dutchy, as a vacant fief of the empire. While 
 Francis endeavoured to explain and assert his title to 
 it, by arguments and memorials, or employed various 
 
 Francis's 
 
 to that 
 dutchy.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 313 
 
 arts in order to reconcile the Italian powers to the BOOK 
 
 thoughts of his regaining footing in Italy, his rival ' 
 
 was silently taking effectual steps to prevent it. The l535 ' 
 emperor, however, was very careful not to discover 
 too early an intention of this kind ; but, seeming to 
 admit the equity of Francis's claim, he appeared so- 
 licitous only about giving him possession in such a 
 manner as might not disturb the peace of Europe, or 
 overturn the balance of power in Italy, which the 
 politicians of that country were so desirous of pre- 
 serving. By this artifice he deceived Francis, and 
 gained so much confidence with the rest of Europe, 
 that, almost without incurring any suspicion, he in- 
 volved the affair in new difficulties, and protracted 
 the negotiations at pleasure. Sometimes he proposed 
 to grant the investiture of Milan to the Duke of 
 Orleans, Francis's second son ; sometimes to the Duke 
 of Angouleme, his third son : as the views and in- 
 clinations of the French court varied, he transferred 
 his choice alternately from the one to the other, with 
 such profound and well-conducted dissimulation, that 
 neither Francis nor his ministers seem to have pene- 
 trated his real intention ; and all military operations 
 were entirely suspended, as if nothing had remained 
 but to enter quietly into possession of what they de- 
 manded. 
 
 During the interval of leisure gained in this man- 
 ner, Charles, on his return from Tunis, assembled the 
 states both of Sicily and Naples, and as they thought Jjj" for 
 themselves greatly honoured by the presence of their 
 sovereign, and were no less pleased with the apparent 
 disinterestedness of his expedition into Africa, than 
 daxzled by the success which had attended his anus, 
 he prevailed on them to vote him such liberal sub- 
 sidies as were seldom granted in that age. This en- 
 abled him to recruit his veteran troops, to levy a body 
 of Geraians, and to take every other proper precaution
 
 314 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK for executing or supporting the measures on which he 
 had detennined. Bellay, the French envoy in Ger- 
 
 1536 ' many, having discovered the intention of raising 
 troops in that country, notwithstanding all the pre- 
 texts employed in order to conceal it, first alarmed 
 his master with this evident proof of the emperor's 
 insincerity. 8 But Francis was so possessed at that 
 time with the rage of negotiation, in all the artifices 
 and refinements of which his rival far surpassed him, 
 that, instead of beginning his military operations, and 
 pushing them with vigour, or seizing the Milanese 
 before the imperial army was assembled, he satisfied 
 himself with making new offers to the emperor, in 
 order to procure the investiture by his voluntary 
 deed. His offers were, indeed, so liberal and ad- 
 vantageous, that if ever Charles had intended to 
 grant his demand, he could not have rejected them 
 with decency. He dexterously eluded them by de- 
 claring, that, until he consulted the pope in person, 
 he could not take his final resolution with regard to 
 a point which so nearly concerned the peace of Italy. 
 By this evasion he gained some farther time for ripen- 
 ing the schemes which he Ijad in view. 
 Theempe- The emperor at last advanced towards Rome, and 
 
 ror enters i i IT i i i 
 
 Rome. made his public entry into that city with extraordi- 
 narv p 0ni p . but it being found necessary to remove 
 the ruins of an ancient temple of peace, in order to 
 widen one of the streets through which the cavalcade 
 had to pass, all the historians take notice of this trivial 
 circumstance, and they are fond to interpret it as an 
 omen of the bloody war that followed. Charles, it 
 is certain, had by this time banished all thoughts of 
 peace ; and at last threw off the mask, with which he 
 had so long covered his designs from the court of 
 France, by a declaration of his sentiments no less 
 singular than explicit. The French ambassadors 
 
 g Mem. tie Bellay, 1 92.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 315 
 
 having in their master's name demanded a definitive BOOK 
 reply to his propositions concerning the investiture YI ' 
 of Milan, Charles promised to give it next day in pre- 1536 - 
 sence of the pope and cardinals assembled in full con- 
 sistory. These being accordingly met, and all the His public 
 foreign ambassadors invited to attend, the emperor agdnsT 
 stood up, and, addressing himself to the pope, expa- Francis ' 
 tiated for some time on the sincerity of his own wishes 
 for the peace of Christendom, as well as his abhor- 
 rence of war, the miseries of which he enumerated 
 at great length, with studied and elaborate oratory ; 
 he complained that all his endeavours to preserve the 
 tranquillity of Europe had hitherto been defeated by 
 the restless and unjust ambition of the French king ; 
 that even during his minority he had proofs of the 
 unfriendly and hostile intentions of that monarch ; 
 that afterwards, he had openly attempted to wrest 
 from him the imperial crown which belonged to him 
 by a title no less just than natural ; that he had next 
 invaded his kingdom of Navarre ; that, not satisfied 
 with this, he had attacked his territories as well as 
 those of his allies both in Italy and the Low Countries ; 
 that when the valour of the imperial troops, rendered 
 irresistible by the protection of the Almighty, had 
 checked his progress, ruined his armies, and seized 
 his person, he continued to pursue by deceit what he 
 had undertaken with injustice ; that he had violated 
 every article in the treaty of Madrid, to which he 
 owed his liberty, and as soon as he returned to his 
 dominions took measures for rekindling the war which 
 that pacification had happily extinguished ; that when 
 new misfortunes compelled him to sue again for peace 
 at Cambray, he concluded and observed it with equal 
 insincerity ; that soon after he had formed dangerous 
 connections with the heretical princes in Germany, 
 and incited them to disturb the tranquillity of the 
 empire ; that now he had driven the Duke of Savoy,
 
 316 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK a prince married to a sister of the empress, and 
 joined in close alliance with Spain, out of the greater 
 
 1536 ' part of his territories ; that after injuries so often 
 repeated, and amidst so many sources of discord, all 
 hope of amity or concord became desperate ; and 
 though he himself was still willing to grant the in- 
 vestiture of Milan to one of the princes of France, 
 there was little probability of that event taking place, 
 as Francis, on the one hand, would not consent to 
 what was necessary for securing the tranquillity of 
 Europe, nor, on the other, could he think it reasonable 
 or safe to give a rival the unconditional possession 
 of all that he demanded. " Let us not, however, 
 Challenges added he, "continue wantonly to shed the blood of our 
 g;combat. innocent subjects ; let us decide the quarrel man to 
 man, with what arms he pleases to choose, in our 
 shirts, on an island, a bridge, or aboard a galley 
 moored in a river ; let the dutchy of Burgundy be 
 put in deposit on his part, and that of Milan on mine ; 
 these shall be the prize of the conqueror ; and after 
 that, let the united forces of Germany, Spain, and 
 France be employed to humble the power of the 
 Turk, and to extirpate heresy out of Christendom. 
 But if he, by declining this method of terminating 
 our differences, renders war inevitable, nothing shall 
 divert me from prosecuting it to such extremity, as 
 shall reduce one of us to be the poorest gentleman 
 in his own dominions. Nor do I fear that it will be 
 on me this misfortune shall fall ; I enter upon action 
 with the fairest prospect of success ; the justice of my 
 cause, the union of my subjects, the number and 
 valour of my troops, the experience and fidelity of 
 my generals, all combine to ensure it. Of all these 
 advantages, the King of France is destitute ; and 
 were my resources no more certain, and my hopes of 
 victory no better founded than his, I would instantly
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 throw myself at his feet, and with folded hands, and BOOK 
 a rope about my neck, implore his mercy." b 
 
 This long harangue the emperor delivered with an 153<J - 
 elevated voice, a haughty tone, and the greatest 
 vehemence of expression and gesture. The French 
 ambassadors, who did not fully comprehend his mean- 
 ing, as he spake in the Spanish tongue, were totally 
 disconcerted, and at a loss how they should answer 
 such an unexpected invective ; when one of them 
 began to vindicate his master's conduct, Charles in- 
 terposed abruptly, and would not permit him to 
 proceed. The pope, without entering into any par- 
 ticular detail, satisfied himself with a short but 
 pathetic recommendation of peace, together with an 
 offer of employing his sincere endeavours in order 
 to procure that blessing to Christendom ; and the 
 assembly broke up in the greatest astonishment at 
 the extraordinary scene which had been exhibited. 
 In no part of his conduct, indeed, did Charles ever 
 deviate so widely from his general character. Instead The mo. 
 of that prudent recollection, that composed and re- rash* me*-" 
 gular deportment so strictly attentive to decorum, 8UPe< 
 and so admirably adapted to conceal his own passions, 
 for which he was at all other times conspicuous, he 
 appears on this occasion before one of the most august 
 assemblies in Europe, boasting of his own power and 
 exploits with insolence ; inveighing against his enemy 
 with indecency ; and challenging him to combat with 
 an ostentatious valour, more becoming a champion in 
 romance, than the first monarch in Christendom. 
 But the well-known and powerful operation of con- 
 tinued prosperity, as well as of exaggerated praise, 
 even upon the firmest minds, sufficiently accounts for 
 this seeming inconsistency. After having compelled 
 Solyman to retreat, and having stripped Barbarossa 
 of a kingdom, Charles began to consider his arms as 
 
 " M&n. de Bellay, 199. Sandov. Histor. del Emper. ii. 226.
 
 318 
 
 BOOK 
 VI. 
 
 1536. 
 
 Charles in- 
 vades 
 France ; 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 invincible. He had been entertained, ever since his 
 return from Africa, with repeated scenes of triumphs 
 and public rejoicings ; the orators and poets of Italy, 
 the most elegant at that time in Europe, had exhausted 
 their genius in panegyric on his conduct and merit, 
 to which the astrologers added magnificent promises 
 of a more splendid fortune still in store. Intoxicated 
 with all these, he forgot his usual reserve and moder- 
 ation, and was unable to restrain this extravagant 
 sally of vanity, which became the more remarkable, 
 by being both so uncommon and so public. 
 
 He himself seems to have been immediately sen- 
 sible of the impropriety of his behaviour, and when 
 the French ambassadors demanded next day a more 
 clear explanation of what he had said concerning the 
 combat, he told them that they were not to consider 
 his proposal as a formal challenge to their master, 
 but as an expedient for preventing bloodshed ; he 
 endeavoured to soften several expressions in his dis- 
 course ; and spoke in terms full of respect towards 
 Francis. But though this slight apology was far 
 from being sufficient to remove the offence which had 
 been given, Francis, by an unaccountable infatuation, 
 continued to negotiate, as if it had still been possible 
 to bring their differences to a period by an amicable 
 composition. Charles, finding him so eager to run 
 into the snare, favoured the deception, and, by seem- 
 ing to listen to his proposals, gained time to prepare 
 for the execution of his own designs. ' 
 
 O 
 
 At last, the imperial army assembled on the fron- 
 tiers of the Milanese, to the amount of forty thousand 
 foot and ten thousand horse, while that of France 
 encamped near Vercelli in Piedmont, being greatly 
 inferior in number, and weakened by the departure 
 of a body of Swiss, whom Charles artfully persuaded 
 the popish cantons to recall, that they might not serve 
 
 1 Mm. de Bellay, 20T, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 319 
 
 against the Duke of Savoy, their ancient ally. The BOOK 
 French general, not daring to risk a battle, retired Vl ' 
 as soon as the imperialists advanced. The emperor 
 put himself at the head of his forces, which the Mar- 
 quis del Guasto, the Duke of Alva, and Ferdinand 
 de Gonzago commanded under him, though the 
 supreme direction of the whole was committed to 
 Antonio de Leyva, whose abilities and experience 
 justly entitled him to that distinction. Charles soon 
 discovered his intention not to confine his operations 
 to the recovery of Piedmont and Savoy, but to push 
 forward and invade the southern provinces of France. 
 This scheme he had long meditated, and had long 
 been taking measures for executing it with such 
 vigour as might ensure success. He had remitted 
 large sums to his sister, the governess of the Low 
 Countries, and to his brother, the King of the 
 Romans, instructing them to levy all the forces in 
 their power, in order to fonn two separate bodies, 
 the one to enter France on the side of Picardy, the 
 other on the side of Champagne ; while he, with the 
 main army, fell upon the opposite frontier of the 
 kingdom. Trusting to these vast preparations, he 
 thought it impossible that Francis could resist so 
 many unexpected attacks, on such different quarters; 
 and began his enterprise with such confidence of its 
 happy issue, that he desired Paul Jovius, the historian, 
 to make a large provision of paper sufficient to record 
 the victories which he was going to obtain. 
 
 His ministers and generals, instead of entertaining 
 the same sanguine hopes, represented to him in the 
 strongest terms the danger of leading his troops ^o 
 far from his own territories, to such a distance from 
 his magazines, and into provinces which did not yield 
 sufficient subsistence for their own inhabitants. They 
 entreated him to consider the inexhaustible resources 
 of France in maintaining a defensive war, and the
 
 320 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK active zeal with which a gallant nobility would serve 
 VI ' a prince whom they loved, in repelling the enemies of 
 
 1536 ' their country ; they recalled to his remembrance the 
 fatal miscarriage of Bourbon and Pescara, when they 
 ventured upon the same enterprise under circum- 
 stances which seemed as certain to promise success ; 
 the Marquis del Guasto, in particular, fell on his 
 knees, and conjured him to abandon the undertaking 
 as desperate. But many circumstances combined in 
 leading Charles to disregard all their remonstrances. 
 He could seldom be brought, on any occasion, to 
 depart from a resolution which he had once taken ; 
 he was too apt to tinder-rate and despise the talents 
 of his rival, the King of France, because they differed 
 so widely from his own ; he was blinded by the pre- 
 sumption which accompanies prosperity ; and relied, 
 perhaps, in some degree, on the prophecies which 
 predicted the increase of his own grandeur. He not 
 only adhered obstinately to his own plan, but deter- 
 mined to advance towards France without waiting 
 for the reduction of any part of Piedmont, except 
 such towns as were absolutely necessary for preserv- 
 ing his communication with the Milanese, 
 recovers ' The Marquis de Saluces, to whom Francis had 
 Duke of intrusted the command of a small body of troops 
 nTink>ns. do ~ k^ ^ or * ne defence of Piedmont, rendered this more 
 easy than Charles had any reason to expect. That 
 nobleman, educated in the court of France, distin- 
 guished by continual marks of the king's favour, and 
 honoured so lately with a charge of such importance, 
 suddenly, and without any provocation or pretext of 
 disgust, revolted from his benefactor. His motives 
 to this treacherous action were as childish as the 
 deed itself was base. Being strongly possessed with 
 a superstitious faith in divination and astrology, he 
 believed with full assurance, that the fatal period of 
 the French nation was at hand ; that on its ruins the
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 emperor would establish an universal monarchy ; that BOOK 
 therefore he ought to follow the dictates of prudence, 
 in attaching himself to his rising fortune, and could l586 * 
 incur no blame for deserting a prince whom heaven 
 had devoted to destruction." His treason became 
 still more odious, by his employing that very autho- 
 rity with which Francis had invested him, in order 
 to open the kingdom to his enemies. Whatever 
 measures were proposed or undertaken by the officers 
 under his command for the defence of their conquests, 
 he rejected or defeated. Whatever properly belonged 
 to himself, as commander-in-chief, to provide or per- 
 form for that purpose, he totally neglected. In this 
 manner, he rendered towns even of the greatest con- 
 sequence untenable, by leaving them destitute either 
 of provisions, or ammunition, or artillery, or a suffi- 
 cient garrison ; and the imperialists must have re- 
 duced Piedmont in as short a time as was necessary 
 to march through it, if Montpezat, the governor of 
 Fossano, had not, by an extraordinary effort of cou- 
 rage and military conduct, detained them almost a 
 month before that inconsiderable place. 
 
 By this meritorious and seasonable service, he ****"*'. 
 
 r LI- I." plnfc> rth 
 
 gained his master sufficient time for assembling his defence of 
 forces, and for conceiting a system of defence against 
 a danger which he now saw to be inevitable. Francis 
 
 O 
 
 fixed upon the only proper and effectual plan for 
 defeating the invasion of a powerful enemy ; and his 
 prudence in choosing this plan, as well as his perse- 
 verance in executing it, deserve the greater praise, 
 as it was equally contrary to his own natural temper, 
 and to the genius of the French nation. He deter- 
 mined to remain altogether upon the defensive ; never 
 to hazard a battle, or even a great skirmish, without 
 certainly of success ; to fortify his camps in a regular 
 manner ; to throw garrisons only into towns of great 
 
 k Mem, de Bellay, 222, a, 246, b. 
 Cll. VOL. II. Y
 
 322 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK strength ; to deprive the enemy of subsistence, by 
 laying waste the country before them ; and to save 
 
 ' S6- the whole kingdom, by sacrificing one of its provinces, 
 intrusts TI^ execution of this plan he committed entirely to 
 
 the Marechal Montmorency, who was the author of 
 C "" it ; a man wonderfully fitted by nature for such a 
 
 trust. Haughty, severe, confident in his own abilities, 
 and despising those of other men ; incapable of being 
 diverted from any resolution by remonstrances or 
 entreaties ; and, in prosecuting any scheme, regard- 
 less alike of love or of pity. 
 He en. Montmorency made choice of a strong camp under 
 
 the walls of Avignon, at the confluence of the Rhone 
 and the Durance, one of which plentifully supplied 
 his troops with all necessaries from the inland pro- 
 vinces, and the other covered his camp on that side 
 where it was most probable the enemy would approach. 
 He laboured with unwearied industry to render the 
 fortifications of this camp impregnable, and assembled 
 there a considerable army, though greatly inferior to 
 that of the enemy ; while the king with another body 
 of troops encamped at Valence, higher up the Rhone. 
 Marseilles and Aries were the only towns he thought 
 it necessary to defend ; the former, in order to retain 
 the command of the sea ; the latter, as the barrier of 
 the province of Languedoc ; and each of these he 
 furnished with numerous garrisons of his best troops, 
 commanded by officers on whose fidelity and valour 
 he could rely. The inhabitants of the other towns, 
 as well as of the open country, were compelled to 
 abandon their houses, and were conducted to the 
 mountains, to the camp at Avignon, or to the inland 
 provinces. The fortifications of such places as might 
 have afforded shelter or defence to the enemy were 
 thrown down. Corn, forage, and provisions of every 
 kind, were carried away or destroyed ; all the mills 
 and ovens were ruined, and the wells filled up or
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 rendered useless. The devastation extended from BOOK 
 the Alps to Marseilles, and from the sea to the con- 
 fines of Dauphine ; nor does history afford any in- 158& 
 stance among civilized nations, in which this cruel 
 expedient for the public safety was employed with 
 the same rigour. 
 
 At length, the emperor arrived with the van of his Charles 
 army on the frontiers of Provence, and was still so entm 
 
 VCQCC J 
 
 possessed with confidence of success, that during a 
 few days, when he was obliged to halt until the rest 
 of his troops came up, he began to divide his future 
 conquests among his officers ; and as a new incite- 
 ment to serve him with zeal, gave them liberal pro- 
 mises of offices, lands, and honours in France. 1 The 
 face of desolation, however, which presented itself to 
 him, when he entered the country, began to damp 
 his hopes ; and convinced him that a monarch, who, 
 in order to distress an enemy, had voluntarily ruined 
 one of his richest provinces, would defend the rest 
 with desperate obstinacy. Nor was it long before he 
 became sensible that Francis's plan of defence was as 
 prudent as it appeared to be extraordinary. His fleet, 
 on which Charles chiefly depended for subsistence, was 
 prevented for some time by contrary winds, and other 
 accidents to which naval operations are subject, from 
 approaching the French coast ; even after its arrival, 
 it afforded at best a precarious and scanty supply to 
 swch a numerous body of troops m ; nothing was to be 
 found in the country itself for their support ; nor 
 could they draw any considerable aid from the do- 
 minions of the Duke of Savoy, exhausted already by 
 maintaining two great armies. The emperor was no 
 less embarrassed how to employ, than how to subsist 
 his forces ; for though he was now in possession of 
 almost an entire province, he could not be said to 
 have the command of it, while he held only defence- 
 
 . de Bellay, 266, a. m Sandov. ii. 231. 
 
 V 1 J
 
 324 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK less towns ; and while the French, besides their camp 
 
 VL at Avignon, continued masters of Marseilles and 
 
 1536. Aries. At first he thought of attacking the camp, 
 
 and of terminating the war by one decisive blow ; but 
 
 skilful officers, who were appointed to view it, de- 
 
 l|? ieg ??, clared the attempt to be utterly impracticable. He 
 
 Marseilles. . -n i A i i 
 
 then gave orders to invest Marseilles and Aries, hop- 
 ing that the French would quit their advantageous 
 post in order to relieve them ; but Montmorency, 
 adhering firmly to his plan, remained immoveable 
 at Avignon, and the imperialists met with such a 
 warm reception from the garrisons of both towns, that 
 they relinquished their enterprises with loss and dis- 
 grace. As a last effort, the emperor advanced once 
 more towards Avignon, though with an army harassed 
 by the perpetual incursions of small parties of the 
 French light troops, weakened by diseases, and 
 dispirited by disasters, which seemed the more in- 
 tolerable, because they were unexpected. 
 Montmo- During these operations, Montmorency found him- 
 
 rency s for- <-. 
 
 titude in self exposed to greater danger from his own troops 
 his pian S of than from the enemy ; and their inconsiderate valour 
 defence. went near to have precipitated the kingdom into those 
 calamities, which he with such industry and caution 
 had endeavoured to avoid. Unaccustomed to behold 
 an enemy ravaging their country almost without con- 
 trol ; impatient of such long inaction ; unacquainted 
 with the slow and remote, but certain effects of 
 Montmorency 's system of defence ; the French wished 
 for a battle with no less ardour than the imperialists. 
 They considered the conduct of their general as a 
 disgrace to their country. His caution they imputed 
 to timidity ; his circumspection to want of spirit ; 
 and the constancy with which he pursued his plan, 
 to obstinacy or pride. These reflections, whispered 
 at first among the soldiers and subalterns, were 
 adopted, by degrees, by officers of higher rank ; and
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. $25 
 
 as many of them envied Montmorency's favour with BOOK 
 the king, and more were dissatisfied with his harsh 
 disgusting manner, the discontent soon became great 15S - 
 in his camp, which was filled with general murmur- 
 ings, and almost open complaints against his measures. 
 Montmorency, on whom the sentiments of his own 
 troops made as little impression as the insults of the 
 enemy, adhered steadily to his system ; though, in 
 order to reconcile the army to his maxims, no less 
 contrary to the genius of the natio^ than to the ideas 
 of war among undisciplined troops, he assumed an 
 unusual affability in his deportment, and often ex- 
 plained, with great condescension, the motives of his 
 conduct, the advantages which had already resulted 
 from it, and the certain success with which it would 
 be attended. At last, Francis joined his army at 
 Avignon, which having received several reinforce- 
 ments, he now considered as of strength sufficient to 
 face the enemy. As he had put no small constraint 
 upon himself, in consenting that his troops should 
 remain so long upon the defensive, it can hardly be 
 doubted but that his fondness for what was daring 
 and splendid, added to the impatience both of officers 
 and soldiers, would at last have over-ruled Mont- 
 morency's salutary caution." 
 
 Happily the retreat of the enemy delivered the The 
 kingdom from the danger which any rash resolution 
 might have occasioned. The emperor, after spending 
 two inglorious months in Provence, without having 
 performed any thing suitable to his vast preparations, 
 or that could justify the confidence with which he had 
 boasted of his own power, found that, besides Antonio 
 de Leyva, and other officers of distinction, he had 
 lost one half of his troops by diseases, or by famine ; 
 and that the rest were in no condition to struggle any 
 longer with calamities, by which so many of their 
 
 " M'ra de Bellay,269, &c. SI 9, ic. 
 T 3
 
 326 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK companions had perished. Necessity, therefore, ex- 
 VL torted from him orders to retire ; and though he was 
 1536> some time in motion before the French suspected his 
 intention, a body of light troops, assisted by crowds 
 of peasants, eager to be revenged on those who had 
 brought such desolation on their country, hung upon 
 the rear of the imperialists, and by seizing every 
 favourable opportunity of attacking them, threw them 
 often into confusion. The road by which they fled, 
 for they pursued their march with such disorder and 
 precipitation, that it scarcely deserves the name of a 
 retreat, was strewed with arms or baggage, which in 
 their hurry and trepidation they had abandoned, and 
 covered with the sick, the wounded, and the dead ; 
 insomuch that Martin Bellay, an eye-witness of their 
 calamities, endeavours to give his readers some idea 
 of them, by comparing their miseries to those which 
 the Jews suffered from the victorious and destructive 
 arms of the Romans. If Montmorency, at this cri- 
 tical moment, had advanced with all his forces, no- 
 thing could have saved the whole imperial army from 
 utter ruin. But that general, by standing so long 
 and so obstinately on the defensive, ' had become 
 cautious to excess ; his mind, tenacious of any bent 
 it had once taken, could not assume a contrary one 
 as suddenly as the change of circumstances required ; 
 and he still continued to repeat his favourite maxims, 
 that it was more prudent to allow the lion to escape, 
 than to drive him to despair, and that a bridge of 
 gold should be made for a retreating enemy. 
 
 The emperor, having conducted the shattered re- 
 mains of bis troops to the frontiers of Milan, and 
 appointed the Marquis del Guasto to succeed Leyva 
 in the government of that dutchy, set out for Genoa. 
 As he could not bear to expose himself to the scorn 
 of the Italians, after such a sad reverse of fortune ; 
 
 Mem. de Bellay, 316. Sandov. Hist, del Emper. ii. 232.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 and did not choose, under his present circumstances, BOOK 
 to revisit those cities through which he had so lately VL 
 passed in triumph for one conquest, and in certain 1536< 
 expectation of another ; he embarked directly for November. 
 Spain." 
 
 Nor was the progress of his anus on the opposite Operations 
 frontier of France such as to alleviate, in any degree, in Picardy * 
 the losses which he had sustained in Provence. Bel- 
 lay, by his address and intrigues, had prevailed on so 
 many of the German princes to withdraw the con- 
 tingent of troops which they had furnished to the 
 King of the Romans, that he was obliged to- lay aside 
 all thoughts of his intended irruption into Champagne. 
 Though a powerful army levied in the Low Countries 
 entered Picardy, which they found but feebly guarded, 
 while the strength of the kingdom was drawn towards 
 the south ; yet the nobility, taking arms with their 
 usual alacrity, supplied by their spirit the defects of 
 the king's preparations, and defended Peronne, and 
 other towns which were attacked, with such vigour, 
 as obliged the enemy to retire, without making any 
 conquest of importance. q 
 
 Thus Francis, by the pnidence of his own measures, 
 and by the union and valour of his subjects, rendered 
 abortive those vast efforts in which his rival had 
 almost exhausted his whole force. As this humbled 
 the emperor's arrogance no less than it checked his 
 power, he was mortified more sensibly on this occasion 
 than on any other, during the course of the long 
 contests between him and the French monarch. 
 
 One circumstance alone embittered the joy with ***& of 
 which the success of the campaign inspired Francis. p hi n : 
 That was the death of the dauphin, his eldest son, 
 a prince of great hopes, and extremely beloved by 
 the people on account of his resemblance to his father. 
 
 p Jovii Histor. lib. xxxv. p. 174, &c. 
 " M4m. de Bellay, 318, &c. 
 Y 4
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK This happening suddenly, was imputed to poison, not 
 VL only by the vulgar, fond of ascribing the death of 
 1536. illustrious personages to extraordinary causes, but by 
 the king and his ministers. The Count de Monte- 
 cuculi, an Italian nobleman, cup-bearer to the dauphin, 
 being seized on suspicion and put to the torture, 
 openly charged the imperial generals, Gonzaga and 
 Leyva, with having instigated him to the commission 
 of that crime : he even threw out some indirect and 
 obscure accusations against the emperor himself. At 
 a time when all France was exasperated to the utmost 
 against Charles, this uncertain and extorted charge 
 was considered as an incontestable proof of guilt ; 
 while the confidence with which both he and his 
 officers asserted their own innocence, together with 
 the indignation, as well as horror, which they ex- 
 pressed on their being supposed capable of such a 
 detestable action, were little attended to, and less re- 
 garded/ It is evident, however, that the emperor 
 could have no inducement to perpetrate such a crime, 
 " as Francis was still in the vigour of life himself, and 
 had two sons, beside the dauphin, grown up almost 
 to the age of manhood. That single consideration, 
 without mentioning the emperor's general character, 
 unblemished by the imputation of any deed resembling 
 this in atrocity, is more than sufficient to counter- 
 balance the weight of a dubious testimony uttered 
 during the anguish of torture. 5 According to the 
 most unprejudiced historians, the dauphin's death 
 was occasioned by his having drank too freely of cold 
 water after over-heating himself at tennis ; and this 
 account, as it is the most simple, is likewise the most 
 credible. But if his days were cut short by poison, 
 it is not improbable that the emperor conjectured 
 rightly, when he affirmed that it had been adminis- 
 
 r M&n. de Bellay, 289. 
 
 ' Sandov. Hist, del Emper, ii. 231.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 tered by the direction of Catharine of Medici, in order BOOK 
 to secure the crown to the Duke of Orleans, her VL 
 husband.' The advantages resulting to her by the 153 - 
 dauphin's death, were obvious as well as great ; nor 
 did her boundless and daring ambition ever recoil from 
 any action necessary towards attaining the objects 
 which she had in view. 
 
 Next year opened with a transaction very uncom- 537. 
 mon, but so incapable of producing any effect, that Tpi 
 it would not deserve to be mentioned, if it were not p en . 1 of 
 a striking proof of the personal animosity which against the 
 mingled itself in all the hostilities between Charles " lnperor - 
 and Francis, and which often betrayed them into such 
 indecencies towards each other, as lessened the dignity 
 of both. Francis, accompanied by the peers and 
 princes of the blood, having taken his seat in the par- 
 liament of Paris with the usual solemnities, the ad- 
 vocate-general appeared ; and after accusing Charles 
 of Austria (for so he affected to call the emperor) 
 of having violated the treaty of Cambray, by which 
 he was absolved from the homage due to the crown 
 of France for the counties of Artois and Flanders ; 
 insisted that this treaty being now void, he was still 
 to be considered as a vassal of the crown, and, by con- 
 sequence, had been guilty of rebellion in taking arms 
 against his sovereign ; and therefore he demanded 
 that Charles should be summoned to appear in per- 
 son, or by his counsel, before the parliament of Paris, 
 his legal judges, to answer for this crime. The re- 
 quest was granted ; a herald repaired to the frontiers 
 of Picardy, and summoned him with the accustomed 
 formalities to appear against a day prefixed. That 
 term being expired, and no person appearing in his 
 name, the parliament gave judgment, " That Charles 
 of Austria had forfeited by rebellion and contumacy 
 those fiefs ; declared Flanders and Artois to be re- 
 
 1 Vera y Zuniga, Vida de Carlos V. p. 75.
 
 330 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK united to the crown of France ;" and ordered their 
 VI - decree for this purpose to be published by sound of 
 1537. trumpet on the frontiers of these provinces." 
 Campaign Soon after this vain display of his resentment, rather 
 X e Low tnan of his P ower Francis marched towards the Low 
 Countries. Countries, as if he had intended to execute the sen- 
 tence which his parliament had pronounced, and to 
 seize those territories which it had awarded to him. 
 As the Queen of Hungary, to whom her brother the 
 emperor had committed the government of that part 
 of his dominions, was not prepared for so early a 
 campaign, he at first made some progress, and took 
 several towns of importance. But being obliged 
 soon to leave his army, in order to superintend the 
 other operations of war, the Flemings, having as- 
 sembled a numerous army, not only recovered most 
 of the places which they had lost, but began to make 
 conquests in their turn. At last they invested 
 Terouenne, and the Duke of Orleans, now dauphin, 
 by the death of his brother, and Montmorency, whom 
 Francis had honoured with the constable's sword, as 
 the reward of his great services during the former 
 campaign, determined to hazard a battle in order to 
 A suspen- relieve it. While they were advancing for this pur- 
 
 sionofarms , . , . , 
 
 there; pose, and within a few miles of the enemy, they were 
 stopped short by the arrival of a herald from the Queen 
 of Hungary, acquainting him that a suspension of 
 arms was now agreed upon. 
 
 This unexpected event was owing to the zealous 
 endeavours of the two sisters, the Queens of France 
 and of Hungary, who had long laboured to reconcile 
 the contending monarchs. The war in the Nether- 
 lands had laid waste the frontier provinces of both 
 countries, without any real advantage to either. The 
 French and Flemings equally regretted the interrup- 
 tion of their commerce, which was beneficial to both. 
 
 u Lettres et M&noires d'Etat, par Ribier, 2 torn. Blois, 1666. torn. i. p. 1 .
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 Charles, as well as Francis, who had each strained to BOOK 
 the utmost, in order to support the vast operations of VL 
 the former campaign, found that they could not now 1537 - 
 keep armies on foot in this quarter, without weaken- 
 ing their operations in Piedmont, where both wished 
 to push the war with the greatest vigour. All these j u i y so. 
 circumstances facilitated the negotiations of the two 
 queens ; a truce was concluded, to continue in force 
 for ten months, but it extended no farther than the 
 Low Countries.* 
 
 In Piedmont the war was still prosecuted with i in 
 great animosity ; and though neither Charles nor 
 Francis could make the powerful efforts to which this 
 animosity prompted them, they continued to exert 
 themselves like combatants, whose rancour remains 
 after their strength is exhausted. Towns were alter- 
 nately lost and retaken ; skirmishes were fought every 
 day ; and much blood was shed, without any action, 
 that gave a decided superiority to either side. At 
 last the two queens, determining not to leave unfi- 
 nished the good work which they had begun, prevailed, 
 by their importunate solicitations, the one on her bro- 
 ther, the other on her husband, to consent also to a 
 truce in Piedmont for three months. The conditions 
 of it were, that each should keep possession of what 
 was in his hands, and, after leaving garrisons in the 
 towns, should withdraw his army out of the province; 
 and that plenipotentiaries should be appointed to ad- 
 just all matters in dispute by a final treaty. y 
 
 The powerful motives which inclined both princes Motimf 
 to this accommodation, have been often mentioned. 
 The expences of the war had far exceeded the sums 
 which their revenues were capable of supplying, nor 
 durst they venture upon any great addition to the 
 impositions then established, as subjects had not yet 
 learned to bear with patience the immense burdens to 
 
 * Mdmoires de Ribicr, 56. y Ibid. 62.
 
 332 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK which they have become accustomed in modern times. 
 ' The emperor in particular, though he had contracted 
 1537> debts which in that age appeared prodigious 21 , had it 
 not in his power to pay the large arrears long due to 
 his army. At the same time, he had no prospect of 
 deriving any aid in money or men either from the 
 pope or Venetians, though he had employed promises 
 and threats, alternately, in order to procure it. But 
 he found the former not only fixed in his resolution 
 of adhering steadily to the neutrality which he had 
 always declared to be suitable to his character, but 
 passionately desirous of bringing about a peace. He 
 perceived that the latter were still intent on their 
 ancient object of holding the balance even between 
 the rivals, and solicitous not to throw too great a 
 weight into either scale. 
 
 of which What made a deeper impression on Charles than 
 alliance all these, was the dread of the Turkish arms, which, 
 Turkish by his league with Solyman, Francis had drawn upon 
 
 him. Though Francis, without the assistance of a 
 single ally, had a war to maintain against an enemy 
 greatly superior in power to himself, yet so great was 
 the horror of Christians, in that age, at any union 
 with infidels, which they considered not only as dis- 
 honourable but profane, that it was long before he 
 could be brought to avail himself of the obvious ad- 
 vantages resulting from such a confederacy. Neces- 
 sity at last surmounted his delicacy and scruples. 
 Towards the close of the preceding year, La Forest, 
 a secret agent at the Ottoman Porte, had concluded 
 a treaty with the sultan, whereby Solyman engaged 
 to invade the kingdom of Naples, during the next 
 campaign, and to attack the King of the Romans in 
 Hungary with a powerful army, while Francis under- 
 took to enter the Milanese at the same time with a 
 proper force. Solyman had punctually performed 
 
 . de Ribier, i. 294.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 333 
 
 what was incumbent on him. Barbarossa with a BOOK 
 great fleet appeared on the coast of Naples ; filled VL 
 that kingdom, from which all the troops had been 1537 ' 
 drawn towards Piedmont, with consternation ; landed 
 without resistance near Taranto ; obliged Castro, a 
 place of some strength, to surrender ; plundered the 
 adjacent country, and was taking measures for secur- 
 ing and extending his conquests, when the unexpected 
 arrival of Doria, together with the pope's galleys, and 
 a squadron of the Venetian fleet, made it prudent for 
 him to retire. In Hungary the progress of the 
 Turks was more formidable. Mahmet, their general, 
 after gaining several small advantages, defeated the 
 Germans, in a great battle at Essek on the Drave. a 
 Happily for Christendom, it was not in Francis's 
 power to execute with equal exactness what he had 
 stipulated ; nor could he assemble at this juncture 
 an army strong enough to penetrate into the Milanese. 
 By this he failed in recovering possession of that 
 dutchy ; and Italy was not only saved from the cala- 
 mities of a new war, but from feeling the desolating 
 rage of the Turkish arms, as an addition to all that 
 it had suffered. b As the emperor knew that he 
 could not long resist the efforts of two such powerful 
 confederates, nor could expect that the same fortu- 
 nate accidents would concur a second time to deliver 
 Naples, and to preserve the Milanese ; as he foresaw 
 that the Italian states would not only tax him loudly 
 with insatiable ambition, but might even turn their 
 arms against him, if he should be so regardless of 
 their danger as obstinately to protract the war, he 
 thought it necessary, both for his safety and reputa- 
 tion, to give his consent to a truce. Nor was Francis 
 
 . 
 
 willing to sustain all the blame of obstructing the re- 
 establishment of tranquillity, or to expose himself on 
 
 Istuanhcffi Hist Hung. lib. xiii. p. 139. 
 fc Jcvii IlisU lib. xxxv. p. 183.
 
 334 
 
 BOOK 
 VJ. 
 
 15S7. 
 
 Negotia- 
 tions of a 
 peace be- 
 tween 
 Charles and 
 Francis. 
 
 1538. 
 
 The pope 
 conducts 
 these in 
 person. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 that account to the danger of being deserted by the 
 Swiss and other foreigners in his service. He even 
 began to apprehend that his own subjects would serve 
 him coldly, if, by contributing to aggrandize the 
 power of the infidels, which it was his duty, and had 
 been the ambition of his ancestors to depress, he con- 
 tinued to act in direct opposition to all the principles 
 which ought to influence a monarch distinguished by 
 the title of Most Christian King. He chose, for all 
 these reasons, rather to run the risk of disobliging 
 his new ally, the sultan, than, by an unseasonable 
 adherence to the treaty with him, to forfeit what was 
 of greater consequence. 
 
 But though both parties consented to a truce, the 
 plenipotentiaries found insuperable difficulties in 
 settling the articles of a definitive treaty. Each of 
 the monarchs, with the arrogance of a conqueror, 
 aimed at giving law to the other ; and neither would 
 so far acknowledge his inferiority, as to sacrifice any 
 point of honour, or to relinquish any matter of right ; 
 so that the plenipotentiaries spent the time in long 
 and fruitless negotiations, and separated after agree- 
 ing to prolong the truce for a few months. 
 
 The pope, however, did not despair of accomplish- 
 ing a point in which the plenipotentiaries had failed, 
 and took upon himself the sole burden of negotiating 
 a peace. To form a confederacy capable of defend- 
 ing Christendom from the formidable inroads of the 
 Turkish arms, and to concert effectual measures for 
 the extirpation of the Lutheran heresy, were two 
 great objects which Paul had much at heart, and he 
 considered the union of the emperor with the King 
 of France as an essential preliminary to both. To 
 be the instrument of reconciling these contending 
 monarchs, whom his predecessors by their interested 
 and indecent intrigues had so often embroiled, was a 
 circumstance which could not fail of throwing dis-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 335 
 
 tinguished lustre on his character and administration. BOOK 
 Nor was he without hopes that, while he pursued 
 this laudable end, he might secure advantages to his . 
 own family, the aggrandizing of which he did not 
 neglect, though he aimed at it with a less audacious 
 ambition than was common among the popes of that 
 century. Influenced by these considerations, he 
 proposed an interview between the two monarchs at 
 Nice, and offered to repair thither in person, that he 
 might act as mediator in composing all their differ- 
 ences. When a pontiff of a venerable character, and 
 of a very advanced age, was willing, from his zeal 
 for peace, to undergo the fatigues of so long a jour- 
 ney, neither Charles not Francis could with decency 
 decline the interview. But though both came to the 
 place of rendezvous, so great was the difficulty of 
 adjusting the ceremonial, or such the remains of dis- 
 trust and rancour on each side, that they refused to 
 see one another, and every thing was transacted by 
 the intervention of the pope, who visited them alter- 
 nately. With all his zeal and ingenuity he could 
 not find out a method of removing the obstacles 
 which prevented a final accommodation, particularly 
 those arising from the possession of the Milanese ; 
 nor was all the weight of his authority sufficient to 
 overcome the obstinate perseverance of either mon- 
 arch in asserting his own claims. At last, that he A tru <* ft* 
 might not seem to have laboured altogether without concluded 
 effect, he prevailed on them to sign a truce for ten J^Ts. 
 years, upon the same condition with the former, that 
 each should retain what was now in his possession, 
 and in the mean time should send ambassadors to 
 Rome, to discuss their pretensions at leisure. 
 
 Thus ended a war of no long continuance, but 
 very extensive in its operations, and in which both 
 
 c Recueil des Traitfe, ii. 210. Relazione di Nicolo Tiepolodel PAbboca- 
 mento di Nizza, ap. Du Mont, Corps Diplomat par. ii. p. 174.
 
 336 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK parties exerted their utmost strength. Though 
 VL Francis failed in the object that he had principally 
 
 1538. m view, the recovery of the Milanese, he acquired, 
 nevertheless, great reputation by the wisdom of his 
 measures as well as the success of his arms in repel- 
 ling a formidable invasion ; and by keeping possession 
 of one half of the Duke of Savoy's dominions, he 
 added no inconsiderable accession of strength to his 
 kingdom. Whereas Charles, repulsed and baffled, 
 after having boasted so arrogantly of victory, pur- 
 chased an inglorious truce, by sacrificing an ally who 
 had rashly confided too much in his friendship and 
 power. The unfortunate duke murmured, com- 
 plained, and remonstrated against a treaty so much 
 to his disadvantage, but in vain ; he had no means 
 of redress, and was obliged to submit. Of all his 
 dominions, Nice, with its dependencies, was the only 
 corner of which he himself kept possession. He saw 
 the rest divided between a powerful invader and the 
 ally to whose protection he had trusted, while he 
 remained a sad monument of the imprudence of weak 
 princes, who, by taking part in the quarrel of mighty 
 neighbours, between whom they happen to be situ- 
 ated, are crushed and overwhelmed in the shock, 
 interview A few days after signing the treaty of truce, the 
 Charles and emperor set sail for Barcelona, but was driven by 
 contrai T winds to the island St. Margaret on the 
 coast of Provence. When Francis, who happened to 
 be not far distant, heard of this, he considered it as 
 an office of civility to invite him to take shelter in 
 his dominions, and proposed a personal interview with 
 him at Aigues-mortes. The emperor, who would 
 not be outdone by his rival in complaisance, instantly 
 repaired thither. As soon as he cast anchor in the 
 road, Francis, without waiting to settle any point of 
 ceremony, but relying implicitly on the emperor's 
 honour for his security, visited him on board his
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 337 
 
 galley, and was received and entertained with the BOOK 
 warmest demonstrations of esteem and affection. VL 
 Next day the emperor repaid the confidence which 15S8 * 
 the king had placed in him. He landed at Aigues- 
 mortes with as little precaution, and met with a re- 
 ception equally cordial. He remained on shore 
 during the night, and in both visits the two monarchs 
 vied with each other in expressions of respect and 
 friendship. d After twenty years of open hostilities, 
 or of secret enmity ; after so many injuries recipro- 
 cally inflicted or endured ; after having formally 
 given the lie and challenged one another to single 
 combat ; after the emperor had inveighed so publicly 
 against Francis as a prince void of honour or inte- 
 grity ; and after Francis had accused him of being 
 accessory to the murder of his eldest son, such an 
 interview appears altogether singular, and even un- 
 natural. . But the history of these monarchs abounds 
 with such surprising transitions. From implacable 
 hatred they appeared to pass, in a moment, to the 
 most cordial reconcilement ; from suspicion and dis- 
 trust to perfect confidence ; and from practising all 
 the dark arts of a deceitful policy, they could assume, 
 of a sudden, the liberal and open manners of two 
 gallant gentlemen. 
 
 The pope, besides the glory of having restored peace 
 to Europe, gained, according to his expectation, a 
 point of great consequence to his family, by prevail- 
 ing on the emperor to betroth Margaret of Austria, 
 his natural daughter, formerly the wife of Alexander 
 de' Medici, to his grandson Octavio Farnese, and, in 
 consideration of this marriage, to bestow several ho- 
 nours and territories upon his future son-in-law. A JJ 
 verv tragical event, which happened about the begin- Ale 
 
 f de' 
 
 Sandov. Hist. TO!, ii. 238. Relation de I'Entrerue de Charles V. et 
 Fran. I. par M. de la Rivoire. Hist, de Langued. par D.D. De Vie 
 Vaisette, torn. v. Preuves, p. 93. 
 
 Ch. VOL. II. Z
 
 338 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK ning of the year one thousand five hundred and 
 
 '. thirty-seven, had deprived Margaret of her first hus- 
 
 1538 " band. That young prince, whom the emperor's par- 
 tiality had raised to the supreme power in Florence, 
 upon the ruins of the public liberty, neglected entirely 
 the cares of government, and abandoned himself to 
 the most dissolute debauchery. Lorenzo de' Medici, 
 his nearest kinsman, was not only the companion but 
 director of his pleasures, and, employing all the powers 
 of a cultivated and inventive genius in this dishonour- 
 able ministry, added such elegance as well as variety 
 to vice, as gained him an absolute ascendant over the 
 mind of Alexander. But while Lorenzo seemed to 
 be sunk in luxury, and affected such an appearance 
 of indolence and effeminacy, that he would not wear 
 a sword, and trembled at the sight of blood, he con- 
 cealed under that disguise a dark, designing, auda- 
 cious spirit. Prompted either by the love of liberty, 
 or allured by the hope of attaining the supreme power, 
 he determined to assassinate Alexander, his benefactor 
 and friend. Though he long revolved this design in 
 his mind, his reserved and suspicious temper prevented 
 him from communicating it to any person whatever ; 
 and continuing to live with Alexander in their usual 
 familiarity, he, one night, under pretence of having 
 secured him an assignation with a lady of high rank 
 whom he had often solicited, drew that unwary prince 
 into a secret apartment of his house, and there stabbed 
 him, while he lay carelessly on a couch expecting the 
 arrival of the lady whose company he had been pro- 
 mised. But no sooner was the deed done, than stand- 
 ing astonished, and struck with horror at its atrocity, 
 he forgot, in a moment, all the motives which had 
 induced him to commit it. Instead of rousing the 
 people to recover their liberty by publishing the death 
 of the tyrant, instead of taking any step towards 
 opening his own way to the dignity now vacant, he
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 339 
 
 locked the door of the apartment, and, like a man BOOK 
 bereaved of reason and presence of mind, fled with VL 
 the utmost precipitation out of the Florentine terri- 
 tories. It was late next morning before the fate of 
 the unfortunate prince was known, as his attendants, 
 accustomed to his irregularities, never entered his 
 apartment early. Immediately the chief persons in the Cosn ^ . de * 
 state assembled. Being induced partly by the zeal of 
 Cardinal Cibo for the house of Medici, to which he 
 was nearly related, partly by the authority of Francis Une stat e 
 Guicciardini, who recalled to their memory, and re- 
 presented in striking colours, the caprice as well as 
 turbulence of their ancient popular government, they 
 agreed to place Cosmo de j Medici, a youth of eighteen, 
 the only male heir of that illustrious house, at the 
 head of the government ; though at the same time 
 such was their love of liberty, that they established 
 several regulations in order to circumscribe and mo- 
 derate his power. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lorenzo, having reached a place of His 
 
 iitjj T>1-'1' vernment 
 
 safety, made known what he had done to rhilip opposed by 
 Strozzi and the other Florentines who had been 
 driven into exile, or who had voluntarily retired, 
 when the republican form of government was abo- 
 lished, in order to make way for the dominion of the 
 Medici. By them the deed was extolled with ex- 
 travagant praises, and the virtue of Lorenzo was com- 
 pared with that of the elder Brutus, who disregarded 
 the ties of blood, or with that of the younger, who 
 forgot the friendship and favours of the tyrant, that 
 they might preserve or recover the liberty of their 
 country.' Nor did they rest satisfied with empty 
 panegyrics ; they immediately quitted their different 
 places of retreat, assembled forces, animated their 
 vassals and partisans to take arms, and to seize this 
 
 Lettercde' Principi, torn. iiL p 52. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK opportunity of re-establishing the public liberty on its 
 VL ancient foundation. Being openly assisted by the 
 1538. French ambassador at Rome, and secretly encouraged 
 by the pope, who bore no good-will to the house of 
 Medici, they entered the Florentine dominions with a 
 considerable body of men. But the persons who had 
 elected Cosmo possessed not only the means of sup- 
 porting his government, but abilities to employ them 
 in the most proper manner. They levied, with the 
 greatest expedition, a good number of troops ; they 
 endeavoured by every art to gain the citizens of 
 greatest authority, and to render the administration 
 of the young prince agreeable to the people. Above 
 all, they courted the emperor's protection, as the 
 only firm foundation of Cosmo's dignity and power. 
 Charles, knowing the propensity of the Florentines 
 to the friendship of France, and how much all the 
 partisans of a republican government detested him as 
 the oppressor of their liberties, saw it to be greatly 
 for his interest to prevent the re-establishment of the 
 ancient constitution in Florence. For this reason, he 
 not only acknowledged Cosmo as head of the Floren- 
 tine state, and conferred on him all the titles of ho- 
 nour with which Alexander had been dignified, but 
 engaged to defend him to the utmost ; and, as a 
 pledge of this, ordered the commanders of such of 
 his troops as were stationed on the frontiers of Tus- 
 cany, to support him against all aggressors. By their 
 aid, Cosmo obtained an easy victory over the exiles, 
 whose troops he surprised in the night-time, and took 
 most of the chiefs prisoners ; an event which broke 
 all their measures, and fully established his own 
 authority. But though he was extremely desirous of 
 the additional honour of marrying the emperor's 
 daughter, the widow of his predecessor, Charles, 
 secure already of his attachment, chose rather
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 34ll 
 
 to gratify the pope, by bestowing her on his BOOK 
 nephew/ VI 
 
 During the war between the emperor and Francis, 1538> 
 an event had happened which abated in some degree 
 the warmth and cordiality of friendship which had 
 long subsisted between the latter and the King of Hcni 7 
 England. James the Fifth of Scotland, an enter- ^to 
 prising young prince, having heard of the emperor's abate< 
 intention to invade Provence, was so fond of shewing 
 that he did not yield to any of his ancestors in the 
 sincerity of his attachment to the French crown, and 
 so eager to distinguish himself by some military 
 exploit, that he levied a body of troops with an in- 
 tention of leading them in person to the assistance of 
 the King of France. Though some unfortunate ac- 
 cident prevented his carrying any troops into France, 
 nothing could divert him from going thither in 
 person. Immediately upon his landing, he hastened 
 to Provence, but had been detained so long in his 
 voyage, that he came too late to have any share in the 
 military operations, and met the king on his return 
 after the retreat of the imperialists. But Francis 
 was so greatly pleased with his zeal, and no less with 
 his manners and conversation, that he could not refuse 
 him his daughter Magdalen, whom he demanded in 
 marriage. It mortified Henry extremely to see a jn. i. 
 prince, of whom he was immoderately jealous, form 
 an alliance, from which he derived such an accession 
 of reputation as well as security. 5 He could not, 
 however, with decency, oppose Francis's bestowing 
 his daughter upon a monarch descended from a race 
 of princes, the most ancient and faithful allies of the 
 French crown. But when James, upon the sudden 
 death of Magdalen, demanded as his second wife 
 
 1 Jovii Hist c. xcviii. p. 218, &c. Belcarii Comment, lib. xxii. p. 696. 
 Istoria de' suoi Tempi di Giov. Bat. Adriani. Ven. 1587. p. 10. 
 Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p. 75. 
 
 z 3
 
 342 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Mary of Guise, he warmly solicited Francis to deny 
 VI> his suit, and, in order to disappoint him, asked that 
 i588 * lady in marriage for himself. When Francis pre- 
 ferred the Scottish king's sincere courtship to his 
 artful and malevolent proposal, he discovered much 
 dissatisfaction. The pacification agreed upon at 
 Nice, and the familiar interview of the two rivals at 
 Aigues-mortes, filled Henry's mind with new suspi- 
 cions, as if Francis had altogether renounced his 
 friendship for the sake of new connections with the 
 Theempe- emperor. Charles, thoroughly acquainted with the 
 Henry. * temper of the English king, and watchful to observe 
 all the shiftings and caprices of his passions, thought 
 this a favourable opportunity of renewing his negoti- 
 ations with him, which had been long broken off. 
 By the death of Queen Catharine, whose interest the 
 emperor could not with decency have abandoned, the 
 chief cause of their discord was removed ; so that, 
 without touching upon the delicate question of her 
 divorce, he might now take what measures he 
 thought most effectual for regaining Henry's good- 
 will. For this purpose, he began with proposing 
 several marriage-treaties to the king. He offered 
 his niece, a daughter of the King of Denmark, to 
 Henry himself; he demanded the Princess Mary for 
 one of the princes of Portugal, and was even willing 
 to receive her as the king's illegitimate daughter. b 
 Though none of these projected alliances ever took 
 place, or perhaps were ever seriously intended, they 
 occasioned such frequent intercourse between the 
 courts, and so many reciprocal professions of civility 
 and esteem, as considerably abated the edge of 
 Henry's rancour against the emperor, and paved the 
 way for that union between them which afterwards 
 proved so disadvantageous to the French king. 
 
 b Mtn. de Ribier, torn. i. 496.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 343 
 
 The ambitious schemes in which the emperor had BOOK 
 been engaged, and the wars he had been carrying on 
 for some years, proved, as usual, extremely favour- 
 able to the progress of the reformation in Germany. 
 While Charles was absent upon his African expedi- ation ' 
 tion, or intent on his projects against France, his 
 chief object in Germany was to prevent the dissen- 
 sions about religion from disturbing the public tran- 
 quillity, by granting such indulgence to the protestant 
 princes as might induce them to concur with his 
 measures, or at least hinder them from taking part 
 with his rival. For this reason, he was careful to 
 secure to the protestants the possession of all the 
 advantages which they had gained by the articles of 
 pacification at Nuremberg, in the year one thousand 
 five hundred and thirty-two 1 ; and, except some slight 
 trouble from the proceedings of the imperial chamber, 
 they met with nothing to disturb them in the exercise 
 of their religion, or to interrupt the successful zeal 
 with which they propagated their opinions. Mean- Negot 
 while, the pope continued his negotiations for convok- iiurigu 
 ing a general council ; and though the protestants *'* r 
 had expressed great dissatisfaction with his intention council, 
 to fix upon Mantua as the place of meeting, he adhered 
 obstinately to his choice, and issued a bull on the 
 second of June, one thousand five hundred and thirty- 
 six, appointing it to assemble in that city on the 
 twenty-third of May, the year following ; he nomi- 
 nated three cardinals to preside in his name ; enjoined 
 all Christian princes to countenance it by their au- 
 thority, and invited the prelates of every nation to 
 attend in person. This summons of a council, an 
 assembly which from its nature and intention de- 
 manded quiet times, as well as pacific dispositions, at 
 the very juncture when the emperor was on his inarch 
 towards France, and ready to involve a great part of 
 
 1 Du Mont, Corps Diplom. torn. iv. part. ii. p. 138. 
 
 z 4,
 
 344 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Europe in the confusions of war, appeared to every 
 VI> person extremely unseasonable. It was intimated, 
 1538. however, to all the different courts by nuncios dis- 
 patched on purpose. k With an intention to gratify 
 the Germans, the emperor, during his residence in 
 Rome, had warmly solicited the pope to call a council ; 
 but being at the same time willing to try every art in 
 order to persuade Paul to depart from the neutrality 
 which he preserved between him and Francis, he sent 
 Heldo, his vice-chancellor, into Germany, along with 
 a nuncio dispatched thither, instructing him to second 
 all the nuncio's representations, and to enforce them 
 with the whole weight of the imperial authority. The 
 25 ' protestants gave them audience at Smalkalde, where 
 they had assembled in a body, in order to receive 
 them. But after weighing all their arguments, they 
 unanimously refused to acknowledge a council sum- 
 moned in the name and by the authority of the pope 
 alone ; in which he assumed the sole right of pre- 
 siding ; which was to be held in a city not only far 
 distant from Germany,* but subject to a prince, who 
 was a stranger to them, and closely connected with 
 the court of Rome; and to which their divines could 
 not repair with safety, especially after their doctrines 
 had been stigmatized in the very bull of convocation 
 with the name of heresy. These and many other 
 objections against the council, which appeared to 
 them unanswerable, they enumerated in a large mani- 
 festo, which they published in vindication of their 
 conduct. * 
 
 Against this the court of Rome exclaimed as a 
 flagrant proof of their obstinacy and presumption, 
 and the pope still persisted in his resolution to hold 
 the council at the time and in the place appointed. 
 But some unexpected difficulties being started by the 
 
 k Pdlavic. Hist Cone. Trid. 113. 
 
 1 Sleid. Kb. xii. 123, &c. Seckend. Com. lib. iii. p. 143, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 Duke of Mantua, both about the right of jurisdiction BOOK 
 over the persons who resorted to the council, and VL _ 
 the security of his capital amidst such a concourse of 1538< 
 strangers, the pope, after fruitless endeavours to 
 adjust these, first prorogued the council for some Octobers, 
 months, and afterwards transferring the place of 1538 ' 
 meeting to Vicenza, in the Venetian territories, 
 appointed it to assemble on the first of May in the 
 following year. As neither the emperor nor the 
 French king, who had not then come to any accom- 
 modation, would permit their subjects to repair 
 thither, not a single prelate appeared on the day 
 prefixed, and the pope, that his authority might not 
 become altogether contemptible by so many ineffec- 
 tual efforts to convoke that assembly, put off the 
 meeting by an indefinite prorogation." 1 
 
 But, that he might not seem to have turned his A partial 
 whole attention towards a reformation which he was 
 not able to accomplish, while he neglected that which b y ^ 
 was in his own power, he deputed a certain number P 
 of cardinals and bishops, with full authority to inquire 
 into the abuses and corruptions of the Roman court ; 
 and to propose the most effectual method of removing 
 them. This scrutiny, undertaken with reluctance, 
 was carried on slowly and with remissness. All 
 defects were touched with a gentle hand, afraid of 
 probing too deep, or of discovering too much. But 
 even by this partial examination, many irregularities 
 were detected, and many enormities exposed to light, 
 while the remedies which they suggested as most 
 proper, were either inadequate, or were never applied. 
 The report and resolution of these deputies, though 
 intended to be kept secret, were transmitted by some 
 accident into Germany, and, being immediately made 
 public, afforded ample matter for reflection and tri- 
 umph to the protestants." On the one hand, they 
 
 01 F. Paul, 117. Pallavic. 117. ' Sleid. 233.
 
 346 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK demonstrated the necessity of a reformation in the 
 VL head as well as the members of the church, and even 
 1538 ' pointed out many of the corruptions against which 
 Luther and his followers had remonstrated with the 
 greatest vehemence. They shewed, on the other 
 hand, that it was vain to expect this reformation from 
 ecclesiastics themselves, who, as Luther strongly ex- 
 pressed it, piddled at curing warts, while they over- 
 looked or confirmed ulcers. 
 1539. The earnestness with which the emperor seemed, 
 
 A league t . . . 
 
 formed iu at first, to press their acquiescing in the pope s scheme 
 to thaToT of holding a council in Italy, alarmed the protestant 
 Smaikaide, princes so much, that they thought it prudent to 
 strengthen their confederacy, by admitting several 
 new members who solicited that privilege, particularly 
 the King of Denmark. Heldo, who, during his 
 residence in Germany, had observed all the advan- 
 tages which they derived from that union, endea- 
 voured to counterbalance its effects by an alliance 
 among the catholic powers of the empire. This 
 league, distinguished by the name of holy, was 
 merely defensive ; and, though concluded by Heldo 
 in the emperor's name, was afterwards disowned by 
 him, and subscribed by very few princes. 15 
 alarms The protestants soon got intelligence of this asso- 
 
 c i at i n notwithstanding all the endeavours of the 
 contracting parties to conceal it ; and their zeal, 
 always apt to suspect and to dread, even to excess, 
 every thing that seemed to threaten religion, instantly 
 took the alarm, as if the emperor had been just ready 
 to enter upon the execution of some formidable plan 
 for the extirpation of their opinions. In order to 
 disappoint this, they held frequent consultations, 
 they courted the Kings of France and England with 
 great assiduity, and even began to think of raising 
 
 Seek. lib. iii. 164* 
 
 p Idem, lib. iii, 171. Recueil de Trailed.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 347 
 
 the respective contingents, both in men and money, BOOK 
 which they were obliged to furnish by the treaty of VL - 
 Smalkalde. But it was not long before they were I589 ' 
 convinced that these apprehensions were without 
 foundation, and that the emperor, to whom repose 
 was absolutely necessary after efforts so much beyond 
 his strength in the war with France, had no thoughts 
 of disturbing the tranquillity of Germany. As a 
 proof of this, at an interview with the protestant 
 princes in Francfort, his ambassadors agreed that all April 19. 
 concessions in their favour, particularly those con- 
 tained in the pacification of Nuremberg, should con- 
 tinue in force for fifteen months ; that during this 
 period all proceedings of the imperial chamber against 
 them should be suspended ; that a conference should 
 be held by a few divines of each party, in order to 
 discuss the points in controversy, and to propose arti- 
 cles of accommodation which should be laid before 
 the next diet. Though the emperor, that he might 
 not irritate the pope, who remonstrated against the 
 first part of this agreement as impolitic, and against 
 the latter as an impious encroachment upon his pre- 
 rogative, never formally ratified this convention, it 
 was observed with considerable exactness, and greatly 
 strengthened the basis of that ecclesiastical liberty 
 for which the protestants contended.* 1 
 
 A few days after the convention at Francfort, April 
 George Duke of Saxony died, and his death was an 
 event of great advantage to the reformation. That 
 
 every part 
 
 prince, the head of the Albertine, or younger branch 
 of the Saxon family, possessed, as Marquis of Misnia 
 and Thuringia, extensive territories, comprehending 
 Dresden, Leipsic, and other cities now the most con- 
 siderable in the electorate. From the first dawn of 
 the reformation, he had been its enemy as avowedly 
 as the electoral princes were its protectors, and had 
 
 < F. Paul, 82. Sleid. 247. Svck. lib. Hi. 20O.
 
 34,8 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK carried on his opposition not only with all the zeal 
 VI> flowing from religious prejudices, but with a virulence 
 1539. i ns pi r ed by personal antipathy to Luther, and imbit- 
 tered by the domestic animosity subsisting between 
 him and the other branch of his family. By his death 
 without issue, his succession fell to his brother Henry, 
 whose attachment to the protestant religion surpassed, 
 if possible, that of his predecessor to popery. Henry 
 no sooner took possession of his new dominions, than, 
 disregarding a clause in George's will, dictated by his 
 bigotry, whereby he bequeathed all his territories to 
 the emperor and King of the Romans, if his brother 
 should attempt to make any innovation in religion, 
 he invited some protestant divines, and among them 
 Luther himself, to Leipsic. By their advice and 
 assistance, he overturned in a few weeks the whole 
 system of ancient rites, establishing the full exercise 
 of the reformed religion, with the universal applause 
 of his subjects, who had long wished for this change, 
 which the authority of their duke alone had hitherto 
 prevented/ This revolution delivered the protestants 
 from the danger to which they were exposed by hav- 
 ing an inveterate enemy situated in the middle of their 
 territories ; and they had now the satisfaction of see- 
 ing that the possessions of the princes and cities 
 attached to their cause extended in one great and 
 almost unbroken line from the shore of the Baltic to 
 the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 A mutiny Soon after the conclusion of the truce at Nice, 
 an event happened, which satisfied all Europe that 
 Charles had prosecuted the war to the utmost ex- 
 tremity that the state of his affairs would permit. 
 Vast arrears were due to his troops, whom he had 
 long amused with vain hopes and promises. As they 
 now foresaw what little attention would be paid to 
 their demands, when by the re-establishment of peace 
 
 ' Sleid. 249.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 349 
 
 their services became of less importance, they lost all BOOK 
 patience, broke out into an open mutiny, and declared VL 
 that they thought themselves entitled to seize by 15S9 * 
 violence what was detained from them contrary to all 
 justice. Nor was this spirit of sedition confined to 
 one part of the emperor's dominions ; the mutiny 
 was almost as general as the grievance which gave 
 rise to it. The soldiers in the Milanese plundered 
 the open country without control, and filled the 
 capital itself with consternation. Those in garrison 
 at Goletta threatened to give up that important for- 
 tress to Barbarossa. In Sicily the troops proceeded 
 to still greater excesses : having driven away their 
 officers, they elected others in their stead, defeated a 
 body of men whom the viceroy sent against them, 
 took and pillaged several cities, conducting themselves 
 all the while in such a manner, that their operations 
 resembled rather the regular proceedings of a con- 
 certed rebellion, than the rashness and violence of 
 military mutiny. But by the address and prudence 
 of the generals, who, partly by borrowing money in 
 their own name, or in that of their master, partly by 
 extorting large sums from the cities in their respective 
 provinces, raised what was sufficient to discharge 
 the arrears of the soldiers, these insurrections were 
 quelled. The greater part of the troops were dis- 
 banded, such a number only being kept in pay as was 
 necessary for garrisoning the principal towns, and 
 protecting the sea-coasts from the insults of the 
 Turks. 5 
 
 It was happy for the emperor that the abilities of 
 his enerals extricated him out of these difficulties, 
 
 which it exceeded his own power to have removed. Toledo - 
 He had depended, as his chief resource for discharg- 
 ing the arrears due to his soldiers, upon the subsidies 
 which he expected from his Castilian subjects. For 
 
 ' Jovii Histor. lib. xxxvii. 203 c. Sandov. Ferreras, ix. 209.
 
 350 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK this purpose, he assembled the cortes of Castile at 
 Toledo, and having represented to them the extra- 
 
 1539. ordinary expence of his military operations, together 
 with the great debts in which these had necessarily 
 involved him, he proposed to levy such supplies as 
 the present exigency of his affairs demanded, by a 
 The com- general excise on commodities. But the Spaniards 
 c- a l rea( ty felt themselves oppressed with a load of taxes 
 
 tionofthat unknown to their ancestors. They had often com- 
 
 assembly* 
 
 plained that their country was drained not only of its 
 wealth but of its inhabitants, in order to prosecute 
 quarrels in which it was not interested, and to fight 
 battles from which it could reap no benefit, and they 
 determined not to add voluntarily to their own bur- 
 dens, or to furnish the emperor with the means of 
 engaging in new enterprises, no less ruinous to the 
 kingdom than most of those which he had hitherto 
 carried on. The nobles, in particular, inveighed with 
 great vehemence against the imposition proposed, as 
 an encroachment upon the valuable and distinguishing 
 privilege of their order, that of being exempted from 
 the payment of any tax. They demanded a con- 
 ference with the representatives of the cities concern- 
 ing the state of the nation. They contended that if 
 Charles would imitate the example of his predecessors, 
 who had resided constantly in Spain, and would avoid 
 entangling himself in a multiplicity of transactions 
 foreign to the concerns of his Spanish dominions, the 
 stated revenues of the crown would be fully sufficient 
 to defray the necessary expences of government. 
 They represented to him, that it would be unjust to 
 lay^iew burdens upon the people, while this prudent 
 and effectual method of re-establishing public credit, 
 and securing national opulence, was totally neglected. 1 
 Charles, after employing arguments, entreaties, and 
 promises, but without success, in order to overcome 
 
 1 Sandov. Hist. vol. ii. 269.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 35 j 
 
 their obstinacy, dismissed the assembly with great in- BOOK 
 dignation. From that period neither the nobles nor 
 the prelates have been called to these assemblies, on 15S9 - 
 pretence that such as pay no part of the public taxes ?* 
 should not claim any vote in laying them on. None tionofthe 
 have been admitted to the cortes but the procurators vS. SU 
 or representatives of eighteen cities. These, to the 
 number of thirty-six, being two from each community, 
 fonn an assembly which bears no resemblance either 
 in power or dignity or independence to the ancient 
 cortes, and are absolutely at the devotion of the court 
 in all their determinations." Thus the imprudent 
 zeal with which the Castilian nobles had supported 
 the regal prerogative, in opposition to the claims of 
 the commons during the commotions in the year one 
 thousand five hundred and twenty-one, proved at last 
 fatal to their own body. By enabling Charles to de- 
 press one of the orders in the state, they destroyed 
 that balance to which the constitution owed its se- 
 curity, and put it in his power, or in that of his suc- 
 cessors, to humble the other, and to strip it gradually 
 of its most valuable privileges. 
 
 At that time, however, the Spanish grandees still The Sjwn- 
 possessed extraordinary power as well as privileges, l t m p^L** 
 which they exercised and defended with a haughti- *^ hl s h 
 
 . privileges. 
 
 ness peculiar to themselves. Of this the emperor 
 himself had a mortifying proof during the meeting of 
 the cortes at Toledo. As he was returning one day 
 from a tournament, accompanied by most of the nobi- 
 lity, one of the Serjeants of the court, out of officious 
 zeal to clear the way for the emperor, struck the 
 Duke of Infantado's horse with his batoon, which that 
 haughty grandee resenting, drew his sword, beat and 
 wounded the officer. Charles, provoked at such an 
 insolent deed in his presence, immediately ordered 
 
 Sandov. Hist. vol. ii. 269. La Science du Gouvernement, par M. de 
 Real, torn. ii. p. 102.
 
 352 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Ronquillo, the judge of the court, to arrest the duke. 
 Ronquillo advanced to execute his charge, when the 
 
 1539. c ons table of Castile interposing, checked him, claimed 
 the right of jurisdiction over a grandee as a privilege 
 of his office, and conducted Infantado to his own 
 apartment. All the nobles present were so pleased 
 with the boldness of the constable in asserting the 
 rights of their order, that, deserting the emperor, 
 they attended him to his house with infinite applauses, 
 and Charles returned to the palace unaccompanied 
 by any person but the Cardinal Tavera. The em- 
 peror, how sensible soever of the affront, saw the 
 danger of irritating a jealous and high-spirited order 
 of men, whom the slightest appearance of offence 
 might drive to the most unwarrantable extremities. 
 For that reason, instead of straining at any ill-timed 
 exertion of his prerogative, he prudently connived at 
 the arrogance of a body too potent for him to con- 
 trol, and sent next morning to the Duke of Infantado, 
 offering to inflict what punishment he pleased on the 
 person who had affronted him. The duke, consider- 
 ing this as a full reparation to his honour, instantly 
 forgave the officer ; bestowing on him, besides, a 
 considerable present as a compensation for his wound. 
 Thus the affair was entirely forgotten x ; nor would 
 it have deserved to be mentioned, if it were not a 
 striking example of the high and independent spirit 
 of the Spanish nobles in that age, as well as an in- 
 stance of the emperor's dexterity in accommodating 
 his conduct to the circumstances in which he was 
 placed. 
 
 insnrrec- Charles was far from discovering the same conde- 
 
 Ghent scension or lenity towards the citizens of Ghent, who 
 
 not long after broke out into open rebellion against 
 
 his government. An event which happened in the 
 
 year one thousand five hundred and thirty-six, gave 
 
 * Sandov. ii. 274. Ferreras, ix. 212. Miniana, 113.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 353 
 
 occasion to this rash insurrection, so fatal to that BOOK 
 flourishing city. At that time the Queen-dowager VL 
 of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, having 1539< 
 received orders from her brother to invade France 
 with all the forces which she could raise, she as- 
 sembled the states of the United Provinces, and ob- 
 tained from them a subsidy of twelve hundred thou- 
 sand florins, to defray the expence of that undertaking. 
 Of this sum, the county of Flanders was obliged to 
 pay a third part as its proportion. But the citizens Pretension, 
 of Ghent, the most considerable city in that country, ^ M> e c 
 averse to a war with France, with which they carried 
 on an extensive and gainful commerce, refused to pay 
 their quota, and contended, that hi consequence of 
 stipulations between them and the ancestors of their 
 present sovereign the emperor, no tax could be levied 
 upon them, unless they had given their express con- 
 sent to the imposition of it. The governess, on the 
 other hand, maintained, that as the subsidy of twelve 
 hundred thousand florins had been granted by the 
 states of Flanders, of which their representatives were 
 members, they were bound, of course, to conform to 
 what was enacted by them, as it is the first principle 
 in society, on which the tranquillity and order of 
 government depend, that the inclinations of the 
 minority must be overruled by the judgment and de- 
 cision of the superior number. 
 
 The citizens of Ghent, however, were not willing Proceed- 
 to relinquish a privilege of such high importance as 
 that which they claimed. Having been accustomed, 
 under the government of the house of Burgundy, to 
 enjoy extensive immunities, and to be treated with 
 much indulgence, they disdained to sacrifice to the 
 delegated power of a regent, those rights and liberties 
 which they had often and successfully asserted against 
 their greatest princes. The queen, though she en- 
 deavoured at first to soothe them, and to reconcile 
 
 Ch. VOL. n. A A
 
 354 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK them to their duty by various concessions, was at last 
 ' so much irritated by the obstinacy with which they 
 1539. adhered to their claim, that she ordered all the citizens 
 of Ghent, on whom she could lay hold in any part of 
 the Netherlands, to be arrested. But this rash action 
 made an impression very different from what she ex- 
 pected, on men, whose minds were agitated with all 
 the violent passions which indignation at oppression 
 and zeal for liberty inspire. Less affected with the 
 danger of their friends and companions, than irritated 
 at the governess, they openly despised her authority, 
 and sent deputies to the other towns of Flanders, 
 conjuring them not to abandon their country at such 
 a juncture, but to concur with them in vindicating its 
 rights against the encroachments of a woman, who 
 either did not know or did not regard their immunities. 
 All but a few inconsiderable towns declined enter- 
 ing into any confederacy against the governess : they 
 joined, however, in petitioning her to put off the term 
 for payment of the tax so long, that they might have 
 it in their power to send some of their number into 
 Spain, in order to lay their title to exemption before 
 their sovereign. This she granted with some difficulty. 
 But Charles received their commissioners with an 
 haughtiness to which they were not accustomed from 
 their ancient princes, and, enjoining them to yield the 
 same respectful obedience to his sister, which they 
 owed to him in person, remitted the examination of 
 their claim to the council of Malines. This court, 
 which is properly a standing committee of the par- 
 liament or states of the country, and which possesses 
 the supreme jurisdiction in all matters civil as well as 
 criminal y , pronounced the claim of the citizens of 
 Ghent to be ill-founded, and appointed them forth- 
 with to pay their proportion of the tax. 
 
 y Descrittione di tuttii Paesi Bassi di Lud. Guicciardini. Ant. 1571. fol. 
 p. 53.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 355 
 
 Enraged at this decision, which they considered as BOOK 
 notoriously unjust, and rendered desperate on seeing 
 their rights betrayed by that very court which was 1539> 
 bound to protect them, the people of Ghent ran to JrS^d 
 arms in a tumultuary manner, drove such of the off r ! 
 
 .... -11 /. submit to 
 
 nobility as resided among them out of the city ; se- France, 
 cured several of the emperor's officers ; put one of 
 them to the torture, whom they accused of having 
 stolen or destroyed the record that contained a ratifi- 
 cation of the privileges of exemption from taxes which 
 they pleaded ; chose a council, to which they com- 
 mitted the direction of their affairs ; gave orders for 
 repairing and adding to their fortifications ; and 
 openly erected the standard of rebellion against their 
 sovereign. 2 Sensible, however, of their inability to 
 support what their zeal had prompted them to under- 
 take, and desirous of securing a protector against the 
 formidable forces by which they might expect soon 
 to be attacked, they sent some of their number to 
 Francis, offering not only to acknowledge him as their 
 sovereign, and to put him in immediate possession of 
 Ghent, but to assist him with all their forces in re- 
 covering those provinces in the Netherlands, which 
 had anciently belonged to the crown of France, and 
 had been so lately re-united to it by the decree of the 
 parliament of Paris. This unexpected proposition 
 coming from persons who had it in their power to 
 have performed instantly one part of what they under- 
 took, and who could contribute so effectually towards 
 the execution of the whole, opened great as well as 
 alluring prospects to Francis's ambition. The counties 
 of Flanders and Artois were of greater value than the 
 dutchy of Milan, which he had so long laboured to 
 acquire with passionate but fruitless desire; their 
 
 - M<5moires sur la Revoke des Gantois en 1 539, par Jean d' Hollander, frriw 
 en 1547. A la Haye, 1747. P. Heuter. Her. Austr. lib. *u p- 
 Sandov. Histor. torn. ii. p. 282. 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK situation with respect to France rendered it more easy 
 to conquer or to defend them ; and they might be 
 
 1589 * formed into a separate principality for the Duke of 
 Orleans, no less suitable to his dignity than that 
 which his father aimed at obtaining. To this, the 
 Flemings, who were acquainted with the French 
 manners and government, would not have been averse ; 
 and his own subjects, weary of their destructive ex- 
 peditions into Italy, would have turned their arms 
 towards this quarter with more good-will, and with 
 Francis de- greater vigour. Several considerations, nevertheless, 
 
 chnes their c . . . _ .. . 
 
 offer ; prevented .brands from laying hold of this opportu- 
 nity, the most favourable in appearance which had 
 ever presented itself, of extending his own dominions 
 or distressing the emperor. From the time of their 
 interview at Aigues-mortes, Charles had continued to 
 court the King of France with wonderful attention ; 
 and often flattered him with hopes of gratifying at 
 last his wishes concerning the Milanese, by granting 
 the investiture of it either to him or to one of his 
 ^ons. But though these hopes and promises were 
 thrown out with no other intention than to detach 
 him from his confederacy with the grand seignior, 
 or to raise suspicions in Solyman's mind by the ap- 
 pearance of a cordial and familiar intercourse subsist- 
 ing between the courts of Paris and Madrid, Francis 
 was weak enough to catch at the shadow by which 
 he had been so often amused, and from eagerness to 
 seize it, relinquished what must have proved a more 
 substantial acquisition. Besides this, the dauphin, 
 jealous to excess of his brother, and unwilling that a 
 prince who seemed to be of a restless and enterprising 
 nature should obtain an establishment, which from its 
 situation might be considered almost as a domestic 
 one, made use of Montmorency, who, by a singular 
 piece of good fortune, was at the same time the 
 favourite of the father and of the son, to defeat the
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 35-7 
 
 application of the Flemings, and to divert the king BOOK 
 from espousing their cause. Montmorency, accord- VL 
 ingly, represented, in strong terms, the reputation 15S9 - 
 and power which Francis would acquire by recovering 
 that footing which he had formerly in Italy, and that 
 nothing could be so efficacious to overcome the em- 
 peror's aversion to this, as a sacred adherence to the 
 truce, and refusing, on an occasion so inviting, to 
 countenance the rebellious subjects of his rival. 
 Francis, apt of himself to over-rate the value of the 
 Milanese, because he estimated it from the length of 
 time as well as from the great efforts which he had 
 employed in order to reconquer it, and fond of every 
 action which had the appearance of generosity, 
 assented without difficulty to sentiments so agreeable 
 to his own, rejected the propositions of the citizens 
 of Ghent, and dismissed their deputies with a harsh 
 answer. a 
 
 Not satisfied with this, by a farther refinement in communi- 
 
 , . cates their 
 
 generosity, he communicated to the emperor his intentions 
 whole negotiation with the malecontents, and all that 
 he knew of their schemes and intentions. 15 This con- 
 vincing proof of Francis's disinterestedness relieved 
 Charles from the most disquieting apprehensions, and 
 opened a way to extricate himself out of all his diffi- 
 culties. He had already received full information of 
 all the transactions in the Netherlands, and of the 
 ra^e with which the people of Ghent had taken arms 
 
 <3 1 11 
 
 against his government. He was thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the genius and qualities of his subjects 
 in that country ; with their love of liberty ; their at- 
 tachment to their ancient privileges and customs ; as 
 well as the invincible obstinacy with which their 
 minds, slow, but firm and persevering, adhered to 
 any measure on which they had deliberately resolved. 
 
 a M6n. de Bellay, p. 263. P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. xi. 263. 
 
 b Sandov. Histor. torn. ii. 284. 
 
 A A 3
 
 358 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK He easily saw what encouragement and support they 
 _ might have derived from the assistance of France ; 
 
 1539< and though now free from any danger in that quar- 
 ter, he was still sensible that some immediate as well 
 as vigorous interposition was necessary, in order to 
 prevent the spirit of disaffection from spreading in a 
 country where the number of cities, the multitude of 
 people, together with the great wealth diffused among 
 them by commerce, rendered it peculiarly formidable, 
 and would supply it with inexhaustible resources. 
 Charles's j^o expedient, after long deliberation, appeared to 
 
 dehbera- . P . . i -KT 1 
 
 tionscon- him so effectual as his going m person to the JNether- 
 journey to* lands ; and the governess, his sister, being of the same 
 the Nether- p m i OI1) warmly solicited him to undertake the jour- 
 ney. There were only two routes which he could 
 take ; one by land through Italy and Germany, the 
 other entirely by sea, from some port in Spain to one 
 in the Low Countries. But the former was more 
 tedious than suited the present exigency of his affairs ; 
 nor could he, in consistency with his dignity, or even 
 his safety, pass through Germany without such a 
 train both of attendants and of troops, as would have 
 added greatly to the time that he must have con- 
 sumed in his journey : the latter was dangerous at 
 this season, and, while he remained uncertain with 
 respect to the friendship of the King of England, 
 was not to be ventured upon, unless under the con- 
 proposes to voy of a powerful fleet. This perplexing situation, 
 through in which he was under the necessity of choosing, and 
 did not know what to choose, inspired him at last 
 with the singular and seemingly extravagant thought 
 of passing through France, as the most expeditious 
 way of reaching the Netherlands. He proposed in 
 his council to demand Francis's permission for that 
 purpose. All his counsellors joined with one voice 
 in condemning the measure as no less rash than un- 
 precedented, and which must infallibly expose him to
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 359 
 
 disgrace or danger ; to disgrace, if the demand were BOOK 
 rejected in the manner that he had reason to expect; 
 to danger, if he put his person in the power of an 15S9 - 
 enemy whom he had often offended, who had ancient 
 injuries to revenge, as well as subjects of present 
 contest still remaining undecided. But Charles, who 
 had studied the character of his rival with greater 
 care and more profound discernment than any of his 
 ministers, persisted in his plan, and flattered himself 
 that it might be accomplished not only without dan- 
 ger to his own person, but even without the expence 
 of any concession detrimental to his crown. 
 
 With this view, he communicated the matter to the 
 French ambassador at his court, and sent Granville 
 his chief minister to Paris, in order to obtain from 
 Francis permission to pass through his dominions, 
 and to promise that he would soon settle the affair of 
 the Milanese to his satisfaction. But at the same 
 time he entreated that Francis would not exact any 
 new promise, or even insist on former engagements, 
 at this juncture, lest whatever he should grant, 
 under his present circumstances, might seem rather 
 to be extorted by necessity, than to flow from friend- 
 ship or the love of justice. Francis, instead of at- 
 tending to the snare which such a slight artifice 
 scarcely concealed, was so dazzled with the splendour 
 of overcoming an enemy by acts of generosity, and 
 so pleased with the air of superiority, which the rec- 
 titude and disinterestedness of his proceedings gave 
 him on this occasion, that he at once assented to all 
 that was demanded. Judging of the emperor's heart 
 by his own, he imagined that the sentiments of. grati- 
 tude, arising from the remembrance of good offices 
 and liberal treatment, would determine him more 
 forcibly to fulfil what he had so often promised, than 
 the most precise stipulations that could be inserted in 
 any treaty. 
 
 A A 4>
 
 360 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Upon this, Charles, to whom every moment was 
 VL precious, set out, notwithstanding the fears and sus- 
 
 1539. picions of his Spanish subjects, with a small but 
 tion inthat splendid train of about a hundred persons. At Bay- 
 kingdom. Onn6j on the frontiers of France, he was received by 
 the dauphin and the Duke of Orleans, attended by 
 the Constable Montmorency. The two princes of- 
 fered to go into Spain, and to remain there as hos- 
 tages for the emperor's safety ; but this he rejected, 
 declaring, that he relied with implicit confidence on 
 the king's honour, and had never demanded, nor 
 would accept of, any other pledge for his security. 
 In all the towns through which he passed, the great- 
 est possible magnificence was displayed ; the magi- 
 strates presented him the keys of the gates ; the 
 prison doors were set open ; and, by the royal ho- 
 nours paid to him, he appeared more like the sove- 
 reign of the country than a foreign prince. The 
 1540. king advanced as far as Chatelherault to meet him ; 
 their interview was distinguished by the warmest 
 expressions of friendship and regard. They pro- 
 ceeded together towards Paris, and presented to the 
 inhabitants of that city, the extraordinary spectacle 
 of two rival monarchs, whose enmity had disturbed 
 and laid waste Europe during twenty years, making 
 their solemn entry together with all the symptoms of 
 a confidential harmony, as if they had forgotten for 
 ever past injuries, and would not revive hostilities for 
 the future. c 
 
 The empe- Charles remained six days at Paris ; but, amidst 
 ' the perpetual caresses of the French court, and the 
 various entertainments contrived to amuse or to do 
 him honour, he discovered an extreme impatience to 
 continue his journey, arising as much from an appre- 
 hension of danger which constantly haunted him, as 
 from the necessity of his presence in the Low Coun- 
 
 c Thuan. Hist. lib. i. c. 14. M6n. de Bellay, 264.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 tries. Conscious of the disingenuity of his own in- BOOK 
 tentions, he trembled when he reflected that some VI 1_ 
 fatal accident might betray them to his rival, or lead 154 * 
 him to suspect them ; and, though his artifices to 
 conceal them should be successful, he could not help 
 fearing that motives of interest might at last triumph 
 over the scruples of honour, and tempt Francis to 
 avail himself of the advantage now in his hands. 
 Nor were there wanting persons among the French 
 ministers, who advised the king to turn his own arts 
 against the emperor, and, as the retribution due for 
 so many instances of fraud or falsehood, to seize and 
 detain his person until he granted him full satisfac- 
 tion with regard to all the just claims of the French 
 crown. But no consideration could induce Francis to 
 violate the faith which he had pledged, nor could any 
 argument convince him that Charles, after all the pro- 
 mises that he had given, and all the favours which he 
 had received, might still be capable of deceiving him. 
 Full of this false confidence, he accompanied him to 
 St. Quentin ; and the two princes, who had met him 
 on the borders of Spain, did not take leave of him 
 until he entered his dominions in the Low Coun- 
 tries. 
 
 As soon as the emperor reached his own territo- and | isin - 
 
 r genuity. 
 
 ries, the French ambassadors demanded the accom- 
 plishment of what he had promised concerning the 
 investiture of Milan ; but Charles, under the plausible 
 pretext that his whole attention was then engrossed 
 by the consultations necessary towards suppressing 
 the rebellion in Ghent, put off the matter for some 
 time. But in order to prevent Francis from suspect- 
 ing his sincerity, he still continued to talk of his 
 resolutions with respect to that matter in the same 
 strain as when he entered France, and even wrote 
 to the king much to the same purpose, though in 
 general terms, and with equivocal expressions, which
 
 362 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 1540. 
 
 Reduction 
 of Ghent: 
 
 BOOK he might afterwards explain away or interpret at 
 pleasure. d 
 
 Meanwhile, the unfortunate citizens of Ghent, de- 
 stitute of leaders capable either of directing their 
 councils, or conducting their troops ; abandoned by 
 the French king, and unsupported by their country- 
 men ; were unable to resist their offended sovereign, 
 who was ready to advance against them with one 
 body of troops which he had raised in the Nether- 
 lands, with another drawn out of Germany, and a 
 third which had arrived from Spain by sea. The 
 near approach of danger made them, at last, so sen- 
 sible of their own folly, that they sent ambassadors 
 to the emperor, imploring his mercy, and offering to 
 set open their gates at his approach. Charles, without 
 vouchsafing them any other answer, than that he 
 would appear among them as their sovereign, with 
 the sceptre and the sword in his hand, began his 
 march at the head of his troops. Though he chose 
 to enter the city on the twenty-fourth of February, 
 his birth-day, he was touched with nothing of that 
 tenderness or indulgence which was natural towards 
 
 and punish, the place of his nativity. Twenty-six of the principal 
 
 mentofthe . . r ', , J 
 
 citizens. citizens were put to death ; a greater number was 
 sent into banishment ; the city was declared to have 
 forfeited all its privileges and immunities; the re- 
 venues belonging to it were confiscated ; its ancient 
 form of government was abolished ; the nomination 
 of its magistrates was vested for the future in the 
 emperor and his successors ; a new system of laws 
 and political administration was prescribed 6 , and in 
 order to bridle the seditious spirit of the citizens, 
 orders were given to erect a strong citadel, for defray- 
 ing the expence of which a fine of a hundred and 
 
 April 20. 
 
 d Me"moires de Ribier, i. 504. 
 
 e Les Coutumes et Loix du Coirit de Flandres, par Alex, le Grand, 
 3 torn. fol. Cambray, 1719, torn. i. p. 169.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 3(53 
 
 fifty thousand florins was imposed on the inhabitants, BOOK 
 together with an annual tax of six thousand florins for VL 
 the support of the garrison. f By these rigorous pro- I54 - 
 ceedings, Charles not only punished the citizens of 
 Ghent, but set an awful example of severity before 
 his other subjects in the Netherlands, whose im- 
 munities and privileges, partly the effect, partly the 
 cause of their extensive commerce, circumscribed the 
 prerogative of their sovereign within very narrow 
 bounds, and often stood in the way of measures which 
 he wished to undertake, or fettered and retarded him 
 in his operations. 
 
 Charles having thus vindicated and re-established Charles re - 
 his authority in the Low Countries, and being now 
 under no necessity of continuing the same scene of 
 falsehood and dissimulation with which he had long 
 amused Francis, began gradually to throw aside the 
 veil under which he had concealed his intentions with 
 respect to the Milanese. At first, he eluded the 
 demands of the French ambassadors, when they again 
 reminded him of his promises ; then he proposed, by 
 way of equivalent for the dutchy of Milan, to grant 
 the Duke of Orleans the investiture of Flanders, 
 clogging the offer, however, with impracticable con- 
 ditions, or such as he knew would be rejected. 8 At 
 last, being driven from all his evasions and subter- 
 fuges by their insisting for a categorical answer, he 
 peremptorily refused to give up a territory of such 
 value, or voluntarily to make such a liberal addition 
 to the strength of an enemy by diminishing his own 
 power. 11 He denied at the same time that he had 
 ever made any promise which could bind him to an 
 action so foolish, and so contrary to his own in* 
 terest. 
 
 1 Harffii Annalcs Brabantiae, vol. i. 616. 
 
 * Mftn. de ttibier, i. 09. 514. 
 
 " Ribier, i. 519. ' Mm. de IMlay, 365, 6,
 
 364 
 
 BOOK 
 VI. 
 
 15-10. 
 
 The pope 
 authorizes 
 the institu- 
 tion of the 
 order of 
 Jesuits. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 Of all the transactions in the emperor's life, this, 
 without doubt, reflects the greatest dishonour on his 
 reputation.* Though Charles was not extremely 
 scrupulous at other times about the means which he 
 employed for accomplishing his ends, and was not 
 always observant of the strict precepts of veracity and 
 honour, he had hitherto maintained some regard for 
 the maxims of that less precise and rigid morality by 
 which monarchs think themselves entitled to regulate 
 their conduct. But, on this occasion, the scheme 
 that he formed of deceiving a generous and open- 
 hearted prince ; the illiberal and mean artifices by 
 which he carried it on ; the insensibility with which 
 he received all the marks of his friendship, as well as 
 the ingratitude with which he requited them ; are 
 all equally unbecoming the dignity of his character, 
 and inconsistent with the grandeur of his views. 
 
 This transaction exposed Francis to as much scorn 
 as it did the emperor to censure. After the ex- 
 perience of a long reign, after so many opportunities 
 of discovering the duplicity and artifices of his rival, 
 the credulous simplicity with which he trusted him at 
 this juncture seemed to merit no other return than 
 what it actually met with. Francis, however, remon- 
 strated and exclaimed, as if this had been the first 
 instance in which the emperor had deceived him. 
 Feeling, as is usual, the insult which was offered to 
 his understanding still more sensibly than the injury 
 done to his interest, he discovered such resentment, 
 as made it obvious that he would lay hold on the first 
 opportunity of being revenged, and that a war, no less 
 rancorous than that which had so lately raged, would 
 soon break out anew in Europe. 
 
 But singular as the transaction which has been re- 
 lated may appear, this year is rendered still more 
 memorable by the establishment of the order of 
 
 k Jovii Hist lib. xxxix. p. 238 a.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 365 
 
 Jesuits ; a body whose influence on ecclesiastical as BOOK 
 well as civil affairs hath been so considerable, that an 
 account of the genius of its laws and government 154a 
 justly merits a place in history. When men take a 
 view of the rapid progress of this society towards 
 wealth and power ; when they contemplate the ad- 
 mirable prudence with which it has been governed ; 
 when they attend to the persevering and systematic 
 spirit with which its schemes have been carried on ; 
 they are apt to ascribe such a singular institution to 
 the superior wisdom of its founder, and to suppose 
 that he had formed and digested his plan with pro- 
 found policy. But the Jesuits, as well as the other 
 monastic orders, are indebted for the existence of 
 their order, not to the wisdom of their founder, but 
 to his enthusiasm. Ignatio Loyola, whom I have 
 already mentioned on occasion of the wound which 
 he received in defending Pampeluna 1 , was a fanatic 
 distinguished by extravagancies in sentiment and con- 
 duct, no less incompatible with the maxims of sober 
 reason, than repugnant to the spirit of true religion. 
 The wild adventures, and visionary schemes, in which 
 his enthusiasm engaged him, equal any thing recorded 
 in the legends of the Roman saints, but are un- 
 worthy of notice in history. 
 
 Prompted by this fanatical spirit, or incited by the Fanaticism 
 love of power and distinction, from which such pr/e- 
 tenders to superior sanctity are not exempt, Loyola 
 was ambitious of becoming the founder of a religious 
 order. The plan, which he formed of its constitution 
 and laws, was suggested, as he gave out, and as his 
 followers still teach, by the immediate inspiration of 
 heaven." 1 But, notwithstanding this high pretension, 
 his design met at first with violent opposition. The 
 
 Vol. II. Book ii. p. 66. 
 
 m Compte rendu des Constitutions des J&uites au Parlement de Pro- 
 vence, par M. de Monclar, p. 285.
 
 366 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK pope, to whom Loyola had applied for the sanction 
 VI> of his authority to confirm the institution, referred 
 
 his petition to a committee of cardinals. They re- 
 presented the establishment to be unnecessary as well 
 as dangerous, and Paul refused to grant his approba- 
 tion of it. At last, Loyola removed all his scruples 
 by an offer which it was impossible for any pope to 
 The pope's resist. He proposed, that, besides the three vows of 
 "nfirmb r poverty, of chastity, and of monastic obedience, which 
 the order. are common to all the orders of regulars, the mem- 
 bers of his society should take a fourth vow of obe- 
 dience to the pope, binding themselves to go whither- 
 soever he should command for the service of religion, 
 and without requiring any thing from the holy see 
 for their support. At a time when the papal autho- 
 rity had received such a shock by the revolt of so 
 many nations from the Romish church ; at a time 
 when every part of the popish system was attacked 
 with so much violence and Success, the acquisition of 
 a body of men, thus peculiarly devoted to the see of 
 Rome, and whom it might set in opposition to all its 
 enemies, was an object of the highest consequence. 
 Sep. 27. Paul, instantly perceiving this, confirmed the institu- 
 tion of the Jesuits by his bull ; granted the most 
 ample privileges to the members of the society ; and 
 appointed Loyola to be the first general of the order. 
 The event hath fully justified Paul's discernment, in 
 expecting such beneficial consequences to the see of 
 Rome from this institution. In less than half a cen- 
 tury, the society obtained establishments in every 
 country that adhered to the Roman Catholic church ; 
 its power and wealth increased amazingly ; the num- 
 ber of its members became great ; their character as 
 well as accomplishments were still greater ; and the 
 Jesuits were celebrated by the friends, and dreaded 
 by the enemies of the Romish faith, as the most able 
 and enterprising order in the church.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 367 
 
 The constitution and laws of the society were per- BOOK 
 fected by Laynez and Aquaviva, the two generals VL 
 who succeeded Loyola, men far superior to their 154a 
 
 . , M . . i i Itsconsti- 
 
 master in abilities, and in the science of government, tution and 
 They framed that system of profound and artful Sparti- 
 policy which distinguishes the order. The large in- [j uUr atten ' 
 fusion of fanaticism, mingled with its regulations, 
 should be imputed to Loyola its founder. Many 
 circumstances concurred in giving a peculiarity of 
 character to the order of Jesuits, and in forming the 
 members of it not only to take a greater part in the 
 affairs of the world than any other body of monks, 
 but to acquire superior influence in the conduct of 
 them. 
 
 The primary object of almost all .the monastic The object 
 orders is to separate men from the world, and from singular. e 
 any concern in its affairs. In the solitude and 
 silence of the cloister, the monk is called to work out 
 his own salvation by extraordinary acts 'of mortifi- 
 cation and piety. He is dead to the world, and ought 
 not to mingle in its transactions. He can be of no 
 benefit to mankind but by his example and by his 
 prayers. On the contrary, the Jesuits are taught to 
 consider themselves as formed for action. They are 
 chosen soldiers, bound to exert themselves continually 
 in the service of God, and of the pope, his vicar on 
 earth. Whatever tends to instruct the ignorant ; 
 whatever can be of use to reclaim or to oppose the 
 enemies of the holy see, is their proper object. That 
 they may have full leisure for this active service, they 
 are totally exempted from those functions, the per- 
 formance of which is the chief business of other 
 monks. They appear in no processions ; they prac- 
 tise no rigorous austerities ; they do not consume 
 one half of their time in the repetition of tedious 
 offices." But they are required to attend to all the 
 
 11 Compte rendu par M. de Monclar, p. xiii. 290. Sur la Destruct. ds 
 Jsuites, par M. d'Alembcrt, p. 42.
 
 368 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK transactions of the world, on account of the influence 
 ' which these may have upon religion ; they are directed 
 154a to study the dispositions of persons in high rank, and 
 to cultivate their friendship ; and by the very consti- 
 tution, as well as genius of the order, a spirit of action 
 and intrigue is infused into all its members. 
 Pecuiiari- As the object of the society of Jesuits differed from 
 founts that of the other monastic orders, the diversity was no 
 policy, par- j m ^g f orm O f its government. The other orders 
 
 ticularly > . . 
 
 with respect are to be considered as voluntary associations, in which 
 Powe e r of whatever effects the whole body, is regulated by the 
 the general. common suffrage of all its members. The executive 
 power is vested in the persons placed at the head of 
 each convent, or of the whole society ; the legislative 
 authority resides in the community. Affairs of 
 moment, relating to particular convents, are deter- 
 mined in conventual chapters ; such as respect the 
 whole order are considered in general congregations. 
 But Loyola, full of the ideas of implicit obedience, 
 which he had derived from his military profession, ap- 
 pointed that the government of his order should be 
 purely monarchical. A general, chosen for life by 
 deputies from the several provinces, possessed power 
 that was supreme and independent, extending to 
 every person, and to every case. He, by his sole 
 authority, nominated provincials, rectors, and every 
 other officer employed in the government of the 
 society, and could remove them at pleasure. In him 
 was vested the sovereign administration of the re- 
 venues and funds of the order. Every member 
 belonging to it was at his disposal ; and by his un- 
 controllable mandate, he could impose on them any 
 task, or employ them in what service soever he 
 pleased. To his commands they were required not 
 only to yield outward obedience, but to resign up to- 
 him the inclinations of their own wills, and the senti- 
 
 Compte rendu p.-;r M, de Monclar, p. 12.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V, 369 
 
 merits of their own understandings. They were to BOOK 
 listen to his injunctions, as if they had been uttered VL 
 by Christ himself. Under his direction, they were 1540> 
 to be mere passive instruments, like clay in the hands 
 of the potter, or like dead carcasses, incapable of re- 
 sistance. p Such a singular form of policy could not 
 fail to impress its character on all the members of 
 the order, and to give a peculiar force to all its oper- 
 ations. There is not in the annals of mankind any 
 example of such a perfect despotism, exercised not 
 over monks shut up in the cells of a convent, but 
 over men dispersed among all the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 As the constitutions of the order vest in the general circun*. 
 such absolute dominion over all its members, they which 
 carefully provide for his being perfectly informed 
 
 with respect to the character and abilities of his sub- >t with the 
 
 IP J'J greatest 
 
 jects. Every novice who offers himself as a candidate advantage. 
 for entering into the order is obliged to manifest his 
 conscience to the superior, or to a person appointed 
 by him ; and, in doing this, is required to confess not 
 only his sins and defects, but to discover the inclin- 
 ations, the passions, and the bent of his soul. This 
 manifestation must be renewed every six months. q 
 The society, not satisfied with penetrating in this 
 manner into the innermost recesses of the heart, 
 directs each member to observe the words and actions 
 of the novices ; they are constituted spies upon their 
 conduct; and are bound to disclose everything of 
 importance concerning them to the superior. In 
 order that this scrutiny into their character may be 
 as complete as possible, a long noviciate must expire, 
 during which they pass through the several grad- 
 ations of ranks in the society, and they must have 
 
 ' Comptc rendii au Parlem. de Brcta-ne, par M. de Chalet*, p. 41, & 
 Compte rendu par M. lie Monclar, 83. 185. 84S. 
 Compte rendu par M. de Monclar, p. 121, &c. 
 Ch. VOL. II. B B
 
 370 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK attained the full age of thirty-three years before they 
 _ L_ can be admitted to take the final vows, by which 
 
 1540. fa e y b ecome professed members. r By these various 
 methods, the superiors, under whose immediate in- 
 spection the novices are placed, acquire a thorough 
 knowledge of their dispositions and talents. In order 
 that the general, who is the soul that animates and 
 
 o ' 
 
 moves the whole society, may have under his eye 
 every thing necessary to inform or direct him, the 
 provincials and heads of the several houses are ob- 
 liged to transmit to him regular and frequent reports 
 concerning the members under their inspection. In 
 these they descend into minute details with respect 
 to the character of each person, his abilities natural 
 or acquired, his temper, his experience in affairs, and 
 the particular department for which he is best fitted. 8 
 These reports, when digested and arranged, are en- 
 tered into registers kept on purpose that the general 
 may, at one comprehensive view, survey the state of 
 the society in every corner of the earth ; observe the 
 qualifications and talents of its members ; and thus 
 choose, with perfect information, the instruments, 
 
 r Compte rendu par M. de Moncl. 215. 241. Sur la Destr. des Je"s. 
 par M. d'Alemb. p. 39. 
 
 * M. de Chalotais h.as made a calculation of the number of these reports, 
 which the general of the Jesuits must annually receive according to the regula- 
 tions of the society. These amount in all to 6584. If the sum be divided by 
 37, the number of provinces in the order, it will appear that 177 reports con- 
 cerning the state of each province are transmitted to Rome annually. Compte, 
 p. 52. Besides this, there may be extraordinary letters, or such as are sent by 
 the monitors or spies whom the general and provincials entertain in each house. 
 Compte par M. de Moncl. p. 431. Hint, des Jesuites, Amst. 1761, torn. iv. 
 p. 56. The provincials and heads of houses not only report concerning the 
 members of the society, but are bound to give the general an account of the 
 civil affairs in the country wherein they are settled, as far as their knowledge 
 of these may be of benefit to religion. This condition may extend to every 
 particular, so that the general is furnished with full information concerning the 
 transactions of every prince and state in the world. Cample par M. de Moncl. 
 443. Hist, des Jesuit, ibid. p. 58. When the affairs with respect to which 
 the provincials or rectors write are of importance, they are directed to use 
 ciphers ; and each of them has a particular cipher from the general. Compte 
 par M. Ckalolais, p. 54.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 which his absolute power can employ in any service BOOK 
 for which he thinks meet to destine them. ' V1 - 
 
 As it was the professed intention of the order of 
 Jesuits to labour with unwearied zeal in promoting 
 the salvation of men, this engaged them, of course, and influ - 
 in many active functions. From their first institu- " 
 tion, they considered the education of youth as then- 
 peculiar province ; they aimed at being spiritual 
 guides and confessors ; they preached frequently in 
 order to instruct the people ; they set out as mission- 
 aries to convert unbelieving nations. The novelty of 
 the institution, as well as the singularity of its objects, 
 procured the order many admirers and patrons. The 
 governors of the society had the address to avail them- 
 selves of every circumstance in its favour, and in a 
 short time the number as well as influence of its mem- 
 bers increased wonderfully. Before the expiration of 
 the sixteenth century, the Jesuits had obtained the 
 chief direction of the education of youth in every 
 catholic country in Europe. They had become the 
 confessors of almost all its monarchs, a function of 
 no small importance in any reign, but, under a weak 
 prince, superior even to that of minister. They were 
 the spiritual guides of almost every person eminent 
 for rank or power. They possessed the highest 
 degree of confidence and interest with the papal 
 court, as the most zealous and able champions for 
 its authority. The advantages which an active and 
 enterprising body of men might derive from all these 
 circumstances are obvious. They formed the minds 
 of men in their youth. They retained an ascendant 
 over them in their advanced years. They possessed, 
 at different periods, the direction of the most con- 
 siderable courts in Europe. They mingled in all 
 affairs. They took part in every intrigue and revolu- 
 
 1 Compte reiulu par M. dc Moncl. p. 215. 439. Compte rendu par M. 
 de C'lialotais, p. 52. -'22. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tion. The general, by means of the extensive intel- 
 ligence which he received, could regulate the oper- 
 
 154 - ations of the order with the most perfect discernment, 
 and, by means of his absolute power, could carry them 
 on with the utmost vigour and effect." 
 
 Progress of Together with the power of the order, its wealth 
 continued to increase. Various expedients were de- 
 vised for eluding the obligation of the vow of poverty. 
 The order acquired ample possessions in every catholic 
 country ; and by the number as well as magnificence 
 of its public buildings, together with the value of its 
 property, moveable or real, it vied with the most 
 opulent of the monastic fraternities. Besides the 
 sources of wealth common to all the regular clergy, 
 the Jesuits possessed one which was peculiar to them- 
 selves. Under pretext of promoting the success of 
 their missions, and of facilitating the support of their 
 missionaries, they obtained a special licence from the 
 court of Rome to trade with the nations which they 
 laboured to convert. In consequence of this, they 
 engaged in an extensive and lucrative commerce, both 
 in the East and West Indies. They opened ware- 
 houses in different parts of Europe, in which they 
 vended their commodities. Not satisfied with trade 
 alone, they imitated the example of other commercial 
 societies, and aimed at obtaining settlements. They 
 acquired possession accordingly of a large and fertile 
 province in the southern continent of America, and 
 reigned as sovereigns over some hundred thousand 
 subjects.* 
 
 u When Loyola, in the year 1540, petitioned the pope to authorize the insti- 
 tution of the order, he had only ten disciples. But in the year 16O8, sixty- 
 eight years after their first institution, the number of Jesuits had increased to 
 ten thousand five hundred and eighty one. In the year 1710, the order pos- 
 sessed twenty-four pnfessed houses ; fifty-nine houses of probation ; three hun- 
 dred and forty residencies ; six hundred and twelve colleges; two hundred 
 missions; one hundred and fifty seminaries and boarding-schools; and con- 
 sisted of 19,998 Jesuits. Hist. desJhuiles, torn. i. p. 20. 
 
 * Hist, des Je"s. iv. 168 196, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 373 
 
 Unhappily for mankind, the vast influence which BOOK 
 
 the order of Jesuits acquired by all these different L_ 
 
 means, has been often exerted with the most perni- 154 - 
 cious effect. Such was the tendency of that disci- 
 pline observed by the society in fonning its members, 
 and such the fundamental maxims in its constitution, 
 that every Jesuit was taught to regard the interest of 
 the order as the capital object, to which every con- 
 sideration was to be sacrificed. This spirit of attach- 
 ment to their order, the most ardent, perhaps, that 
 ever influenced any body of men y , is the characteristic 
 principle of the Jesuits, and serves as a key to the 
 genius of their policy, as well as to the peculiarities 
 in their sentiments and conduct. 
 
 As it was for the honour and advantage of the 
 society, that its members should possess an ascendant 
 over persons in high rank or of great power, the de- 
 sire of acquiring and preserving such a direction of 
 their conduct, with greater facility, has led the Jesuits 
 to propagate a system of relaxed and pliant morality, 
 which accommodates itself to the passions of men, 
 which justifies their vices, which tolerates their im- 
 perfections, which authorizes almost every action that 
 the most audacious or crafty politician would wish to 
 perpetrate. 
 
 As the prosperity of the order, was intimately con- 
 nected with the preservation of the papal authority, 
 the Jesuits, influenced by the same principle of attach- 
 ment to the interests of their society, have been the 
 most zealous patrons of those doctrines, which tend 
 to exalt ecclesiastical power on the ruins of civil go- 
 vernment. They have attributed to the court of 
 Rome a jurisdiction as extensive and absolute as was 
 claimed by the most presumptuous pontiff's in the 
 dark ages. They have contended for the -entire in- 
 dependence of ecclesiastics on the civil magistrate. 
 
 y Compte rendu par M. do .Moncl. p 285. 
 BBS
 
 374 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK They have published such tenets concerning the duty 
 of opposing princes who were enemies of the catholic 
 
 154 - faith, as countenanced the most atrocious crimes, and 
 tended to dissolve all the ties which connect subjects 
 with their rulers. 
 
 As the order derived both reputation and authority 
 from the zeal with which it stood forth in defence of 
 the Romish church against the attacks of the re- 
 formers, its members, proud of this distinction, have 
 considered it as their peculiar function to combat the 
 opinions, and to check the progress of the protestants. 
 They have made use of every art, and have employed 
 every weapon against them. They have set them- 
 selves in opposition to every gentle or tolerating 
 measure in their favour. They have incessantly stirred 
 up against them all the rage of ecclesiastical and civil 
 persecution. 
 
 Monks of other denominations have, indeed, ven- 
 tured to teach the same pernicious doctrines, and 
 have held opinions equally inconsistent with the order 
 and happiness of civil society. But they, from reasons 
 which are obvious, have either delivered such opinions 
 with greater reserve, or have propagated them with 
 less success. Whoever recollects the events which 
 have happened in Europe during two centuries, will 
 find that the Jesuits may justly be considered as re- 
 sponsible for most of the pernicious effects arising 
 from that corrupt and dangerous casuistry, from those 
 extravagant tenets concerning ecclesiastical power, 
 and from that intolerant spirit, which have been the 
 disgrace of the church of Rome throughout that 
 period, and which have brought so many calamities 
 upon civil society. 2 
 Some ad- But amidst many bad consequences flowing from 
 
 vantages !_/ 
 
 resulting the institution of this order, mankind, it must be ac- 
 knowledged, have derived from it some considerable 
 
 z Encyclop&tie, art. Jemites, torn. viii. 513.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 375 
 
 advantages. As the Jesuits made the education of BOOK 
 
 youth one of their capital objects, and as their first VL 
 
 attempts to establish colleges for the reception of stu- 154(X 
 
 i . , , ofthis 
 
 dents were violently opposed by the universities in order; 
 different countries, it became necessary for them, as 
 the most effectual method of acquiring the public 
 favour, to surpass their rivals in science and industry. 
 This prompted them to cultivate the study of ancient 
 literature with extraordinary ardour. This put them 
 upon various methods for facilitating the instruction 
 of youth ; and by the improvements which they made 
 in it, they have contributed so much towards the pro- 
 gress of polite learning, that on this account they 
 have merited well of society. Nor has the order of 
 Jesuits been successful only in teaching the elements 
 of literature ; it has produced likewise eminent mas- 
 ters in many branches of science, and can alone boast 
 of a greater number of ingenious authors, than all the 
 other religious fraternities taken together.* 
 
 But it is in the New World that the Jesuits have more 
 exhibited the most wonderful display of their abilities, the 
 and have contributed most effectually to the benefit 
 of the human species. The conquerors of that unfor- 
 tunate quarter of the globe acted at first as if they 
 
 * M. d'Alembert has observed, that though the Jesuits have made extraor- 
 dinary progress in erudition of every species ; though they can reckon up many 
 of their brethren who have been eminent mathematicians, antiquaries, and cri- 
 tics ; thougli they have even formed some orators of reputation ; yet the order 
 has never produced one man, whose mind was so much enlightened with sound 
 knowledge, as to merit the name of a philosopher. Hut it seems to be the un- 
 avoidable effect of monastic education to contract and fetter the human mind. 
 The partial attachment of a monk to the interest of his order, which is often 
 incompatible with that of other citizens ; the habit of implicit obedience to the 
 will of a superior, together with the frequent return of the wearisome and fri- 
 volous duties of the cloister, debase his faculties and extinguish that generosity 
 of sentiment and spirit, which qualifies men for thinking or feelingjustly with 
 respect to what is proper in life and conduct. Father Paul of Venice in, per- 
 haps, the only person educated in a cloister that ever was altogether superior 
 to its prejudices, or who viewed the transactions of men, and reasoned concern, 
 i ng the interests of society, with the enlarged sentiments of a philosopher, with 
 the discernment of a man conversant in affairs, and with the liberality of a 
 gentleman. 
 
 B B 4
 
 376 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK had nothing in view but to plunder, to enslave, and: 
 
 - ! to exterminate its inhabitants. The Jesuits alone 
 
 154a made humanity the object of their settling there. 
 About the beginning of the last century they obtained 
 admission into the fertile province of Paraguay, which 
 stretches across the southern continent of America, 
 from the east side of the immense ridge of the Andes, 
 to the confines of the Spanish and Portuguese settle- 
 ments on the banks of the river de la Plata. They 
 found the inhabitants in a state little different from 
 that which takes place among men when they first 
 begin to unite together ; strangers to the arts ; sub- 
 sisting precariously by hunting or fishing ; and hardly 
 acquainted with the first principles of subordination 
 and government. The Jesuits set themselves to in- 
 struct and to civilize these savages. They taught 
 them to cultivate the ground, to rear tame animals, 
 and to build houses. They brought them to live to- 
 gether in villages. They trained them to arts and 
 manufactures. They made them taste the sweets of 
 society ; and accustomed them to the blessings of 
 security and order. These people became the subjects 
 of their benefactors ; who have governed them with 
 a tender attention, resembling that with which a 
 father directs his children. Respected and beloved 
 almost to adoration, a few Jesuits presided over some 
 hundred thousand Indians. They maintained a per- 
 fect equality among all the members of the com- 
 munity. Each of them was obliged to labour not 
 for himself alone, but for the public. The produce 
 of their fields, together with the fruits of their in- 
 dustry of every species, was deposited in common 
 storehouses, from which each individual received every 
 thing necessary for the supply of his wants. By this 
 institution, almost all the passions which disturb the 
 peace of society, and render the members of it un- 
 happy, were extinguished. A few magistrates, chosen
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 377 
 
 from among their countrymen, by the Indians them- BOOK 
 selves, watched over the public tranquillity, and secured VL 
 obedience to the laws. The sanguinary punishments 15<a 
 frequent under other governments were unknown. 
 An admonition from a Jesuit ; a slight mark of in- 
 famy ; or, on some singular occasion, a few lashes with 
 a whip, were sufficient to maintain good order among 
 these innocent and happy people. 1 * 
 
 But even in this meritorious effort of the Jesuits Even here 
 for the good of mankind, the genius and spirit of their jSj n *^5" 
 order have mingled and are discernible. They plainly policy of the 
 
 i i i i -r i ort * er * 
 
 aimed at establishing m Paraguay an independent 
 empire, subject to the society alone, and which, by the 
 superior excellence of its constitution and police, could 
 scarcely have failed to extend its dominions over all 
 the southern continent of America. With this view, 
 in order to prevent the Spaniards or Portuguese in 
 the adjacent settlements from acquiring any danger- 
 ous influence over the people within the limits of the 
 province subject to the society, the Jesuits endeavoured 
 to inspire the Indians with hatred and contempt of 
 these nations. They cut off all intercourse between 
 their subjects and the Spanish or Portuguese settle- 
 ments. They prohibited any private trader of either 
 nation from entering their territories. When they 
 were obliged to admit any person in a public character 
 from the neighbouring governments, they did not per- 
 mit him to have any conversation with their subjects, 
 and no Indian was allowed even to enter the house 
 where these strangers resided, unless in the presence 
 of a Jesuit. In order to render any communication 
 between them as difficult as possible, they industri- 
 ously avoided giving the Indians any knowledge of 
 the Spanish, or of any other European language ; 
 
 >> Hist, du Paraguay par le Pere de Charlevoix, torn. ii. 42, &c. Voyage 
 au P^rou par Don G. Juan et D. Ant. de Ulloa, torn. i. 540, &c. Par. 4to. 
 
 1752.
 
 378 
 
 BOOK 
 VI. 
 
 1540. 
 
 Reason for 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 but encouraged the different tribes, which they had 
 civilized, to acquire a certain dialect of the Indian 
 tongue, and laboured to make that the universal lan- 
 guage throughout their dominions. As all these 
 precautions, without military force, would have been 
 insufficient to have rendered their empire secure and 
 permanent, they instructed their subjects in the Euro- 
 pean arts of war. They formed them into bodies of 
 cavalry and infantry, completely armed and regularly 
 disciplined. They provided a great train of artillery, 
 as well as magazines stored with all the implements 
 of war. Thus they established an army so numerous 
 and well-appointed, as to be formidable in a country, 
 where a few sickly and ill-disciplined battalions com- 
 posed all the military force kept on foot by the Span- 
 iards or Portuguese. 
 
 The Jesuits gained no considerable degree of power 
 fuii'sfview during the reign of Charles V., who, with his usual 
 sagacity, discerned the dangerous tendency of the in- 
 stitution, and checked its progress.* 1 But as the order 
 was founded in the period of which I write the history, 
 and as the age to which I address this work hath seen 
 its fall, the view which I have exhibited of the laws 
 and genius of this formidable body will not, I hope, 
 be unacceptable to my readers ; especially as one cir- 
 cumstance has enabled me to enter into this detail 
 with particular advantage. Europe had observed, for 
 two centuries, the ambition and power of the order. 
 But while it felt many fatal effects of these, it could 
 not fully discern the causes to which they were to be 
 imputed. It was unacquainted with many of the 
 singular regulations in the political constitution or 
 government of the Jesuits, which formed the enter- 
 prising spirit of intrigue that distinguished its mem- 
 
 Voyage de Juan et de Ulloa, torn. i. 549. Recueil de totites les Pieces 
 qui ont paru sur les Affaires des J^suitesen Portugal, torn. i. p. 7, &c. 
 d Compte rendu par M. de Moncl. p. 312. 
 
 and pro- 
 order. *
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 379 
 
 bers, and elevated the body itself to such a height of BOOK 
 power. It was a fundamental maxim with the Jesuits, YL 
 from their first institution, not to publish the rules of 154 * 
 their order. These they kept concealed as an im- 
 penetrable mystery. They never communicated them 
 to strangers ; nor even to the greater part of their 
 own members. They refused to produce them when 
 required by courts of justice 6 ; and by a strange sole- 
 cism in policy, the civil power in different countries 
 authorized or connived at the establishment of an 
 order of men, whose constitution and laws were con- 
 cealed with a solicitude, which alone was a good rea- 
 son for excluding them. During the prosecutions 
 lately carried on against them in Portugal and France, 
 the Jesuits have been so inconsiderate as to produce 
 the mysterious volumes of their institute. By the aid 
 of these authentic records, the principles of their go- 
 vernment may be delineated, and the sources of their 
 power investigated with a degree of certainty and 
 precision, which, previous to that event, it was im- 
 possible to attain.* But as I have pointed out the 
 dangerous tendency of the constitution and spirit of 
 the order with the freedom becoming an historian, 
 the candour and impartiality no less requisite in that 
 character call on me to add one observation, that no 
 class of regular clergy in the Romish church has been 
 more eminent for decency, and even purity of man- 
 ners, than the major part of the order of Jesuits/ 
 The maxims of an intriguing, ambitious, interested 
 
 e Hist, des J&. torn. iii. 236, &c. Compte rendu par M de Chalot. p. 38. 
 
 f The greater part of my information concerning the government and laws 
 of the order of Jesuits I have derived from the reports of M. de Chalotais and. 
 M. de Monclar. I rest not my narrative, however, upon the authority even of 
 these respectable magistrates and elegant writers, but upon innumerable pa*. 
 sages which they have extracted from the constitutions of the order, deposited 
 in their hands. Hospinian, a protestant divine of Zurich, in hi Hittoria Je- 
 suilica, printed A.D. 1619, published a small part of the constitutions of the 
 Jesuits, of which by some accident he had got a copy ; p. 13 54. 
 g Sur la Dt^lruct. des Js. par M. d' Alembvrt, p. 55.
 
 380 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK policy, might influence those who governed the 
 VL society, and might even corrupt the heart, and per- 
 
 1540. vert t he conduct of some individuals, while the greater 
 number, engaged in literary pursuits, or employed in 
 the functions of religion, was left to the guidance of 
 those common principles which restrain men from 
 vice, and excite them to what is becoming and laud- 
 able. The causes which occasioned the ruin of this 
 mighty body, as well as the circumstances and effects 
 with which it has been attended in the different coun- 
 tries of Europe, though objects extremely worthy the 
 attention of every intelligent observer of human affairs, 
 do not fall within the period of this history. 
 
 Affairs of No sooner had Charles re-established order in the 
 iany ' Low Countries, than he was obliged to turn his atten- 
 tion to the affairs in Germany. The protestants 
 pressed him earnestly to appoint that conference be- 
 tween a select number of the divines of each party, 
 which had been stipulated in the convention at 
 Francfort. The pope considered such an attempt to 
 examine into the points in dispute, or to decide con- 
 cerning them, as derogatory to his right of being the 
 supreme judge in controversy ; and being convinced 
 that such a conference would either be ineffectual by 
 determining nothing, or prove dangerous by deter- 
 mining too much, he employed every art to prevent 
 
 A confer- it. The emperor, however, finding it more for his 
 interest to soothe the Germans than to gratify Paul, 
 P a ^ nt; tle regard to his remonstrances. In a diet 
 
 divines, held at Haguenau, matters were ripened for the con- 
 
 June 25. 
 
 ference. In another diet assembled at Worms, the 
 Dec. e. conference was begun, Melancthon on the one side 
 and Eckius on the other, sustaining the principal part 
 in the dispute ; but after they had made some progress, 
 though without concluding any thing, it was sus- 
 pended by the emperor's command, that it might be 
 renewed with greater solemnity in his own presence
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 381 
 
 in a diet summoned to meet at Ratisbon. This BOOK 
 assembly was opened with great pomp, and with a VL _ 
 general expectation that its proceedings would be 154U 
 vigorous and decisive. By the consent of both 
 parties, the emperor was intrusted with the power of 
 nominating the persons who should manage the con- 
 ference, which it was agreed should be conducted not 
 in the form of a public disputation, but as a friendly 
 scrutiny or examination into the articles which had 
 given rise to the present controversies. He appointed 
 Eckius, Cropper, and Pflug, on the part of the 
 catholics; Melancthon, Bucer, and Pistorius, on 
 that of the protestants ; all men of distinguished re- 
 putation among their own adherents, and, except 
 Eckius, all eminent for moderation, as well as desirous 
 of peace. As they were about to begin their con- 
 sultations, the emperor put into their hands a book, 
 composed, as he said, by a learned divine in the Low 
 Countries, with such extraordinary perspicuity and 
 temper, as, in his opinion, might go far to unite and 
 comprehend the two contending parties. Cropper, 
 a canon of Cologne, whom he had named among the 
 managers of the conference, a man of address as well 
 as of erudition, was afterwards suspected to be the 
 author of this short treatise. It contained positions 
 with regard to twenty-two of the chief articles in 
 theology, which included most of the questions then 
 agitated in the controversy between the Lutherans 
 and the church of Rome. By ranging his sentiments 
 in a natural order, and expressing them with great 
 simplicity ; by employing often the very words of 
 Scripture, or of the primitive fathers ; by softening 
 the rigour of some opinions, and explaining away 
 what was absurd in others ; by concessions, some- 
 times on one side, and sometimes on the other ; and 
 especially by banishing as much as possible scholastic 
 phrases, those words and terms of art in controversy,
 
 882 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK which serve as badges of distinction to different sects, 
 and for which theologians often contend more fiercely 
 
 1541t than for opinions themselves ; he at last framed his 
 work in such a manner, as promised fairer than any 
 thing that had hitherto been attempted, to compose 
 and to terminate religious dissensions. h 
 
 fruitless. But the attention of the age was turned, with such 
 acute observation, towards theological controversies, 
 that it was not easy to impose on it by any gloss, how 
 artful or specious soever. The length and eagerness 
 of the dispute had separated the contending parties 
 so completely, and had set their minds at such 
 variance, that they were not to be reconciled by 
 partial concessions. All the zealous catholics, parti- 
 cularly the ecclesiastics who had a seat in the diet, 
 joined in condemning Gropper's treatise as too 
 favourable to the Lutheran opinion, the poison of 
 which heresy it conveyed, as they pretended, with 
 greater danger, because it was in some degree dis- 
 guised. The rigid protestants, especially Luther 
 himself, and his patron the Elector of Saxony, were 
 for rejecting it as an impious compound of error and 
 truth, craftily prepared that it might impose on the 
 weak, the timid, and the unthinking. But the 
 divines, to whom the examination of it was com- 
 mitted, entered upon that business with greater 
 deliberation and temper. As it was more easy in 
 itself, as well as more consistent with the dignity of 
 the church, to make concessions, and even alterations 
 with regard to speculative opinions, the discussion 
 whereof is confined chiefly to schools, and which 
 present nothing to the people that either strikes their 
 imagination or affects their senses, they came to an 
 accommodation about these without much labour, and 
 even defined the great article concerning justification 
 to their mutual satisfaction. But, when they pro- 
 
 h Goldast. Constit. Imper. ii. p. 182.
 
 VL 
 1S4h 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 383 
 
 ceeded to points of jurisdiction, where the interest BO ,9 K 
 and authority of the Roman see were concerned, or 
 to the rites and forms of external worship, where 
 every change that could be made must be public, 
 and draw the observation of the people, there the 
 catholics were altogether untractable ; nor could the 
 church either with safety or with honour abolish its 
 ancient institutions. All the articles relative to the 
 power of the pope, the authority of councils, the 
 administration of the sacraments, the worship of 
 saints, and many other particulars, did not, in their 
 nature, admit of any temperament ; so that, after 
 labouring long to bring about an accommodation with 
 respect to these, the emperor found all his endeavours 
 ineffectual. Being impatient, however, to close the 
 diet, he at last prevailed on a majority of the members 
 to approve of the following recess : " That the articles 
 
 i i i T j i_ the diet of 
 
 concerning which the divines had agreed in the con- 
 ference, should be held as points decided, and be 
 observed inviolably by all ; that the other articles 
 about which they had differed, should be referred to 
 the determination of a general council, or, if that 
 could not be obtained, to a national synod of Ger- 
 many ; and if it should prove impracticable, likewise, 
 to assemble a synod, that a general diet of the empire 
 should be called within eighteen months, in order to 
 give some final judgment upon the whole controversy ; 
 that the emperor should use all his interest and au- 
 thority with the pope, to procure the meeting either 
 of a general council or synod ; that, in the mean 
 time, no innovations should be attempted, no en- 
 deavours should be employed to gain proselytes ; and 
 neither the revenues of the church, nor the rights of 
 monasteries, should be invaded."' 
 
 1 Sleid. 207, &c. Pallav. lib. iv. c. 1 1. p. 136. F. Paul, p. 8C. Seckend. 
 lib. iii. '256.
 
 384 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK All the proceedings of this diet, as well as the 
 recess in which they terminated, gave great offence 
 
 154K to the pope. The power which the Germans had 
 fenceboth assumed of appointing their own divines to examine 
 to papists anc i determine matters of controversy he considered 
 
 and protest- . . _ - . . - . 
 
 ants. as a very dangerous invasion or his rights ; the re- 
 
 newing of their ancient proposal concerning a national 
 synod, which had been so often rejected by him and 
 his predecessors, appeared extremely undutiful ; but 
 the bare mention of allowing a diet, composed chiefly 
 of laymen, to pass judgment with respect to articles 
 of faith, was deemed no less criminal and profane, 
 than the worst of those heresies which they seemed 
 zealous to suppress. On the other hand, the protest- 
 ants were no less dissatisfied with a recess, that con- 
 siderably abridged the liberty which they enjoyed at 
 
 Charles that time. As they murmured loudly against it, 
 
 courts the ,, . , , p T 
 
 protestants. Charles, unwilling to leave any seeds of discontent in 
 the empire, granted them a private declaration in the 
 most ample terms, exempting them from whatever 
 they thought oppressive or injurious in the recess, 
 and ascertaining to them the full possession of all the 
 privileges which they had ever enjoyed/ 
 
 Affairs of Extraordinary as these concessions may appear, the 
 ungary ' situation of the emperor's affairs at this juncture 
 made it necessary for him to grant them. He fore- 
 saw a rupture with France to be not only unavoidable 
 but near at hand, and durst not give any such cause 
 of disgust or fear to the protestants, as might force 
 them, in self-defence, to court the protection of the 
 French king, from whom, at present, they were much 
 alienated. The rapid progress of the Turks in Hun- 
 gary was a more powerful and urgent motive to that 
 moderation which Charles discovered. A great revo- 
 lution had happened in that kingdom ; John Zapol 
 Scopus having chosen, as has been related, rather to 
 
 k Sleid. 283. Seckend. 366. Dumont, Corps Diplom. iv. p. ii. p. 21O.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 385 
 
 possess a tributary kingdom, than to renounce the BOOK 
 royal dignity to which he had been accustomed, had, VL 
 by the assistance of his mighty protector Solyman, i**'- 
 wrested from Ferdinand a great part of the country, 
 and left him only the precarious possession of the rest. 
 But being a prince of pacific qualities, the frequent 
 attempts of Ferdinand, or of his partisans among the 
 Hungarians, to recover what they had lost, greatly 
 disquieted him ; and the necessity, on these occasions, 
 of calling in the Turks, whom he considered and 
 felt to be his masters, rather than auxiliaries, was 
 hardly less mortifying. In order, therefore, to avoid 
 these distresses, as well as to secure quiet and leisure 
 for cultivating the arts and enjoying amusements in 
 which he delighted, he secretly came to an agree- A.IX153& 
 ment with his competitor, on this condition: that 
 Ferdinand should acknowledge him as King of Hun- 
 gary, and leave him, during life, the unmolested pos- 
 session of that part of the kingdom now in his power; 
 but that, upon his demise, the sole right of the whole 
 should devolve upon Ferdinand. 1 As. John had 
 never been married, and was then far advanced in 
 life, the terms of the contract seemed very favourable 
 to Ferdinand. But, soon after, some of the Hunga- 
 rian nobles, solicitous, to prevent a foreigner from 
 ascending their throne, prevailed on John to put an 
 end to a long celibacy, by marrying Isabella, the 
 daughter of Sigismond, King of Poland. John had . 
 the satisfaction before his death, which happened Hungary, 
 within less than a year after his marriage, to see a 
 son born to inherit his kingdom. To him, without 
 regarding his treaty with Ferdinand, which he con- 
 sidered, no doubt, as void, upon an event not foreseen 
 when it was concluded, he bequeathed his crown ; 
 appointing the queen and George Martinuzzi, Bishop 
 of Waradin, guardians of his son, and regents of the 
 
 1 Istuanhaffii Hist. Hung. lib. xii. p. 135. 
 Ch. VOL, II. C C
 
 386 
 
 BOOK 
 VI. 
 
 1541. 
 
 Ferdi- 
 nand's ef- 
 forts to ob- 
 tain the 
 crown. 
 
 Character 
 and power 
 of MartU 
 nuzzi. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 kingdom. The greater part of the Hungarians im- 
 mediately acknowledged the young prince as king, to 
 whom, in memory of the founder of their monarchy, 
 they gave the name of Stephen. m 
 
 Ferdinand, though extremely disconcerted by this 
 unexpected event, resolved not to abandon the king- 
 dom which he flattered himself with having acquired 
 by his compact with John. He sent ambassadors to 
 the queen to claim possession, and to offer the pro- 
 vince of Transylvania as a settlement for her son, 
 preparing, at the same time, to assert his right by 
 force of arms. But John had committed the care of 
 his son to persons who had too much spirit to give 
 up the crown tamely, and who possessed abilities suf- 
 ficient to defend it. The queen, to all the address 
 peculiar to her own sex, added a masculine courage, 
 ambition, and magnanimity. Martinuzzi, who had 
 raised himself from the lowest rank in life to his pre- 
 sent dignity, was one of those extraordinary men, 
 who, by the extent as well as variety of their talents, 
 are fitted to act a superior part in bustling and fac- 
 tious times. In discharging the functions of his eccle- 
 siastical office, he put on the semblance of an humble 
 and austere sanctity. In civil transactions, he dis- 
 covered industry, dexterity, and boldness. During 
 war he laid aside the cassock, and appeared on horse- 
 back with his scimitar and buckler, as active, as osten- 
 tatious, and as gallant as any of his countrymen. 
 Amidst all these different and contradictory forms 
 which he could assume, an insatiable desire of do- 
 minion and authority was conspicuous. From such 
 persons it was obvious what answer Ferdinand had to 
 expect. He soon perceived that he must depend on 
 arms alone for recovering Hungary. Having levied 
 for this purpose a considerable body of Germans, 
 whom his partisans among the Hungarians joined 
 
 m Jovii Hist. lib. xxxix. p. 239 a. &c.
 
 Turkf * 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 387 
 
 with their vassals, he ordered them to march into BOOK 
 that part of the kingdom which adhered to Stephen. VI ' 
 Martinuzzi, unable to make head against such a Wl * 
 powerful army in the field, satisfied himself with 
 holding out the towns, all of which, especially Buda, 
 the place of greatest consequence, he provided with 
 every thing necessary for defence ; and, in the mean ciisintb 
 time, he sent ambassadors to Solyman, beseeching him 
 to extend towards the son the same imperial protec- 
 tion which had so long maintained the father on his 
 throne. The sultan, though Ferdinand used his 
 utmost endeavours to thwart this negotiation, and 
 even offered to accept of the Hungarian crown on 
 the same ignominious condition of paying tribute to 
 the Ottoman Porte, by which John had held it, saw 
 such prospects of advantage from espousing the in- 
 terest of the young king, that he instantly promised 
 him his protection ; and commanding one army to 
 advance forthwith towards Hungary, he himself fol- 
 lowed with another. Meanwhile, the Germans, hop- 
 ing to terminate the war by the reduction of a city 
 in which the king and his mother were shut up, had 
 formed the siege of Buda. Martinuzzi, having drawn 
 thither the strength of the Hungarian nobility, de- 
 fended the town with such courage and skill, as al- 
 lowed the Turkish forces time to come up to its relief. 
 They instantly attacked the Germans, weakened by 
 fatigue, diseases, and desertion, and defeated them 
 with great slaughter. 
 
 Solyman soon after joined his victorious troops, 
 and being weary of so many expensive expeditions conduct. 
 undertaken in defence of dominions which were not 
 his own, or being unable to resist this alluring oppor- 
 tunity of seizing a kingdom, while possessed by an 
 infant, under the guardianship of a woman ; 
 priest, he allowed interested considerations to triumph 
 
 Jstuauhaffii Hist Hung. lib. xiv. p. 150. 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK with too much facility over the principles of honour 
 and the sentiments of humanity. What he planned 
 
 1541 ; ' ungenerously he obtained by fraud. Having pre- 
 vailed on the queen to send her son, whom he pre- 
 tended to be desirous of seeing, into his camp, and 
 having, at the same time, invited the chief of the 
 nobility to an entertainment there, while they, sus- 
 pecting no treachery, gave themselves up to the mirth 
 and jollity of the feast, a select band of troops, by the 
 sultan's orders, seized one of the gates of Buda. 
 Being thus master of the capital, of the king's person, 
 and of the leading men among the nobles, he gave 
 orders to conduct the queen, together with her son, 
 to Transylvania, which province he allotted to them, 
 and appointing a basha to preside in Buda with a large 
 body of soldiers, annexed Hungary to the Ottoman 
 empire. The tears and complaints of the unhappy 
 queen had no influence to change his purpose, nor 
 could Martinuzzi either resist his absolute and uncon- 
 trollable command, or prevail on him to recall it. 
 Ferdi- Before the account of this violent usurpation reached 
 
 overtures Ferdinand, he was so unlucky as to have dispatched 
 to soiy- other ambassadors to Solyman with a fresh represent- 
 
 man. JL 
 
 ation of his right to the crown of Hungary, as well as 
 a renewal of his former overture to hold the kingdom 
 of the Ottoman Porte, and to pay for it an annual 
 tribute. This ill-timed proposal was rejected with 
 scorn. The sultan, elated with success, and thinking 
 that he might prescribe what terms he pleased to a 
 prince who voluntarily proffered conditions so unbe- 
 coming his own dignity, declared that he would not 
 suspend the operations of war, unless Ferdinand in- 
 stantly evacuated all the towns which he still held in 
 Hungary, and consented to the imposition of a tri- 
 bute upon Austria, in order to reimburse the sums 
 
 Istuanhaffii Hist. Hung. lib. xiv. p. 56. Jovii Histor. lib. xxxix. 
 p. 2476, &c. 
 
 mail.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 339 
 
 which his presumptuous invasion of Hungary had BOOK 
 obliged the Ottoman Porte to expend in defence of -J^ 1 ' 
 that kingdom. p 
 
 In this state were the affairs of Hungary. As the 
 unfortunate events there had either happened before 
 the dissolution of the diet of Ratisbon, or were 
 dreaded at that time, Charles saw the danger of irri- 
 tating and inflaming the minds of the Germans, while 
 a formidable enemy was ready to break into the em- 
 pire ; and perceived that he could not expect any 
 vigorous assistance either towards the recovery of 
 Hungary, or the defence of the Austrian frontier, 
 unless he courted and satisfied the protestants. By 
 the concessions which have been mentioned, he gained 
 this point, and such liberal supplies both of men and 
 money were voted for carrying on the war against the 
 Turks, as left him under little anxiety about the se- 
 curity of Germany during the next campaign.* 1 
 
 Immediately upon the conclusion of the diet, the Emperor 
 emperor set out for Italy. As he passed through v ' Ital7 ' 
 Lucca he had a short interview with the pope ; but 
 nothing could be concluded concerning the proper 
 method of composing the religious disputes in Ger- 
 many, between two princes, whose views and interests 
 with regard to that matter were at this juncture so 
 opposite. The pope's endeavours to remove the 
 causes of discord between Charles and Francis, and 
 to extinguish those mutual animosities which threat- 
 ened to break out suddenly into open hostility, were 
 not more successful. 
 
 The emperor's thoughts were bent so entirely, at H eip*. 
 
 1*1 i ii t' n against 
 
 that tune, on the 'great enteqinse which he had con- A , ierSf 
 certed against Algiers, that he listened with little at- 
 tendon to the pope's schemes or overtures, and hast- 
 ened to join his army and fleet/ 
 
 p Istuanliaflii Hist. Hung. lib. xiv. p. 158. 
 
 q Sleid. 283. ' Sandov. Histor. torn. U. 298. 
 
 c c 3
 
 390 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Algiers still continued in that state of dependence 
 VL on the Turkish empire to which Barbarossa had sub- 
 jected it. Ever since he, as captain basha, commanded 
 the Ottoman fleet, Algiers had been governed by 
 Hascen-Aga, a renegade eunuch, who, by passing 
 through every station in the corsair's service, had 
 acquired such experience in war, that he was well 
 fitted for a station which required a man of tried and 
 daring courage. Hascen, in order to shew how well 
 he deserved that dignity, carried on his piratical de- 
 predations against the Christian states with amazing 
 activity, and outdid, if possible, Barbarossa himself in 
 boldness and cruelty. The commerce of the Medi- 
 terranean was greatly interrupted by his cruisers, and 
 such frequent alarms given to the coast of Spain, that 
 there was a necessity of erecting watch-towers at pro- 
 per distances, and of keeping guards constantly on 
 foot, in order to descry the approach of his squadrons, 
 and to protect the inhabitants from their descents. 9 
 Of this the emperor had received repeated and cla- 
 morous complaints from his subjects, who represented 
 it as an enterprise corresponding to his power, and 
 becoming his humanity, to reduce Algiers, which, 
 since the conquest of Tunis, was the common recep- 
 tacle of all the freebooters ; and to exterminate that 
 lawless race, the implacable enemies of the Christian 
 name. Moved partly by their entreaties, and partly 
 allured by the hope of adding to the glory which he 
 had acquired by his last expedition into Africa, Charles, 
 before he left Madrid, in his way to the Low Coun- 
 tries, had issued orders, both in Spain and Italy, to 
 prepare a fleet and army for this purpose. No change 
 in circumstances, since that time, could divert him 
 from this resolution, or prevail on him to turn his 
 arms towards Hungary ; though the success of the 
 Turks in that country seemed more immediately to 
 
 ' Jovii Hist. lib. xl. p. 266.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 391 
 
 require his presence there ; though many of his most BOOK 
 faithful adherents in Germany urged that the defence VL 
 of the empire ought to be his first and peculiar care ; 1S4K 
 though such as bore him no good-will ridiculed his 
 preposterous conduct in flying from an enemy almost 
 at hand, that he might go in quest of a remote 
 and more ignoble foe. But to attack the sultan in 
 Hungary, how splendid soever that measure might 
 appear, was an undertaking which exceeded his power, 
 and was not consistent with his interest. To draw 
 troops out of Spain or Italy, to march them into a 
 country so distant as Hungary, to provide the vast 
 apparatus necessary for transporting thither the artil- 
 lery, ammunition, and baggage of a regular army, 
 and to push the war in that quarter, where there was 
 little prospect of bringing it to an issue during several 
 campaigns, were undertakings so expensive and un- 
 wieldy as did not correspond with the low condition 
 of the emperor's treasury. While his principal force 
 was thus employed, his dominions in Italy and the 
 Low Countries must have lain open to the French 
 king, who would not have allowed such a favourable 
 opportunity of attacking them to go unimproved. 
 Whereas the African expedition, the preparations for 
 which were already finished, and almost the whole 
 expence of it defrayed, would depend upon a single 
 effort ; and, besides the security and satisfaction which 
 the success of it must give his subjects, would detain 
 him during so short a space, that Francis could hardly 
 take advantage of his absence, to invade his dominions 
 in Europe. 
 
 On all these accounts, Charles adhered to his first H PPO- 
 plan, and with such determined obstinacy, that he 
 paid no regard to the pope, who advised, or to 
 Andrew Doria, who conjured him not to expose his 
 whole armament to almost unavoidable destruction, 
 by venturing to approach the dangerous coast of Al. 
 
 c c 4
 
 392 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK giers at such an advanced season of the year, and 
 '. when the autumnal winds were so violent. Having 
 
 1541 * embarked on board Doria's galleys at Porto- Venere, 
 in the Genoese territories, he soon found that this 
 experienced sailor had not judged wrong concerning 
 the element with which he was so well acquainted ; 
 for such a storm arose, that it was with the utmost 
 difficulty and danger he reached Sardinia, the place 
 of general rendezvous. But as his courage was un- 
 daunted, and his temper often inflexible, neither the 
 remonstrances of the pope and Doria, nor the danger 
 to which he had already been exposed by disregard- 
 ing their advice, had any other effect than to confirm 
 him in his fatal resolution. The force, indeed, which 
 he had collected was such as might have inspired a 
 prince less adventurous, and less confident in his own 
 schemes, with the most sanguine hopes of success. 
 It consisted of twenty thousand foot, and two thou- 
 sand horse, Spaniards, Italians, and Gennans, mostly 
 veterans, together with three thousand volunteers, 
 the flower of the Spanish and Italian nobility, fond 
 of paying court to the emperor by attending him in 
 his favourite expedition, and eager to share in the 
 
 glory which they believed he was going to reap ; to 
 
 these were added a thousand soldiers sent from Malta 
 by the order of St. John, led by a hundred of its 
 most gallant knights. 
 
 Lands in The voyage, from Majorca to the African coast, 
 was not less tedious, or full of hazard, than that 
 which he had just finished. When he approached 
 the land, the roll of the sea, and vehemence of the 
 winds, would not permit the troops to disembark. 
 But at last, the emperor, seizing a favourable oppor- 
 tunity, landed them without opposition, not far from 
 Algiers, and immediately advanced towards the town. 
 To oppose this mighty army, Hascen had only eight 
 hundred Turks, and five thousand Moors, partly
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 393 
 
 natives of Africa, and partly refugees from Granada. BOOK 
 He returned, however, a fierce and haughty answer VL 
 when summoned to surrender. But with such a 1541> 
 handful of soldiers, neither his desperate courage, 
 nor consummate skill in war, could have long resisted 
 forces superior to those which had defeated Barba- 
 rossa at the head of sixty thousand men, and which 
 had reduced Tunis, in spite of all his endeavours to 
 save it. 
 
 But how far soever the emperor might think him- Thedis. 
 self beyond the reach of any danger from the enemy, 
 he was suddenly exposed to a more dreadful calamity, 
 and one against which human prudence and human 
 efforts availed nothing. On the second day after his 
 landing, and before he had time for any thing but to 
 disperse some light-armed Arabs, who molested his 
 troops on their march, the clouds began to gather, 
 and the heavens to appear with a fierce and threaten- 
 ing aspect. Towards evening, rain began to fall, 
 accompanied with violent wind ; and, the rage of the 
 tempest increasing during the night, the soldiers, 
 who had brought nothing ashore but their arms, re- 
 mained exposed to all its fury, without tents, or 
 shelter, or cover of any kind. The ground was soon 
 so wet that they could not lie down on it ; their 
 camp, being in a low situation, was overflowed with 
 water, and they sunk at every step to the ancles in 
 mud; while the wind blew with such impetuosity, 
 that, to prevent their falling, they were obliged to 
 thrust their spears into the ground, and to support 
 themselves by taking hold of them. Hascen was too 
 vigilant an officer to allow an enemy in such distress 
 to remain unmolested. About the dawn of morning, 
 he sallied out with soldiers, who, having been screened 
 from the storm under their own roofs, were fresh and 
 vigorous. A body of Italians, who were stationed 
 nearest the city, dispirited and benumbed with cold,
 
 394 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK fled at the approach of the Turks. The troops at 
 
 ' the post behind them discovered greater courage ; 
 
 1541 * but, as the rain had extinguished their matches, and 
 wet their powder, their muskets were useless, and 
 having scarcely strength to handle their other arms, 
 they were soon thrown into confusion. Almost the 
 whole army, with the emperor himself in person, was 
 obliged to advance^ before the enemy could be re- 
 pulsed, who, after spreading such general conster- 
 nation, and killing a considerable number of men, 
 retired at last in good order. 
 
 and fleet. But all feeling or remembrance of this loss and 
 danger were quickly obliterated by a more dreadful 
 as well as affecting spectacle. It was now broad day ; 
 the hurricane had abated nothing of its violence, and 
 the sea appeared agitated with all the rage of which 
 that destructive element is capable ; all the ships, on 
 which alone the whole army knew that their safety 
 and subsistence depended, were seen driven from their 
 anchors, some dashing against each other, some beat 
 to pieces on the rocks, many forced ashore, and not 
 a few sinking in the waves. In less than an hour 
 fifteen ships of war, and a hundred and forty trans- 
 ports, with eight thousand men, perished ; and such 
 of the unhappy crews as escaped the fury of the sea 
 were murdered without mercy by the Arabs, as soon 
 as they reached land. The emperor stood in silent 
 anguish and astonishment beholding this fatal event, 
 which at once blasted all his hopes of success, and 
 buried in the depths the vast stores which he had 
 provided, as well for annoying the enemy, as for sub- 
 sisting his own troops. He had it not in his power 
 to afford them any other assistance or relief than by 
 sending some troops to drive away the Arabs, and 
 thus delivering a few who were so fortunate as to get 
 ashore from the cruel fate which their companions 
 had met with. At last the wind began to fall, and
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 395 
 
 to give some hopes that as many ships might escape BOOK 
 as would be sufficient to save the army from perish- VL 
 ing by famine, and transport them back to Europe. - 1541 ' 
 But these were only hopes ; the approach of evening 
 covered the sea with darkness ; and it being impossible 
 for the officers aboard the ships which had outlived 
 the storm, to send any intelligence to their companions 
 who were ashore, they remained during the night in 
 all the anguish of suspense and uncertainty. Next 
 day, a boat, dispatched by Doria, made shift to reach 
 land, with information that having weathered out the 
 storm, to which, during fifty years' knowledge of the 
 sea, he had never seen any equal in fierceness and 
 horror, he had found it necessary to bear away with ' 
 his shattered ships to Cape Metafuz. He advised the 
 emperor, as the face of the sky was still lowering and 
 tempestuous, to inarch with all speed to that place, 
 where the troops could re-embark with greater ease. 
 
 Whatever comfort this intelligence afforded Charles, Obliged to 
 from being assured that part of his fleet had escaped, 
 was balanced by the new cares and perplexity in 
 which it involved him with regard to his army. 
 Metafuz was at least three days' march from his pre- 
 sent camp ; all the provisions which he had brought 
 ashore at his first landing were now consumed ; his 
 soldiers, worn out with fatigue, were hardly able for 
 such a march, even in a friendly country ; and being 
 dispirited by a succession of hardships, which victory 
 itself would scarcely have rendered tolerable, they 
 were in no condition to undergo new toils. But the 
 situation of the army was such as allowed not one 
 moment for deliberation, nor left it in the least doubt- 
 ful what to choose. They were ordered instantly to 
 march, the wounded, the sick, and the feeble being 
 placed in the centre ; such as seemed most vigorous 
 were stationed in the front and rear. Then the sad 
 effects of what they had suffered began to appear more 
 
 retreat.
 
 396 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK manifestly than ever, and new calamities were added 
 
 . to all those which they had already endured. Some 
 
 1541 * could hardly bear the weight of their arms ; others, 
 spent with the toil of forcing their way through deep 
 and almost impassable roads, sunk down and died ; 
 many perished by famine, as the whole army subsisted 
 chiefly on roots and berries, or the flesh of horses, 
 killed by the emperor's order, and distributed among 
 the several battalions ; many were drowned in brooks, 
 which were swoln so much by the excessive rains, 
 that in passing them they waded up to the chin ; not 
 a few were killed by the enemy, who during the 
 greatest part of their retreat, alarmed, harassed, and 
 annoyed them night and day. At last they arrived 
 at Metafuz ; and the weather being now so calm as 
 to restore their communication with the fleet, they 
 were supplied with plenty of provisions, and cheered 
 with the prospect of safety. 
 
 Hisfoiti- During this dreadful series of calamities, the em- 
 mind, peror discovered great qualities, many of which a 
 long-continued flow of prosperity had scarcely afforded 
 him an opportunity of displaying. He appeared 
 conspicuous for firmness and constancy of spirit, for 
 magnanimity, fortitude, humanity, and compassion. 
 He endured as great hardships as the meanest soldier ; 
 he exposed his own person wherever danger threat- 
 ened ; he encouraged the desponding ; visited the sick 
 and wounded ; and animated all by his words and 
 example. When the army embarked, he was among 
 the last who left the shore, although a body of Arabs 
 hovered at no great distance, ready to fall on the rear. 
 By these virtues, Charles atoned, in some degree, for 
 his obstinacy and presumption in undertaking an ex- 
 pedition so fatal to his subjects. 
 
 Returns to The calamities which attended this unfortunate 
 enterprise did not end here ; for no sooner were the 
 forces got on board, than anew storm arising, though
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 397 
 
 less furious than the former, scattered the fleet, and BOOK 
 obliged them, separately, to make towards such ports *' 
 in Spain or Italy as they could first reach ; thus I54i * 
 spreading the account of their disasters, with all the 
 circumstances of aggravation and horror, which their 
 imagination, still under the influence of fear, suggested. 
 The emperor himself, after escaping great dangers, 
 and being forced into the port of Bugia in Africa, 
 where he was obliged by contrary winds to remain 
 several weeks, arrived at last in Spain, in a condition Decem. 2. 
 very different from that in which he had returned 
 from his former expedition against the infidels. 1 
 
 1 Carol. V. Expeditio ad Argyriam, per Nicolaum Villagnonem Equitem 
 Rhodium, ap. Scardium, v. ii. 365. Jovii Hist. lib. xl. p. 269, &c. Vera y 
 Zuniga Vida de Carlos V. p. 83. Sandov. Histor. ii. 239, &c.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 1541. I HE calamities which the emperor suffered in his 
 
 Renewal of ... 
 
 hostilities unfortunate enterprise against Algiers were great ; 
 andhiTmo- and the account of these, which augmented in pro- 
 tivesfont. p 0r ti on as ft spread at a greater distance from the 
 scene of his disasters, encouraged Francis to begin 
 hostilities, on which he had been for some time re- 
 solved. But he did not think it prudent to produce, 
 as the motives of this resolution, either his ancient 
 pretensions to the dutchy of Milan, or the emperor's 
 disingenuity in violating his repeated promises with 
 regard to the restitution of that country. The former 
 might have been a good reason against concluding 
 the truce of Nice, but was none for breaking it ; the 
 latter could not be urged without exposing his own 
 credulity as much as the emperor's want of integrity. 
 A violent and unwarrantable action of one of the 
 imperial generals furnished him with a reason to 
 justify his taking arms, which was of greater weight 
 than either of these, and such as would have roused 
 him, if he had been as desirous of peace as he was 
 eager for war. Francis, by signing the treaty of
 
 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 399 
 
 truce at Nice, without consulting Solyman, gave (as BOOK 
 he foresaw) great offence to that haughty monarch, V1L 
 who considered an alliance with him as an honour of ls41 ' 
 which a Christian prince had cause to be proud. The 
 friendly interview of the French king with the 
 emperor in Provence, followed by such extraordinary 
 appearances of union and confidence which distin- 
 guished the reception of Charles when he passed 
 through the dominions of Francis to the Low Coun- 
 tries, induced the sultan to suspect that the two 
 rivals had at last forgotten their ancient enmity, in 
 order that they might form such a general confe- 
 deracy against the Ottoman power, as had been long 
 wished for in Christendom, and often attempted in 
 vain. Charles, with his usual art, endeavoured to 
 confirm and strengthen these suspicions, by instruct- 
 ing his emissaries at Constantinople, as well as in 
 those courts with which Solyman held any intel- 
 ligence, to represent the concord between him and 
 Francis to be so entire, that their sentiments, views, 
 and pursuits would be the same for the future.* It 
 was not without difficulty that Francis effaced these 
 impressions ; but the address of Rincon, the French 
 ambassador at the Porte, together with the manifest 
 advantage of carrying on hostilities against the house 
 of Austria in concert with France, prevailed at length 
 on the sultan not only to banish his suspicions, but to 
 enter into a closer conjunction with Francis than ever. 
 Rincon returned into France, in order to commu- 
 nicate to his master a scheme of the sultan's, for 
 gaining the concurrence of the Venetians in their 
 operations against the common enemy. Solyman 
 having lately concluded a peace with that republic, 
 to which the mediation of Francis and the good 
 offices of Rincon had greatly contributed, thought it 
 not impossible to allure the senate by such advan- 
 
 Mem. de Kibier, torn. i. p. 502.
 
 400 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tages, as, together with the example of the French 
 monarch, might overbalance any scruples arising 
 
 1541 ' either from decency or caution, that could operate 
 on the other side. Francis, warmly approving of 
 this measure, dispatched Rincon back to Constanti- 
 nople, and, directing him to go by Venice along with 
 Fregoso, a Genoese exile, whom he appointed his 
 ambassador to that republic, empowered them to 
 negotiate the matter with the senate, to whom Soly- 
 man had sent an envoy for the same purpose. b The 
 Marquis del Guasto, governor of the Milanese, an 
 officer of great abilities, but capable of attempting 
 and executing the most atrocious actions, got intel- 
 ligence of the motions and destination of these am- 
 bassadors. As he knew how much his master wished 
 to discover the intentions of the French king, and of 
 what consequence it was to retard the execution of 
 his measures, he employed some soldiers belonging to 
 Themur- the garrison of Pavia to lie in wait for Rincon and 
 
 Fregoso as they sailed down the Po, who murdered 
 
 i 
 
 retextfor tnem an d most of their attendants, and seized their 
 papers. Upon receiving an account of this barbarous 
 outrage, committed, during the subsistence of a truce, 
 against persons held sacred by the most uncivilized 
 nations, Francis's grief for the unhappy fate of two 
 servants whom he loved and trusted, his uneasiness 
 at the interruption of his schemes by their death, and 
 every other passion, were swallowed up and lost in 
 the indignation which this insult on the honour of 
 his crown excited. He exclaimed loudly against 
 Guasto, who, having drawn upon himself all the 
 infamy of assassination without making any discovery 
 of importance, as the ambassadors had left their in- 
 structions and other papers of consequence behind 
 them, now boldly denied his being accessory in any- 
 wise to the crime. He sent an ambassador to the 
 
 h Hist, di Venez. di Paruta, iv. 125.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V 401 
 
 emperor, to demand suitable reparation for an in- BOOK 
 dignity, which no prince, how inconsiderable or pusil- VIL 
 lanimous soever, could tamely endure : and when 154L 
 Charles, impatient at that time to set out on his 
 African expedition, endeavoured to put him off with 
 an evasive answer, he appealed to all the courts in 
 Europe, setting forth the heinousness of the injury, 
 the spirit of moderation with which he had applied 
 for redress, and the iniquity of the emperor in dis- 
 regarding this just request. 
 
 Notwithstanding the confidence with which Guasto 
 asserted his own innocence, the accusations of the 
 French gained greater credit than all his protest- 
 ations ; and Bellay, the French commander in Pied- 
 mont, procured, at length, by his industry and 
 address, such a minute detail of the transaction, with 
 the testimony of so many of the parties concerned, 
 as amounted almost to a legal proof of the marquis's 
 guilt. In consequence of this opinion of the public, 
 confirmed by such strong evidence, Francis's com- 
 plaints were universally allowed to be well founded, 
 and the steps which he took towards renewing hosti- 
 lities were ascribed not merely to ambition or resent- 
 ment, but to the unavoidable necessity of vindicating 
 the honour of his crown. c 
 
 However just Francis might esteem his own cause, 
 he did not trust so much to that, as to neglect the 
 proper precautions for gaining other allies besides the 
 sultan, by whose aid he might counterbalance the 
 emperor's superior power. But his negotiations to 
 this effect were attended with very little sum-. 
 Henry VIII., eagerly bent at that time upon schemes 
 against Scotland, which he knew would at once dis- 
 solve his union with France, was inclinable rather to 
 take part with the emperor, than to contribute in any 
 degree towards favouring the operations against him. 
 
 c M6n. de Bellay, 367, &c. Jovii Hist. lib. 1. 268. 
 Ch. VOL. II. D D
 
 402 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK The pope adhered inviolably to his ancient system of 
 VIL neutrality. The Venetians, notwithstanding Soly- 
 1541> man's solicitations, imitated the pope's example. 
 The Germans, satisfied with the religious liberty 
 which they enjoyed, found it more their interest to 
 gratify than to irritate the emperor ; so that the 
 Kings of Denmark and Sweden, who on this occasion 
 were first drawn in to interest themselves in the 
 quarrels of the more potent monarchs of the south, 
 and the Duke of Cleves, who had a dispute with the 
 emperor about the possession of Gueldres, were the 
 only confederates whom Francis secured. But the 
 dominions of the two former lay at such a distance, 
 and the power of the latter was so inconsiderable, that 
 he gained little by their alliance. 
 
 Francis's But Francis, by vigorous efforts of his own activity, 
 preying 11 supplied every defect. Being afflicted at this time 
 for war. w j^ a ^temper, which was the effect of his irregular 
 pleasures, and which prevented his pursuing them 
 with the same licentious indulgence, he applied to 
 business with more than his usual industry. The same 
 cause which occasioned this extraordinary attention 
 to his affairs, rendered him morose and dissatisfied 
 with the ministers whom he had hitherto employed. 
 This accidental peevishness being sharpened by re- 
 flecting on the false, steps into which he had lately 
 been betrayed, as well as the insults to which he had 
 been exposed, some of those in whom he had usually 
 placed the greatest confidence felt the effects of this 
 change in his temper, and were deprived of their 
 offices. At last he disgraced Montmorency himself, 
 who had long directed affairs, as well civil as military, 
 with all the authority of a minister no less beloved 
 than trusted by his master ; and Francis being fond 
 of shewing that the fall of such a powerful favourite 
 did not affect the vigour or prudence of his admini- 
 stration, this was a new motive to redouble his dili-
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 403 
 
 gence in preparing to open the war by some splendid BOOK 
 and extraordinary effort. _ . 
 
 He accordingly brought into the field five armies. 
 One to act in Luxembourg, under the Duke of Or- fi* *nme 
 leans, accompanied by the Duke of Lorrain as his fold. e 
 instructor in the art of war. Another, commanded 
 by the dauphin, marched towards the frontiers of 
 Spain. A third, led by Van Rossem, the Marshal 
 of Gueldres, and composed chiefly of the troops of 
 Cleves, had Brabant allotted for the theatre of its 
 operations. A fourth, of which the Duke of Ven- 
 dome was general, hovered on the borders of Flan- 
 ders. The last, consisting of the forces cantoned 
 in Piedmont, was destined for the Admiral Anne- 
 baut. The dauphin and his brother were appointed 
 to command where the chief exertions were intended, 
 and the greatest honour to be reaped ; the army of 
 the former amounted to forty thousand, that of the 
 latter to thirty thousand men. Nothing appears more 
 surprising than that Francis did not pour with these 
 numerous and irresistible armies into the Milanese, 
 which had so long been the object of his wishes as well 
 as enterprises ; and that he should choose rather to 
 turn almost his whole strength into another direction, 
 and towards new conquests. But the remembrance of 
 the disasters which he had met with in his former 
 expeditions into Italy, together with the difficulty of 
 supporting a war carried on at such a distance from 
 his own dominions, had gradually abated his violent 
 inclination to obtain footing in that country, and made 
 him willing to try the fortune of his arms in another 
 quarter. At the same time he expected to make such 
 a powerful impression on the frontier of Spain, when 
 there were few towns of any strength, and no army 
 assembled to oppose him, as might enable him t 
 recover possession of the country of Roussillonjately 
 dismembered from the French crown, before Charles 
 
 D D 2
 
 404. THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK could bring into the field any force able to obstruct 
 
 VII 
 
 his progress. The necessity of supporting his ally, 
 
 1542> the Duke of Cleves, and the hope of drawing a con- 
 siderable body of soldiers out of Germany by his 
 means, determined him to act with vigour in the Low 
 Countries. 
 
 June. The dauphin and Duke of Orleans opened the 
 
 rations? 1 * campaign much about the same time ; the former 
 laying siege to Perpignan, the capital of Roussillon, 
 and the latter entering Luxembourg. The Duke of 
 Orleans pushed his operations with the greatest rapid- 
 ity and success, one town falling after another, until 
 no place in that large dutchy remained in the empe- 
 ror's hands but Thionville. Nor could he have 
 failed of over-running the adjacent provinces with 
 the same ease, if he had not voluntarily stopped short 
 in this career of victory. But a report prevailing 
 that the emperor had determined to hazard a battle 
 in order to save Perpignan, on a sudden the duke, 
 prompted by youthful ardour, or moved, perhaps, by 
 jealousy of his brother, whom he both envied and 
 hated, abandoned his own conquest, and hastened 
 towards Roussillon, in order to divide with him the 
 glory of the victory. 
 
 On his departure, some of his troops were dis- 
 banded, others deserted their colours, and the rest 
 cantoned in the towns which he had taken remained 
 inactive. By this conduct, which leaves a dishonour- 
 able imputation either on his understanding or his 
 heart, or on both, he not only renounced whatever 
 he could have hoped from such a promising com- 
 mencement of the campaign, but gave the enemy an 
 opportunity of recovering, before the end of summer, 
 all the conquests which he had gained. On the 
 Spanish frontier, the emperor was not so inconsiderate 
 as to venture on a battle, the loss of which might 
 have endangered his kingdom. Perpignan, though
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 405 
 
 poorly fortified, and briskly attacked, having been BOOK 
 largely supplied with ammunition and provisions by 
 the vigilance of Doria d , was defended so long and so 1542 - 
 vigorously by the Duke of Alva, the persevering ob- 
 stinacy of whose temper fitted him admirably for such 
 a service, that at last the French, after a siege of 
 three months, wasted by diseases, repulsed in several 
 assaults, and despairing of success, relinquished the 
 undertaking, and retired into their own country." 
 Thus all Francis's mighty preparations, either from 
 some defect in his own conduct, or from the superior 
 power and prudence of his rival, produced no effects 
 which bore any proportion to his expence and efforts, 
 or such as gratified, in any degree, his own hopes, or 
 answered the expectation of Europe. The only solid 
 advantage of the campaign was the acquisition of a 
 few towns in Piedmont, which Bellay gained rather 
 by stratagem and address, than by force of arms/ 
 
 The emperor and Francis, though both consider- "** 
 ably exhausted by such great but indecisive efforts, tionfor 
 discovering no abatement of their mutual animosity, 
 employed all their attention, tried every expedient, 
 and turned themselves towards every quarter, in 
 order to acquire new allies, together with such a rein- 
 forcement of strength as would give them the supe- 
 riority in the ensuing campaign. Charles, taking 
 advantage of the terror and resentment of the Span- 
 iards, upon the sudden invasion of their country, pre- 
 vailed on the cortes of the several kingdoms to grant 
 him subsidies with a more liberal hand than usual. 
 At the same time he borrowed a large sum from John, 
 King of Portugal, and, by way of security for his 
 repayment, put him in possession of the Molucca isles 
 in the East Indies, with the gainful commerce of pre- 
 
 * Sigonii Vita A. Doriae, p. 1191. 
 
 e Sandov. Hist. torn. ii. 315. 
 
 ' Ibid. ii. 318. M?m. de Bellay, 387, Ac. Ferrer, ix. 2. 
 
 D D 3
 
 406 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK cious spices, which that sequestered corner of the 
 VI1 ' globe yields. Not satisfied with this, he negotiated 
 1543< a marriage between Philip, his only son, now in his 
 sixteenth year, and Mary, daughter of that monarch, 
 with whom her father, the most opulent prince in 
 Europe, gave a large dower ; and having likewise 
 persuaded the cortes of Aragon and Valencia to re- 
 cognize Philip as the heir of these crowns, he ob- 
 tained from them the donative usual on such occa- 
 sions. 5 These extraordinary supplies enabled him to 
 make such additions to his forces in Spain, that he 
 could detach a great body into the Low Countries, 
 and yet reserve as many as were sufficient for the de- 
 fence of the kingdom. Having thus provided for the 
 security of Spain, and committed the government of 
 it to his son, he sailed for Italy in his way to Ger- 
 May. many. But how attentive soever to raise the funds 
 for carrying on the war, or eager to grasp at any new 
 expedient for that purpose, he was not so inconsider- 
 ate as to accept of an overture which Paul, knowing 
 his necessities, artfully threw out to him. That am- 
 bitious pontiff, no less sagacious to discern, than 
 watchful to seize opportunities of aggrandizing his 
 family, solicited him to grant Octavio, his grandchild, 
 whom the emperor had admitted to the honour of 
 being his son-in-law, the investiture of the dutchy of 
 Milan, in return for which he promised such a sum 
 of money as would have gone far towards supplying 
 all his present exigencies. But Charles, as well from 
 unwillingness to alienate a province of so much value, 
 as from disgust at the pope, who had hitherto refused 
 to join in the war against France, rejected the pro- 
 posal. His dissatisfaction with Paul at that juncture 
 was so great, that he even refused to approve his 
 alienating Parma and Placentia from the patrimony 
 of St. Peter, and settling them on his son and grand- 
 
 g Ferreras, i*. 238. 241. Jovii Hist. lib. xlii. 298. 6.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 son as a fief to be held of the holy see. As no other BOOK 
 expedient for raising money among the Italian states V1L 
 remained, he consented to withdraw the garrisons 
 which he had hitherto kept in the citadels of Flo- 
 rence and Leghorn ; in consideration for which, he 
 received a large present from Cosmo de' Medici, who 
 by this means secured his own independence, and got 
 possession of two forts, which were justly called the 
 fetters of Tuscany." 
 
 But Charles, while he seemed to have turned his 
 whole attention towards raising the sums necessary 
 for defraying the expences of the year, had not been 
 negligent of objects more distant, though no less im- 
 portant, and had concluded a league offensive and de- 
 fensive with Henry VIII., from which he derived, 
 in the end, greater advantage than from all his other 
 preparations. Several slight circumstances, which 
 have already been mentioned, had begun to alienate 
 the affections of that monarch from Francis, with 
 whom he had been for some time in close alliance ; 
 and new incidents of greater moment had occurred to 
 increase his disgust and animosity. Henry, desirous Henry* 
 of establishing an uniformity in religion in both the 
 British kingdoms, as well as fond of making proselytes 
 to his own opinions, had fonned a scheme of persuad- 
 ing his nephew, the King of Scots, to renounce the 
 pope's supremacy, and to adopt the same system of 
 reformation, which he had introduced into England. 
 This measure he pursued with his usual eagerness 
 and impetuosity, making such advantageous offers to 
 James, whom he considered as not over-scrupulously 
 attached to any religious tenets, that he hardly 
 doubted of success. His propositions were accord- 
 ingly received in such a manner, that he flattered 
 himself with having gained his point. But the 
 
 h Adrians, Istoria, i. 195. Sleid. 312. Jovii Hist. lib. iliii. p. 301. 
 Vita di Cos. Medici ila Baldini, p. :5I. 
 
 D D 4
 
 408 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Scottish ecclesiastics, foreseeing how fatal the union 
 IL of their sovereign with England must prove both to 
 
 1543 ' their own power, and to the established system of 
 religion ; and the partisans of France, no less con- 
 vinced that it would put an end to the influence of 
 that crown upon the public councils of Scotland ; 
 combined together, and, by their insinuations, de- 
 feated Henry's scheme at the very moment when he 
 expected it to have taken effect. 1 Too haughty to 
 brook such a disappointment, which he imputed as 
 much to the arts of the French, as to the levity of 
 the Scottish monarch, he took arms against Scotland, 
 threatening to subdue the kingdom, since he could 
 not gain the friendship of its king. At the same 
 time, his resentment against Francis quickened his 
 negotiations with the emperor, an alliance with whom 
 he was now as forward to accept as the other could 
 be to offer it. During this war with Scotland, and 
 before the conclusion of his negotiations with Charles, 
 James V. died, leaving his crown to Mary his only 
 daughter, an infant of a few days old. Upon this event, 
 Henry altered at once his whole system with regard 
 to Scotland, and abandoning all thoughts of conquer- 
 ing it, aimed at what was more advantageous as well 
 as more practicable, an union with that kingdom by 
 a marriage between Edward his only son and the 
 young queen. But here, too, he apprehended a 
 vigorous opposition from the French faction in Scot- 
 land, which began to bestir itself in order to thwart 
 the measure. The necessity of crushing this party 
 among the Scots, and of preventing Francis from 
 furnishing them any effectual aid, confirmed Henry's 
 resolution of breaking with France, and pushed him 
 on to put a finishing hand to the treaty of confederacy 
 with the emperor. 
 
 Hist, of Scot. Vol. I. p. 58, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 40g 
 
 In this league were contained, first of all, articles BOOK 
 for securing their future amity and mutual defence ; VIL 
 then were enumerated the demands which they were 154|S - 
 respectively to make upon Francis ; and the plan of * 
 their operations was fixed, if he should refuse to grant 
 them satisfaction. They agreed to require that Francis 
 should not only renounce his alliance with Solyman, 
 which had been the source of infinite calamities to 
 Christendom, but also that he should make reparation 
 for the damages which that unnatural union had oc- 
 casioned ; that he should restore Burgundy to the 
 emperor ; that he should desist immediately from 
 hostilities, and leave Charles at leisure to oppose the 
 common enemy of the Christian faith ; and that he 
 should immediately pay the sums due to Henry, or 
 put some towns in his hands as security to that effect. 
 If, within forty days, he did not comply with these 
 demands, they then engaged to invade France each 
 with twenty thousand foot and five thousand horse, 
 and not to lay down their arms until they had re- 
 covered Burgundy, together with the towns on the 
 Somme, for the emperor, and Normandy and Guienne, 
 or even the whole realm of France, for Henry." 
 Their heralds, accordingly, set out with these haughty 
 requisitions ; and though they were not permitted to 
 enter France, the two monarchs held themselves fully 
 entitled to execute whatever was stipulated in their 
 treaty. 
 
 Francis, on his part, was not less diligent in pre- 
 paring for the approaching campaign. Having early 
 observed symptoms of Henry's disgust and alienation, 
 and finding all his endeavours to soothe and reconcile 
 him ineffectual, he knew his temper too well not to 
 expect that open hostilities would quickly follow upon 
 this cessation of friendship. For this reason, he re- 
 doubled his endeavours to obtain from Solyman such 
 
 k Rym. xiv. 768. Herb. 238.
 
 410 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK aid as might counterbalance the great accession of 
 VIL strength which the emperor would receive by his 
 15481 alliance with England. In order to supply the place 
 of the two ambassadors who had been murdered by 
 Guasto, he sent as his envoy, first to Venice, and 
 then to Constantinople, Paulin, who, though in no 
 higher rank than a captain of foot, was deemed 
 worthy of being raised to this important station, to 
 which he was recommended by Bellay, who had 
 trained him to the arts of negotiation, and made trial 
 of his talents and address on several occasions. Nor 
 did he belie the opinion conceived of his courage and 
 abilities. Hastening to Constantinople, without re- 
 garding the dangers to which he was exposed, he 
 urged his master's demands with such boldness, and 
 availed himself of every circumstance with such dex- 
 terity, that he soon removed all the sultan's difficul- 
 ties. As some of the bashas, swayed either by their 
 own opinion, or influenced by the emperor's emissaries, 
 who had made their way even into this court, had de- 
 clared in the divan against acting in concert with 
 France, he found means either to convince or silence 
 them. 1 At last he obtained orders for Barbarossa 
 to sail with a powerful fleet, and to regulate all his 
 operations by the directions of the French king. 
 Francis was not equally successful in his attempts to 
 gain the princes of the empire. The extraordinary 
 rigour with which he thought it necessary to punish 
 such of his subjects as had embraced the protestant 
 opinions, in order to give some notable evidence of 
 his own zeal for the catholic faith, and to wipe off the 
 imputations to which he was liable from his confe- 
 deracy with the Turks, placed an insuperable barrier 
 between him and such of the Germans as interest or 
 inclination would have prompted most readily to join 
 
 1 Sandov. Histor. torn. ii. 346. Jovii Hist. lib. xli. 285, Sc. 300, &c. 
 Bran tome,
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 411 
 
 him. m His chief advantage, however, over the em- BOOK 
 peror, he derived on this, as on other occasions, from V1L 
 the contiguity of his dominions, as well as from the i$4s. 
 extent of the royal authority in France, which ex- 
 empted him from all the delays and disappointments 
 unavoidable wherever popular assemblies provide for 
 the expences of government by occasional and frugal 
 subsidies. Hence his domestic preparations were 
 always carried on with vigour and rapidity, while 
 those of the emperor, unless when quickened by some 
 foreign supply, or some temporary expedient, were 
 extremely slow and dilatory. 
 
 Long before any army was in readiness to oppose operation. 
 him, Francis took the field in the Low Countries, 
 against which he turned the whole weight of the war. 
 He made himself master of Landrecy, which he de- 
 termined to keep as the key to the whole province of 
 Hainault, and ordered it to be fortified with great 
 care. Turning from thence to the right, he entered 
 the dutchy of Luxembourg, and found it in the same 
 defenceless state as in the former year. While he 
 was thus employed, the emperor having drawn together 
 an anny, composed of all the different nations subject 
 to his government, entered the territories of the Duke 
 of Cleves, on whom he had vowed to inflict exemplary 
 vengeance. This prince, whose conduct and situation 
 were similar to that of Robert de la Mark in the first 
 war between Charles and Francis, resembled him 
 likewise in his fate. Unable, with his feeble army, 
 to face the emperor, who advanced at the head of 
 forty-four thousand men, he retired at his approach ; 
 and the imperialists being at liberty to act as they 
 pleased, immediately invested Duren. That town, 
 though gallantly defended, was taken by assault ; all come ma*. 
 the inhabitants were put to the sword, and the place 
 
 itself reduced to ashes. This dreadful example of cicv, 
 
 AuguU 24. 
 
 Seek. lib. iii.
 
 412 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK severity struck the people of the country with such 
 
 L_ general terror, that all the other towns, even such as 
 
 1543> were capable of resistance, sent their keys to the 
 emperor ; and before a body of French, detached to 
 his assistance, could come up, the duke himself was 
 obliged to make his submission to Charles in the most 
 abject manner. Being admitted into the imperial 
 presence, he kneeled, together with eight of his 
 principal subjects, and implored mercy. The em- 
 peror allowed him to remain in that ignominious 
 posture, and eyeing him with a haughty and severe 
 look, without deigning to answer a single word, re- 
 mitted him to his ministers. The conditions, how- 
 ever, which they prescribed, were not so rigorous as 
 he had reason to have expected after such a reception. 
 Sept. 7. He was obliged to renounce his alliance with France 
 and Denmark ; to resign all his pretensions to the 
 dutchy of Gueldres ; to enter into perpetual amity 
 with the emperor and King of the Romans. In re- 
 turn for which, all his hereditary dominions were 
 restored, except two towns, which the emperor kept 
 as pledges of the duke's fidelity during the con- 
 tinuance of the war ; and he was reinstated in his 
 privileges as a prince of the empire. Not long after, 
 Charles, as a proof of the sincerity of his reconcile- 
 ment, gave him in marriage one of the daughters of 
 his brother Ferdinand." 
 
 Besieges Having thus chastised the presumption of the Duke 
 recy * of Cleves, detached one of his allies from Francis, 
 and annexed to his own dominions in the Low 
 Countries a considerable province which lay contigu- 
 ous to them, Charles advanced towards Hainault, and 
 laid siege to Landrecy. There, as the first fruits of 
 his alliance with Henry, he was joined by six thou- 
 sand English under Sir John Wallop. The garrison, 
 consisting- of veteran troops commanded by De la 
 
 " Haraei Annal. Brabant, torn. i. 628. Recueil des Traites, torn. ii. 226.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 413 
 
 Lande and Desse, two officers of reputation, made a BOOK 
 vigorous resistance. Francis approached with all his VIL 
 forces to relieve that place ; Charles covered the 154S * 
 siege ; both were determined to hazard an engage- 
 ment ; and all Europe expected to see this contest, 
 which had continued so long, decided at last by a 
 battle between two great armies, led by their respective 
 monarchs in person. But the ground which separated 
 their two camps was such, as put the disadvantage 
 manifestly on his side who should venture to attack, 
 and neither of them chose to run that risk. Amidst 
 a variety of movements, in order to draw the enemy 
 into the snare, or to avoid it themselves, Francis, with 
 admirable conduct and equal good fortune, threw 
 first a supply of fresh troops, and then a convoy of 
 provisions, into the town, so that the emperor, de- 
 spairing of success, withdrew into winter-quarters'", 
 in order to preserve his army from being entirely 
 ruined by the rigour of the season. 
 
 During this campaign, Solyman fulfilled his en- Soiyman 
 
 i r> i i i l-i invadei 
 
 gagements to the French king with great punctuality. Hungary. 
 He himself marched into Hungary with a numerous 
 anny ; and as the princes of the empire made no 
 great effort to save a country which Charles, by em- 
 ploying his own force against Francis, seemed willing 
 to sacrifice, there was no appearance of any body of 
 troops to oppose his progress. He besieged, one after 
 another, Quinque Ecclesiae, Alba, and Gran, the 
 three most considerable towns in the kingdom, of 
 which Ferdinand had kept possession. The first 
 was taken by storm ; the other two surrendered ; 
 and the whole kingdom, a small corner excepted, 
 was subjected to the Turkish yoke." About the 
 
 M -i i n ruJl 
 
 same time, Barbarossa sailed with a fleet or a nunar l ^ i, a | y . 
 and ten galleys, and, coasting along the shore of 
 
 Mm. de Bellay, 405, &c. 
 
 p Ibtuanbaffii Histor. Hung. lib. xv. 167. 
 

 
 414. 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Calabria, made a descent at Rheggio, which he 
 _. VII> plundered and burnt ; and advancing from thence to 
 1543t the mouth of the Tiber, he stopped there to water. 
 The citizens of Rome, ignorant of his destination, 
 and filled with terror, began to fly with such general 
 precipitation, that the city would have been totally 
 deserted, if they had not resumed courage upon letters 
 from Paulin, the French envoy, assuring them that 
 no violence or injury would be offered by the Turks 
 to any state in alliance with the king his master. q 
 From Ostia, Barbarossa sailed to Marseilles, and 
 being joined by the French fleet with a body of land- 
 forces on board, under the Count d'Enguien, a gallant 
 young prince of the house of Bourbon, they directed 
 their course towards Nice, the sole retreat of the un- 
 Augustio. fortunate Duke of Savoy. There, to the astonish- 
 ment and scandal of all Christendom, the lilies of 
 France and crescent of Mahomet appeared in con- 
 junction against a fortress on which the cross of 
 Savoy was displayed. The town, however, was 
 bravely defended against their combined force by 
 Montfort, a Savoyard gentleman, who stood a general 
 assault, and repulsed the enemy with great loss, 
 before he retired into the castle. That fort, situated 
 upon a rock, on which the artillery made no impres- 
 sion, and which could not be undermined, he held 
 out so long, that Doria had time to approach with 
 his fleet, and the Marquis del Guasto to march with 
 a body of troops from Milan. Upon intelligence of 
 this, the French and Turks raised the siege r ; and 
 Francis had not even the consolation of success, to 
 render the infamy which he drew on himself, by call- 
 ing in such an auxiliary, more pardonable. 
 
 From the small progress of either party during 
 this campaign, it was obvious to what a length the 
 
 Sept. 8. 
 
 Prepara- 
 tions for a 
 new cam- 
 paign. 
 
 * Jovii Hist. lib. xliii. 304, &c. Pallavic. 160. 
 
 r Guichenon, Histoire de Savoye, torn. i. p. 651. M^ra. de Bel lay, 425,
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 415 
 
 war might be drawn out between two princes, whose BOOK 
 power was so equally balanced, and who, by their VIL __ 
 own talents or activity, could so vary and multiply 15HS * 
 their resources. The trial which they had now made 
 of each other's strength might have taught them the 
 imprudence of persisting in a war, wherein there 
 was greater appearance of their distressing their own 
 dominions than of conquering those of their adver- 
 sary, and should have disposed both .to wish for 
 peace. If Charles and Francis had been influenced 
 by considerations of interest or prudence alone, this, 
 without doubt, must have been the manner in which 
 they would have reasoned. But the personal animo- 
 sity, which mingled itself in all their quarrels, had 
 grown to be so violent and implacable, that, for the 
 pleasure of gratifying it, they disregarded every thing 
 else ; and were infinitely more solicitous how to hurt 
 each other, than how to secure what would be of 
 advantage to themselves. No sooner then did the 
 season force them to suspend hostilities, than, without 
 paying any attention to the pope's repeated endea- 
 vours or paternal exhortations to re-establish peace, 
 they began to provide for the operations of the next 
 year with new vigour, and an activity increasing with 
 their hatred. Charles turned his chief attention 
 towards gaining the princes of the empire, and en- 
 deavoured to rouse the fonnidable but unwieldy 
 strength of the Germanic body against Francis. In Affairs of 
 order to understand the propriety of the steps which 
 he took for that purpose, it is necessary to review 
 the chief transactions in that country since the diet 
 of llatisbon, in the year one thousand five hundred 
 and forty-one. 
 
 Much about the time that assembly broke up, Maurice of 
 Maurice succeeded his father Henry in the govern- 
 ment of that part of Saxony which belonged to the 
 Albertine branch of the Saxon family. This young
 
 young 
 
 prince. 
 
 r 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK prince, then only in his twentieth year, had, even at 
 VIL that early period, begun to discover the great talents 
 1543> which qualified him for acting such a distinguished 
 part in the affairs of Germany. As soon as he en- 
 tered upon the administration, he struck out into 
 such a new and singular path, as shewed that he 
 aimed, from the beginning, at something great and 
 The views unc ommon. Though zealously attached to the pro- 
 duct of this testant opinions, both from education and principle, 
 he refused to accede to the league of Smalkalde, 
 being determined, as he said, to maintain the purity 
 of religion, which was the original object of that con- 
 federacy, but not to entangle himself in the political 
 interests or combinations to which it had given rise. 
 At the same time, foreseeing a rupture between 
 Charles and the confederates of Smalkalde, and per- 
 ceiving which of them was most likely to prevail in 
 the contest, instead of that jealousy and distrust 
 which the other protestants expressed of all the 
 emperor's designs, he affected to place in him an un- 
 bounded confidence, and courted his favour with the 
 utmost assiduity. When the other protestants, in 
 the year fifteen hundred and forty-two, either declined 
 assisting Ferdinand in Hungary, or afforded him 
 reluctant and feeble aid, Maurice marched thither in 
 person, and rendered himself conspicuous by his zeal 
 and courage. From the same motive, he had led to 
 the emperor's assistance, during the last campaign, a 
 body of his own troops ; and the gracefulness of his 
 person, his dexterity in all military exercises, together 
 with his intrepidity, which courted and delighted in 
 danger, did not distinguish him more in the field, 
 than his great abilities and insinuating address won 
 upon the emperor's confidence and favour. 5 While 
 by this conduct, which appeared extraordinary to 
 those who held the same opinions with him concern- 
 
 * Sleid. 317. Seek. lib. iii. 371. 386. 428.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 ing religion, Maurice endeavoured to pay court to BOOK 
 the emperor, he began to discover some degree of ;VIL 
 jealousy of his cousin, the Elector of Saxony. This, I5 3 - 
 which proved in the sequel so fatal to the elector,' 
 had almost occasioned an open rupture between them ; 
 and soon after Maurice's accession to the government, 
 they both took arms with equal rage upon account of 
 a dispute about the right of jurisdiction over a paltry 
 town situated on the Moldaw. They were prevented, 
 however, from proceeding to action by the mediation 
 of the Landgrave of Hesse, whose daughter Maurice 
 had married, as well as by the powerful and authori- 
 tative admonitions of Luther. 1 
 
 Amidst these transactions, the pope, though ex- Thepope 
 tremely irritated at the emperor's concessions to the J,"!Sd*. 
 protestants at the diet of Ratisbon, was so warmly general 
 solicited on all hands, by such as were most devoutly Trent, 
 attached to the see of Rome, no less than by those 
 whose fidelity or designs he suspected, to summon a 
 general council, that he found it impossible to avoid 
 any longer calling that assembly. The impatience 
 for its meeting, and the expectations of great effects 
 from its decisions, seemed to grow in proportion to 
 the difficulty of obtaining it. He still adhered, 
 however, to his original resolution of holding it in 
 some town of Italy, where, by the number of ecclesi- 
 astics, retainers to his court, and depending on his 
 favour, who could repair to it without difficulty or 
 expence, he might influence and even direct all its 
 proceedings. This proposition, though often rejected Mh s. 
 by the Germans, he instructed his nuncio to the diet 
 held at Spires, in the year one thousand five hundred 
 and forty-two, to renew once more ; and if he found 
 it gave no greater satisfaction than formerly, he em~ 
 powered him, as a last concession, to propose for tin- 
 place of meeting, Trent, a city in the Tyrol, subject 
 
 Slcid. 292. Seek. lib. iii. 403. 
 Ch. VOL. II. E E
 
 418 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK to the King of the Romans, and situated on the 
 VIL confines between Germany and Italy. The catholic 
 1543. princes in the diet, after giving it as their opinion 
 that the council might have been held with greater 
 advantage in Ratisbon, Cologne, or some of the 
 great cities of the empire, were at length induced to 
 approve of the place which the pope had named. 
 The protestants unanimously expressed their dissatis- 
 faction, and protested that they would pay no regard 
 to a council held beyond the precincts of the empire, 
 called by the pope's authority, and in which he 
 assumed the right of presiding." 
 
 May 22. The pope, without taking any notice of their ob- 
 Sommons jections, published the bull of intimation, named 
 it to meet;. j.jjree car cjjnals to preside as his legates, and ap- 
 pointed them to repair to Trent before the first of 
 November, the day he had fixed for opening the 
 council. But if Paul had desired the meeting of a 
 council as sincerely as he pretended, he would not 
 have pitched on such an improper time for calling it. 
 Instead of that general union and tranquillity, without 
 which the deliberations of a council could neither be 
 conducted with security, nor attended with authority, 
 such a fierce war was just kindled between the emperor 
 and Francis, as rendered it impossible for the ecclesi- 
 astics from many parts of Europe to resort thither in 
 obliged to safety. The legates, accordingly, remained several 
 months in Trent ; but as no person appeared there, 
 except a few prelates from the ecclesiastical state, the 
 pope, in order to avoid the ridicule and contempt 
 which this drew upon him from the enemies of the 
 church, recalled them and prorogued the council. x 
 The empe- Unhappily for the authority of the papal see, at 
 theprotSt- tne ver Y time that the German protestants took every 
 occasion of pouring contempt upon it, the emperor 
 
 u Sleid. 291. Seek. lib. iii. 283. 
 * F. Paul, p. 97. Sleid. 296. 
 
 ror courts 
 the i 
 ants.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 4,19 
 
 and King of the Romans found it necessary not only BOOK 
 to connive at their conduct, but to court their favour VIL 
 by repeated acts of indulgence. In the same diet of '* 
 Spires, in which they had protested in the most dis- 
 respectful terms against assembling a council at Trent, 
 Ferdinand, who depended on their aid for the defence 
 of Hungary, not only permitted that protestation to 
 be inserted in the records of the diet, but renewed in 
 their favour all the emperor's concessions at Ratisbon, 
 adding to them whatever they demanded for their 
 farther security. Among other particulars, he granted 
 a suspension of a decree of the imperial chamber 
 against the city of Goslar (one of those which had 
 entered into the league of Smalkalde), on account of 
 its having: seized the ecclesiastical revenues within its 
 
 o 
 
 domains, and enjoined Henry Duke of Brunswick to 
 desist from his attempts to carry that decree into 
 execution. But Henry, a furious bigot, and no less 
 obstinate than rash in all his undertakings, continu- 
 ing to disquiet the people of Goslar by his incursions, Their vigo. 
 the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse, that Ceding., 
 they might not suffer any member of the Smalkaldic 
 body to be oppressed, assembled their forces, declared 
 war in form against Henry, and in the space of a few 
 weeks, stripping him entirely of his dominions, drove 
 him as a wretched exile to take refuge in the court of 
 Bavaria. By this act of vengeance, no less severe 
 than sudden, they filled all Germany with dread of 
 their power, and the confederates of Smalkalde ap- 
 peared, by this first effort of their arms, to be as 
 ready as they were able to protect those who had 
 joined the association. y 
 
 Emboldened by so many concessions in their favour, 
 as well as by the progress which their opinions daily 
 made, the princes of the league of Smalkalde 1 
 
 > Sleid. 296. Commemoratio succinct* Causarum Belli, &c. . Smmlkal- 
 dicis centra Henr. Brunsw. ab iisdem edita: ap. Scardium, torn, u. 307. 
 
 EE 2
 
 420 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK solemn protest against the imperial chamber, and de- 
 clined its jurisdiction for the future, because that 
 
 >4S * court had not been visited or reformed according to 
 the decree of Ratisbon, and continued to discover 
 a most indecent partiality in all its proceedings. 
 Not long after this, they ventured a step farther ; and 
 protesting against the recess of a diet held at Nurem- 
 berg, which provided for the defence of Hungary, re- 
 Al w4s S " f use( l to f urn i sn their contingent for that purpose, 
 unless the imperial chamber were reformed, and full 
 security were granted them in every point with regard 
 to religion. 2 
 
 spires* ^ uc ^ were ^ e l en gths to which the protestants 
 
 1544.' had proceeded, and such their confidence in their 
 own power, when the emperor returned from the 
 Low Countries, to hold a diet, which he had sum- 
 moned to meet at Spires. The respect due to the 
 emperor, as well as the importance of the affairs 
 which were to be laid before it, rendered this assem- 
 bly extremely full. All the electors, a great number 
 of princes, ecclesiastical and secular, with the deputies 
 of most of the cities, were present. Charles soon 
 perceived that this was not a time to offend the jea- 
 lous spirit of the protestants, by asserting in any high 
 tone the authority and doctrines of the church, or by 
 abridging, in the smallest article, the liberty which 
 they now enjoyed ; but that, on the contrary, if he 
 expected any support from them, or wished to pre- 
 serve Germany from intestine disorders while he was 
 engaged in a foreign war, he must soothe them by new 
 concessions, and a more ample extension of their 
 religious privileges. He began, accordingly, with 
 courting the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of 
 Hesse, the heads of the protestant party ; and, by 
 giving up some things in their favour, and granting 
 liberal promises with regard to others, he secured 
 
 z Sleid. 304. 207. Seek. lib. Jii. 404. 416.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 421 
 
 himself from any danger of opposition on their part. BOOK 
 Having gained this capital point, he then ventured to vn * 
 address the diet with greater freedom. He began, l544 " 
 by representing his own zeal and unwearied efforts ror 
 with regard to two things most essential to Christen- Its " n ^ t 
 dom, the procuring of a general council in order to France, 
 compose the religious dissensions which had unhappily 
 arisen in Germany, and the providing some proper 
 means for checking the formidable progress of the 
 Turkish arms. But he observed, with deep regret, 
 that his pious endeavours had been entirely defeated 
 by the unjustifiable ambition of the French king, who, 
 having wantonly kindled the flame of war in Europe, 
 which had been so lately extinguished by the truce of 
 Nice, rendered it impossible for the fathers of the 
 church to assemble in council, or to deliberate with 
 security ; and obliged him to employ those forces in 
 his own defence, which, with greater satisfaction to 
 himself, as well as more honour to Christendom, he 
 would have turned against the infidels : that Francis, 
 not thinking it enough to have called him off from 
 opposing the Mahometans, had, with unexampled im- 
 piety, invited them into the heart of Christendom, 
 and, joining his arms to theirs, had openly attacked 
 the Duke of Savoy, a member of the empire : that 
 Barbarossa's fleet was now in one of the ports of 
 France, waiting only the return of spring to carry 
 terror and desolation to the coast of some Christian 
 state : that in such a situation, it was folly to think 
 of distant expeditions against the Turk, or of march- 
 ing to oppose his armies in Hungary, while such a 
 powerful ally received him into the centre of Europe, 
 and gave him footing there. It was a dictate of pru- 
 dence, he added, to oppose the nearest and most im- 
 minent danger, first of all, and, by humbling the power 
 of France, to deprive Solyinan of the advantages which 
 he derived from the unnatural confederacy formed 
 
 E E 3
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK between him and a monarch who still arrogated the 
 name of Most Christian : that, in truth, a war against 
 
 1544 * the French king and the sultan ought to be con- 
 sidered as the same thing ; and that every advantage 
 gained over the former, was a severe and sensible blow 
 to the latter. On all these accounts, he concluded 
 with demanding their aid against Francis, not merely 
 as an enemy of the Germanic body, or of him who 
 was its head, but as an avowed ally of the infidels, 
 and a public enemy to the Christian name. 
 
 In order to give greater weight to this violent in- 
 vective of the emperor, the King of the Romans stood 
 up, and related the rapid conquests of the sultan in 
 Hungary, occasioned, as he said, by the fatal necessity 
 imposed on his brother, of employing his arms against 
 France. When he had finished, the ambassador of 
 Savoy gave a detail of Barbarossa's operations at Nice, 
 and of the ravages which he had committed on that 
 coast. All these, added to the general indignation 
 which Francis's unprecedented union with the Turks 
 excited in Europe, made such an impression on the 
 diet as the emperor wished, and disposed most of the 
 members to grant him such effectual aid as he had 
 demanded. The ambassadors whom Francis had sent 
 to explain the motives of his conduct, were not per- 
 mitted to enter the bounds of the empire ; and the 
 apology which they published for their master, vindi- 
 cating his alliance with Solyman, by examples drawn 
 from Scripture, and the practice of Christian princes, 
 was little regarded by men who were irritated already, 
 or prejudiced against him to such a degree as to be 
 incapable of allowing their proper weight to any argu- 
 ments in his behalf. 
 
 His vast Such being the favourable disposition of the Ger- 
 in'onfeM-o 5 mans Charles perceived that nothing could now ob- 
 gain the struct his gaining all that he aimed at, but the fears 
 
 protestants. . 
 
 and jealousies of the protestants, which he determined
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. ' 433 
 
 to quiet by granting every thing that the utmost soli- BOOK 
 citude of these passions could desire for the security VIL 
 of their religion. With this view, he consented to a 1544< 
 recess, whereby all the rigorous edicts hitherto issued 
 against the protestants were suspended ; a council 
 either general or national to be assembled in Ger- 
 many was declared necessary, in order to re-establish 
 peace in the church ; until one of these should be 
 held (which the emperor undertook to bring about as 
 soon as possible), the free and public exercise of the 
 protestant religion was authorized ; the imperial cham- 
 ber was enjoined to give no molestation to the pro- 
 testants ; and when the term for which the present 
 judges in that court were elected should expire, per- 
 sons duly qualified were then to be admitted as mem- 
 bers, without any distinction on account of religion. 
 In return for these extraordinary acts of indulgence, Aid grant- 
 the protestants concurred with the other members of &e j ^ 
 the diet, in declaring war against Francis in name of 
 the empire ; in voting the emperor a body of twenty 
 thousand foot and four thousand horse, to be main- 
 tained at the public expence for six months, to be 
 employed against France ; and at the same time the 
 diet proposed a poll-tax to be levied throughout all 
 Germany on every person without exception, for the 
 support of the war against the Turks. 
 
 Charles, while he gave the greatest attention to the chrie.'i 
 minute and intricate detail of particulars necessary SJ^, 
 towards conducting the deliberations of a numerous ~* 
 and divided assembly to such a successful period, 
 negotiated a separate peace with the King of Den- 
 mark ; who, though he had hitherto performed 
 nothing considerable in consequence of his alliance 
 with Francis, had it in his power, however, to make 
 a troublesome diversion in favour of that monarch.* 
 At the same time, he did not neglect proper apph- 
 
 Du Mont, Corps Diplom. t. iv. p. " P- 274. 
 E E 4
 
 424. THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK cations to the King of England, in order to rouse 
 him to more vigorous efforts against their common 
 
 1544< enemy. Little, indeed, was wanting to accomplish 
 this ; for such events had happened in Scotland as 
 inflamed Henry to the most violent pitch of resent- 
 ment against Francis. Having concluded with the 
 parliament of Scotland a treaty of marriage between 
 his son and their young queen, by which he reckoned 
 himself secure of effecting the union of the two king- 
 doms, which had been long desired, and often at- 
 tempted without success by his predecessors, Mary 
 of Guise, the queen-mother, Cardinal Beautoun, and 
 other partisans of France, found means not only to 
 break off the match, but to alienate the Scottish 
 nation entirely from the friendship of England, and 
 to strengthen its ancient attachment to France, 
 Henry, however, did not abandon an object of so 
 much importance ; and as the humbling of Francis, 
 besides the pleasure of taking revenge upon an enemy 
 who had disappointed a favourite measure, appeared 
 the most effectual method of bringing the Scots to 
 accept once more of the treaty which they had relin- 
 quished, he was so eager to accomplish this, that he 
 was ready to second whatever the emperor could pro- 
 pose to be attempted against the French king. The 
 plan, accordingly, which they concerted, was such, if 
 it had been punctually executed, as must have ruined 
 France in the first place, and would have augmented 
 so prodigiously the emperor's power and territories, 
 as might in the end have proved fatal to the liberties 
 of Europe. They agreed to invade France each with 
 an army of twenty-five thousand men, and, without 
 losing time in besieging the frontier towns, to advance 
 directly towards the interior provinces, and to join 
 their forces near Paris. b 
 
 b Herbert, 245. M^m. de Bellay, 448.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 Francis stood alone in opposition to all the enemies BOOK 
 whom Charles was mustering against him. Solyman VI1 ^ 
 had been the only ally who did not desert him ; but 1544> 
 the assistance which he received from him had ren- 
 dered him so odious to all Christendom, that he 
 resolved rather to forego all the advantages of his 
 friendship, than to become, on that account, the ob- 
 ject of general detestation. For this reason he dis- 
 missed Barbarossa as soon as winter was over, who, 
 after ravaging the coast of Naples and Tuscany, re- 
 turned to Constantinople. As Francis could not hope 
 to equal the forces of so many powers combined 
 against him, he endeavoured to supply that defect by 
 dispatch, which was more in his power, and to get 
 the start of them in taking the field. Early in the invest Cm- 
 spring the Count d'Enguien invested Carignan, a 
 town in Piedmont, which the Marquis del Guasto, 
 the imperial general, having surprised the fonner 
 year, considered as of so much importance, that he 
 had fortified it at great expence. The count pushed 
 the siege with such vigour, that Guasto, fond of his 
 own conquest, and seeing no other way of saving it 
 from falling into the hands of the French, resolved 
 to hazard a battle in order relieve it. He began his 
 march from Milan for this purpose, and, as he was at 
 no pains to conceal his intention, it was soon known 
 in the French camp. Enguien, a gallant and enter- 
 prising young man, wished passionately to try the 
 fortune of a battle ; his troops desired it with no less 
 ardour ; but the peremptory injunction of the king 
 not to venture a general engagement, flowing from a 
 prudent attention to the present situation of affairs, 
 as well as from the remembrance of former disasters, 
 restrained him from venturing upon it. Unwilling, 
 however, to abandon Carignan, when it was just 
 ready to yield, and eager to distinguish his command 
 by some memorable action, he dispatched Monluc to
 
 426 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK court, in order to lay before the king the advantages 
 of fighting the enemy, and the hopes which he had 
 
 1544t of victory. The king referred the matter to his 
 privy council ; all the ministers declared, one after 
 another, against fighting, and supported their senti- 
 ments by reasons extremely plausible. While they 
 were delivering their opinions, Monluc, who was 
 permitted to be present, discovered such visible and 
 extravagant symptoms of impatience to speak, as well 
 as such dissatisfaction with what he heard, that 
 Francis, diverted with his appearance, called on him 
 to declare what he could offer in reply to sentiments 
 which seemed to be as just as they were general. 
 Upon this, Monluc, a plain but spirited soldier, and 
 of known courage, represented the good condition of 
 the troops, their eagerness to meet the enemy in the 
 field, their confidence in their officers, together with 
 the everlasting infamy which the declining of a battle 
 would bring on the French arms ; and he urged his 
 arguments with such a lively impetuosity, and such a 
 flow of military eloquence, as gained over to his 
 opinion, not only the king, naturally fond of daring 
 actions, but several of the council. Francis, catching 
 the same enthusiasm which had animated his troops, 
 suddenly started up, and having lifted his hands to 
 heaven, and implored the divine protection, he then 
 addressed himself to Monluc, " Go," says he, "re- 
 turn to Piedmont, and fight in the name of God." 
 Battle of No sooner was it known that the king had given 
 Enguien leave to fight the imperialists, than, such was 
 the martial ardour of the gallant and high-spirited 
 gentlemen of that age, that the court was quite de- 
 serted, every person desirous of reputation, or capable 
 of service, hurrying to Piedmont, in order to share, 
 as volunteers, in the danger and glory of the action. 
 Encouraged by the arrival of so many brave officers, 
 
 c M&noires de Monluc.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 Enguien immediately prepared for battle, nor did BOOK 
 Guasto decline the combat. The number of cavalry 
 was almost equal, but the imperial infantry exceeded 1544 - 
 the French by at least ten thousand men. They met April n. 
 near Cerisoles, in an open plain, which afforded to 
 neither any advantage of ground, and both had full 
 time to form their army in proper order. The shock 
 was such as might have been expected between veteran 
 troops, violent and obstinate. The French cavalry 
 rushing forward to the charge with their usual viva- 
 city, bore down every thing that opposed them ; but, 
 on the other hand, the steady and disciplined valour 
 of the Spanish infantry having forced the body which 
 they encountered to give way, victory remained in 
 suspense, ready to declare for whichever general could 
 make the best use of that critical moment. Guasto, 
 engaged in that part of his anny which was thrown 
 into disorder, and afraid of falling into the hands of 
 the French, whose vengeance he dreaded on account of 
 the murder of llincon and Fregoso, lost his presence 
 of mind, and forgot to order a large body of reserve 
 to advance ; whereas Enguien, with admirable cour- 
 age, and equal conduct, supported, at the head of 
 his gens d'armes, such of his battalions as began to 
 yield ; and, at the same time, he ordered the Swiss in 
 his service, who had been victorious wherever they 
 fought, to fall upon the Spaniards. This motion 
 proved decisive. All that followed was confusion and 
 slaughter. The Marquis del Guasto, wounded in 
 the thigh, escaped only by the swiftness of his horse. 
 The victory of the French was complete, ten thousand 
 of the imperialists being slain, and a considerable 
 number, with all their tents, baggage, and artillery, 
 taken. On the part of the conquerors, their joy was 
 without allay, a few only being killed, and among 
 these no officer of distinction." 1 
 
 " Mem. de IkUay, 429, &c. Btemoires de Monluc. Jovii Hist. lib. xli*. 
 p. 327. 6.
 
 428 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK This splendid action, beside the reputation with 
 which it was attended, delivered France from an im- 
 minent danger, as it ruined the army with which 
 Guasto had intended to invade the country between 
 the Rhone and Saone, where there were neither for- 
 tified towns nor regular forces to oppose his progress. 
 But it was not in Francis's power to pursue the vic- 
 tory with such vigour as to reap all the advantages 
 which it might have yielded : for though the Mi- 
 lanese remained now almost defenceless ; though the 
 inhabitants, who had long murmured under the rigour 
 of the imperial government, were ready to throw off 
 the yoke ; though Enguien, flushed with success, 
 urged the king to seize this happy opportunity of re- 
 covering a country, the acquisition of which had been 
 long his favourite object ; yet, as the emperor and 
 King of England were preparing to break in upon 
 the opposite frontier of France with numerous armies, 
 it became necessary to sacrifice all thoughts of con- 
 quest to the public safety, and to recall twelve thou- 
 sand of Enguien's best troops to be employed in de- 
 fence of the kingdom. Enguien's subsequent opera- 
 tions were, of consequence, so languid and incon- 
 siderable, that the reduction of Carignan and some 
 other towns in Piedmont, was all that he gained by 
 his great victory at Cerisoles. 
 
 Operations The emperor, as usual, was late in taking the field, 
 Countrier Dut ne appeared, towards the beginning of June, at 
 the head of an army more numerous and better ap- 
 pointed than any which he had hitherto led against 
 France. It amounted almost to fifty thousand men, 
 and part of it having reduced Luxembourg and some 
 other towns in the Netherlands, before he himself 
 joined it, he now marched with the whole towards the 
 June. frontiers of Champagne. Charles, according to his 
 agreement with the King of England, ought to have 
 
 M6a. de Bellay, 438, &c.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 439 
 
 advanced directly towards Paris ; and the dauphin, BOOK 
 who commanded the only army to which Francis _ VIL 
 trusted for the security of his dominions in that 1544t 
 quarter, was in no condition to oppose him. But 
 the success with which the French had defended 
 Provence in the year one thousand five hundred and 
 thirty-six, had taught them the most effectual method 
 of distressing an invading enemy. Champagne, a 
 country abounding more in vines than corn, was in- 
 capable of maintaining a great army ; and before the 
 emperor's approach, whatever could be of any use to 
 his troops had been carried off or destroyed. This 
 rendered it necessary for him to be master of some 
 places of strength, in order to secure the convoys, on 
 which alone he now perceived that he must depend 
 for subsistence ; and he found the frontier towns so 
 ill provided for defence, that he hoped it would not 
 be a work either of much time or difficulty to reduce 
 them. Accordingly Ligny and Commercy, which he 
 first attacked, surrendered after a short resistance. 
 He then invested St. Disier, which, though it com- Tbenpe- 
 
 ' . ror in vests 
 
 manded an important pass on the Marne, was desti- SL Disier. 
 tute of every thing necessary for sustaining a siege. 
 But the Count de Sancerre and M. de la Lande, who 
 had acquired such reputation by the defence of Land- 
 recy, generously threw themselves into the town, and 
 undertook to hold it out to the last extremity. The 
 emperor soon found how capable they were of making 
 good their promise, and that he could not expect to 
 take the town without besieging it in form. This ac- 
 cordingly he undertook ; and as it was his nature 
 never to abandon any enterprise in which he had 
 once engaged, he persisted in it with an inconsiderate 
 obstinacy. 
 
 The King of England's preparations for the cam- Henry ^ 
 paign were complete long before the emperor's ; but vetu 
 as he did not choose, on the one hand, to encounter Io 8 ne -
 
 430 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK alone the whole power of France, and was unwilling, 
 
 !_. on the other, that his troops should remain inactive, 
 
 1544 ' he took that opportunity of chastising the Scots, by 
 sending his fleet, together with a considerable part of 
 his infantry, under the Earl of Hertford, to invade 
 their country. Hertford executed his commission 
 with vigour, plundered and burned Edinburgh and 
 Leith, laid waste the adjacent country, and reim- 
 barked his men with such dispatch that they joined 
 their sovereign soon after his landing in France. 1 
 
 July 14. When Henry arrived in that kingdom, he found the 
 emperor engaged in the siege of St. Disier : an am- 
 bassador, however, whom he sent to congratulate the 
 English monarch on his safe arrival on the continent, 
 solicited him to march, in terms of the treaty, directly 
 to Paris. But Charles had set his ally such an ill 
 example of fulfilling the conditions of their confe- 
 deracy with exactness, that Henry, observing him 
 employ his time and forces in taking towns for his 
 own behoof, saw no reason why he should not attempt 
 the reduction of some places that lay conveniently for 
 himself. Without paying any regard to the empe- 
 ror's remonstrances, he immediately invested Bou- 
 logne, and commanded the Duke of Norfolk to press 
 the siege of Montreuil, which had been begun before 
 his arrival, by a body of Flemings, in conjunction 
 with some English troops. While Charles and Henry 
 shewed such attention each to his own interest, they 
 both neglected the common cause. Instead of the 
 union and confidence requisite towards conducting 
 the great plan that they had formed, they early dis- 
 covered a mutual jealousy of each other, which, by 
 degrees, begot distrust, and ended in open hatred. 8 
 
 Gallant By this time, Francis had, with unwearied industry, 
 
 drawn together an army, capable, as well from the 
 number as from the valour of the troops, of making 
 
 f History of Scotland, Vol. I. p. 90. B Herbert.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 head against the enemy. But the dauphin, who still BOOK 
 acted as general, prudently declining a battle, the V1L 
 loss of which would have endangered the kingdom, 
 satisfied himself with harassing the emperor with his 
 light troops, cutting off his convoys, and laying waste 
 the country around him. Though extremely dis- 
 tressed by these operations, Charles still pressed the 
 siege of St. Disier, which Sancerre defended with 
 astonishing fortitude and conduct. He stood re- 
 peated assaults, repulsing the enemy in them all ; 
 and undismayed even by the death of his brave 
 associate De la Lande, who was killed by a cannon- 
 ball, he continued to shew the same bold countenance 
 and obstinate resolution. At the end of five weeks, 
 he was still in a condition to hold out some time 
 longer, when an artifice of Granvelle's induced him to 
 surrender. That crafty politician, having intercepted 
 the key to the cipher which the Duke of Guise used 
 in communicating intelligence to Sancerre, forged a 
 letter in his name, authorizing Sancerre to capitulate, 
 as the king, though highly satisfied with his behaviour, 
 thought it imprudent to hazard a battle for his relief. 
 This letter he conveyed into the town in a manner 
 which could raise no suspicion, and the governor fell 
 into the snare. Even then, he obtained such honour- 
 able conditions as his gallant defence merited, and, 
 among others, a cessation of hostilities for eight days, 
 at the expiration of which he bound himself to open 
 the gates, if Francis, during that time, did not attack 
 the imperial army, and throw fresh troops into the 
 town. h Thus Sancerre, by detaining the emperor so 
 long before an inconsiderable place, afforded his 
 sovereign full time to assemble all his forces, and, 
 what rarely falls to the lot of an officer in such an 
 inferior command, acquired the glory of having saved 
 his countiy. 
 
 " Brantome, torn. ri. 489.
 
 432 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK As soon as St. Disier surrendered, the emperor ad- 
 
 VIL vanced into the heart of Champagne, but Sancerre's 
 
 1544. obstinate resistance had damped his sanguine hopes 
 
 Thfemp^' of penetrating to Paris, and led him seriously to reflect 
 
 rorpene. on w h a t h e m ight expect before towns of greater 
 
 trates into r . 
 
 the heart of strength, and defended by more numerous garrisons. 
 
 France. ^ ^ same time, the procuring subsistence for his 
 army was attended with great difficulty, which in- 
 creased in proportion as he withdrew farther from his 
 own frontier. He had lost a great number of his 
 best troops in the siege of St. Disier, and many fell 
 daily in skirmishes, which it was not in his power to 
 avoid, though they wasted his army insensibly, without 
 leading to any decisive action. The season advanced 
 apace, and he had not yet the command either of a 
 sufficient extent of territory, or of any such consider- 
 able town as rendered it safe to winter in the enemy's 
 country. Great arrears too were now due to his sol- 
 diers, who were upon the point of mutinying for their 
 pay, while he knew not from what funds to satisfy 
 them. All these considerations induced him to listen 
 to the overtures of peace, which a Spanish Dominican, 
 the confessor of his sister the Queen of France, had 
 secretly made to his confessor, a monk of the same 
 order. In consequence of this, plenipotentiaries were 
 named on both sides, and began their conferences in 
 Chausse, a small village near Chalons. At the same 
 time, Charles, either from a desire of making one 
 great final effort against France, or merely to gain a 
 pretext for deserting his ally, and concluding a 
 separate peace, sent an ambassador formally to require 
 Henry, according to the stipulation in their treaty, 
 to advance towards Paris. While he expected a 
 return from him, and waited the issue of the con- 
 ferences at Chausse, he continued to march forward, 
 though in the utmost distress from scarcity of provi- 
 sions. But, at last, by a fortunate motion on his part,
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 433 
 
 or through some neglect or treachery on that of the BOOK 
 French, he surprised first Esperney, and then Chateau _ !__ 
 Thierry, in both which were considerable magazines. 1544t 
 No sooner was it known that these towns, the latter 
 of which is not two days' march from Paris, were in 
 the hands of the enemy, than that great capital, de- 
 fenceless, and susceptible of any violent alarm in 
 proportion to its greatness, was filled with conster- 
 nation. The inhabitants, as if the emperor had been 
 already at their gates, fled in the wildest confusion 
 and despair, many sending their wives and children' 
 down the Seine to Rouen, others to Orleans, and 
 the towns upon the Loire. Francis himself, more 
 afflicted with this than with any other event during 
 his reign, and sensible as well of the triumph that 
 his rival would enjoy in insulting his capital, as of 
 the danger to which the kingdom was exposed, could 
 not refrain from crying out, in the first emotion of 
 his surprise and sorrow, " How dear, O my God, do 
 I pay for this crown, which I thought thou hadst 
 granted me freely!" 1 but recovering in a moment 
 from this sudden sally of peevishness and impatience, 
 he devoutly added, " Thy will, however, be done ;" 
 and proceeded to issue the necessary orders for op- 
 posing the enemy with his usual activity and presence 
 of mind. The dauphin detached eight thousand men 
 to Paris, which revived the courage of the affrighted 
 citizens; he threw a strong garrison into Meaux, and 
 by a forced march got into Ferte, between the im- 
 perialists and the capital. 
 
 Upon this, the emperor, who began again to feel 
 the want of provisions, perceiving that the dauphin 
 still prudently declined a battle, and not daring to 
 attack his camp with forces so much shattered and 
 reduced by hard service, turned suddenly to the right, 
 and began to fall back towards Soissons. 
 
 > Brantome, torn. vi. 381. 
 Ch. VOL. II. F F 

 
 434 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 1544 ' 
 
 Peace be- 
 
 concluded 
 
 BOOK about this time received Henry's answer, whereby he 
 n ' refused to abandon the sieges of Boulogne and Mon- 
 treuil, of both which he expected every moment to 
 get possession, he thought himself absolved from all 
 obligations of adhering to the treaty with him, and 
 at full liberty to consult his own interest in what 
 manner soever he pleased. He consented, there- 
 fore, to renew the conference, which the surprise 
 of Espemey had broken off. To conclude a peace 
 between two princes, one of whom greatly desired, 
 and the other greatly needed it, did not require a 
 long negotiation. It was signed at Crespy, a small 
 town near Meaux, on the eighteenth of September. 
 The chief articles of it were, That all the conquests 
 which either party had made since the truce of Nice 
 shall be restored ; that the emperor shall give in 
 marriage to the Duke of Orleans, either his own 
 eldest daughter, or the second daughter of his brother 
 Ferdinand ; that if he chose to bestow on him his 
 own daughter, he shall settle on her all the provinces 
 of the Low Countries, to be erected into an indepen- 
 dent state, which shall descend to the male issue of 
 the marriage ; that if he determined to give him his 
 niece, he shall, with her, grant him the investiture of 
 Milan and its dependencies ; that he shall within 
 four months declare which of these two princesses 
 he had pitched upon, and fulfil the respective con- 
 ditions upon the consummation of the marriage, 
 which shall take place within a year from the date of 
 the treaty ; that as soon as the Duke of Orleans is 
 put in possession either of the Low Countries or of 
 Milan, Francis shall restore to the Duke of Savoy 
 all that he now possesses of his territories, except 
 Pignerol and Montmilian ; that Francis shall re- 
 nounce all pretensions to the kingdom of Naples, or 
 to the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, and 
 Charles shall give up his claim to the dutchy of
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 435 
 
 Burgundy and county of Charolois ; that Francis BOOK 
 
 shall give no aid to the exiled King of Navarre ; 
 
 that both monarchs shall join in making war upon 
 the Turk, towards which the king shall furnish, 
 when required by the emperor and empire, six hun- 
 dred men at arms, and ten thousand foot. k 
 
 Besides the immediate motives to this peace, aris- Motives of 
 
 * _ concluding 
 
 ing from the distress of his army through want ot it. 
 provisions ; from the difficulty of retreating out of 
 France, and the impossibility of securing winter- 
 quarters there ; the emperor was influenced by other 
 considerations, more distant, indeed, but not less 
 weighty. The pope was offended to a great degree, 
 as well at his concessions to the protestants in the 
 late diet, as at his consenting to call a council, and 
 to admit of public disputations in Germany with a view 
 of determining the doctrines in controversy. Paul, 
 considering both these steps as sacrilegious encroach- 
 ments on the jurisdiction as well as privileges of the 
 holy see, had addressed to the emperor a remon- 
 strance rather than a letter on this subject, written 
 with such acrimony of language, and in a style of 
 such high authority, as discovered more of an inten- 
 tion to draw on a quarrel than of a desire to rec aim 
 him. This ill humour was not a little inflamed by 
 the emperor's league with Henry of England, whict 
 being contracted with an heretic, excommunicated by 
 the apostolic see, appeared to the pope a profane alli- 
 ance, and was not less dreaded by him than that , 
 Francis with Solyman. Paul's son and grandson, 
 highly incensed at the emperor for having refund I 
 gratify them with regard to the alienation of Parm 
 and Placentia, contributed by their suggestions 1 
 and disgust him still more. To all which was add, 
 the powerful operation of the flattery and pr< 
 
 * Recueil des Trait /,. torn. i. . Bellas de (** Pacb Crepi-c. in 
 Actis ErudiU Lips. 1763. 
 
 FF 2
 
 436 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK which Francis incessantly employed to gain him. 
 Though, from his desire of maintaining a neutrality, 
 
 1544. t ne pope had hitherto suppressed his own resentment, 
 had eluded the artifices of his own family, and re- 
 sisted the solicitations of the French king, it was not 
 safe to rely much on the steadiness of a man whom 
 his passions, his friends, and his interest combined to 
 shake. The union of the pope with France, Charles 
 well knew, would instantly expose his dominions in 
 Italy to be attacked. The Venetians, he foresaw, 
 would probably follow the example of a pontiff, who 
 was considered as a model of political wisdom among 
 the Italians ; and thus, at a juncture when he felt 
 himself hardly equal to the burden of the present war, 
 he would be overwhelmed with the weight of a 
 new confederacy against him. 1 At the same time 
 the Turks, almost unresisted, made such progress in 
 Hungary, reducing town after town, that they ap- 
 proached near to the confines of the Austrian pro- 
 vinces. 111 Above all these, the extraordinary progress 
 of the protestant doctrines in Germany, and the dan- 
 gerous combination into which the princes of that 
 profession had entered, called for his immediate atten- 
 tion. Almost one half of Germany had revolted 
 from the established church ; the fidelity of the rest 
 was much shaken ; the nobility of Austria had de- 
 manded of Ferdinand the free exercise of religion" ; 
 
 O 7 
 
 the Bohemians, among whom some seeds of the doc- 
 trines of Huss still remained, openly favoured the 
 new opinions ; the Archbishop of Cologne, with a 
 zeal which is seldom found among ecclesiastics, had 
 begun the reformation of his diocese ; nor was it pos- 
 sible, unless some timely and effectual check were 
 given to the spirit of innovation, to foresee where it 
 would end. He himself had been a witness, in the 
 
 1 P. Paul, 100. Pallavic. 163. 
 
 m Istuanhaffii Hist. Hung. 177. n Sleid. 285.
 
 1544. 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 437 
 
 late diet, to the peremptory and decisive tone which BOOK 
 the protestants had now assumed. He had seen ho*, 
 from confidence in their number and union, they had 
 forgotten the humble style of their first petitions, and 
 had grown to such boldness as openly to despise the 
 pope, and to shew no great reverence for the imperial 
 dignity itself. If, therefore, he wished to maintain 
 either the ancient religion or his own authority, and 
 would not choose to dwindle into a mere nominal 
 head of the empire, some vigorous and speedy effort 
 was requisite on his part, which could not be made 
 during a war that required the greatest exertion of 
 his strength against a foreign and powerful enemy. 
 
 Such being the emperor's inducements to peace, he 
 had the address to frame the treaty of Crespy so as 
 to promote all the ends which he had in view. By 
 coming to an agreement with Francis, he took from 
 the pope all prospects of advantage in courting the 
 friendship of that monarch in preference to his. By 
 the proviso with regard to a war with the Turks, he 
 not only deprived Solyman of a powerful ally, but 
 turned the arms of that ally against him. By a pri- 
 vate article, not inserted in the treaty, that it might 
 not raise any unseasonable alarm, he agreed with 
 Francis that both should exert all their influence and 
 power in order to procure a general council, to assert 
 its authority, and to exterminate the protestant 
 heresy out their dominions. This cut off all chance 
 of assistance which the confederates of Smalkalde 
 might expect from the French king i and lest their 
 solicitations, or his jealousy of an ancient rival, should 
 hereafter tempt Francis to forget this engagement, 
 he left him embarrassed with a war against England, 
 which would put it out of his power to take any con- 
 siderable part in the affairs of Germany. 
 
 Seek. lib. iii. 496. 
 F F 3
 
 438 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK Henry, possessed at all times with a high idea of 
 his own power and importance, felt, in the most sen- 
 
 1544. 
 
 sible manner, the neglect with which the emperor 
 had treated him in concluding a separate peace. But 
 
 tne situation of his affairs was such as somewhat alle- 
 Engiand. yiated the mortification which this occasioned. For 
 Sept. 14. though he was obliged to recall the Duke of Norfolk 
 from the siege of Montreuil, because the Flemish 
 troops received orders to retire, Boulogne had sur- 
 rendered before the negotiations at Crespy were 
 brought to an issue. While elated with vanity on ac- 
 count of this conquest, and inflamed with indignation 
 against the emperor, the ambassadors whom Francis 
 sent to make overtures of peace, found him too arro- 
 gant to grant what was moderate or equitable. His 
 demands were indeed extravagant, and made in the 
 tone of a conqueror ; that Francis should renounce 
 his alliance with Scotland, and not only pay up the 
 arrears of former debts, but reimburse the money 
 which Henry had expended in the present war. 
 Francis, though sincerely desirous of peace, and will- 
 ing to yield a great deal in order to attain it, being 
 now free from the pressure of the imperial arms, 
 rejected these ignominious propositions with disdain ; 
 and Henry departing for England, hostilities conti- 
 nued between the two nations. 15 
 
 Thedau- The treaty of peace, how acceptable soever to the 
 satisfied" people of France, whom it delivered from the dread 
 ^ an enem y wno na d penetrated into the heart of the 
 kingdom, was loudly complained of by the dauphin. 
 He considered it as a manifest proof of the king his 
 father's extraordinary partiality towards his younger 
 brother, now Duke of Orleans, and complained that, 
 from his eagerness to gain an establishment for a 
 favourite son, he had sacrificed the honour of the 
 kingdom, and renounced the most ancient as well as 
 
 p M&n. de Ribier, torn. i. p. 572. Herbert, 244.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 439 
 
 valuable rights of the crown. But as he durst not 
 venture to offend the king by refusing to ratify it, - - 
 though extremely desirous at the same time of secur- 
 ing to himself the privilege of reclaiming what was 
 now alienated so much to his detriment, he secretly 
 protested, in presence of some of his adherents, against 
 the whole transaction ; and declared whatever he 
 should be obliged to do in order to confirm it, null in 
 itself, and void of all obligation. The parliament of 
 Thoulouse, probably by the instigation of his partisans, 
 did the same." But Francis, highly pleased as well 
 with having delivered his subjects from the miseries 
 of an invasion, as with the prospect of acquiring 
 an independent settlement for his son at no greater 
 price than that of renouncing conquests to which he 
 had no just claim ; titles which had brought so much 
 expence and so many disasters upon the nation ; and 
 rights grown obsolete and of no value ; ratified the 
 treaty with great joy. Charles, within the time pre- 
 scribed by the treaty, declared his intention of giving 
 Ferdinand's daughter in marriage to the Duke of 
 Orleans, together with the dutchy of Milan as her 
 dowry/ Every circumstance seemed to promise the 
 continuance of peace. The emperor, cruelly afflicted 
 with the gout, appeared to be in no condition to un- 
 dertake any enterprise where great activity was requi- 
 site, or much fatigue to be endured. He himself felt 
 this, or wished at least that it should be believed ; 
 and being so much disabled by this excruciating du 
 temper, when a French ambassador followed him to 
 Brussels, in order to be present at his ratification ot 
 the treaty of peace, that it was with the utmost 
 culty that he signed his name, he observed, that i 
 was no great danger of his violating these 
 a hand that could hardly hold a pen, was httl 
 to brandish a lance. 
 
 Recueil <ks TrU>*, lorn. ii. 235. 25* 
 F F 4
 
 440 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK 
 VII. 
 
 1544. 
 
 The empe- 
 ror's 
 schemes 
 with re- 
 spect to 
 Germany. 
 
 The pope 
 summons 
 a general 
 council to 
 meet at 
 Trent. 
 Nov. 19. 
 
 The violence of his disease confined the emperor 
 several months in Brussels, and was the apparent 
 cause of putting off the execution of the great scheme 
 which he had formed in order to humble the protest- 
 ant party in Germany. But there were other reasons 
 for this delay. For, however prevalent the motives 
 were which determined him to undertake this enter- 
 prise, the nature of that great body which he was 
 about to attack, as well as the situation of his own 
 affairs, made it necessary to deliberate long, to pro- 
 ceed with caution, and not too suddenly to throw 
 aside the veil under which he had hitherto concealed 
 his real sentiments and schemes. He was sensible 
 that the protestants, conscious of their own strength, 
 but under continual apprehensions of his designs, had 
 all the boldness of a powerful confederacy, joined to 
 the jealousy of a feeble faction ; and were no less 
 quick-sighted to discern the first appearance of danger, 
 than ready to take arms in order to repel it. At the 
 same time, he still continued involved in a Turkish 
 war ; and though, in order to deliver himself from 
 this incumbrance, he had determined to send an envoy 
 to the Porte with most advantageous and even sub- 
 missive overtures of peace, the resolutions of that 
 haughty court were so uncertain, that, before these 
 were known, it would have been highly imprudent 
 to have kindled the flames of civil war in his own do- 
 
 minions. 
 
 Upon this account, he appeared dissatisfied with a 
 bull issued by the pope immediately after the peace 
 of Crespy, summoning the council to assemble at Trent 
 early next spring, and exhorting all Christian princes 
 to embrace the opportunity that the present happy 
 interval of tranquillity afforded them, of suppressing 
 those heresies which threatened to subvert whatever 
 was sacred or venerable among Christians. But, after 
 such a slight expression of dislike, as was necessary
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 441 
 
 in order to cover his designs, he determined to coun- BOOK 
 tenance the council, which might become no incon- VIL _ 
 siderable instrument towards accomplishing his pro- I544> 
 jects, and, therefore, not only appointed ambassadors 
 to appear there in his name, but ordered the ecclesi- 
 astics in his dominions to attend at the time pre- 
 fixed. 5 
 
 Such were the emperor's views, when the imperial MS. 
 diet, after several prorogations, was opened at Worms. wi 
 The protestants, who enjoyed the free exercise of Mmrch2 *- 
 their religion by a very precarious tenure, having no 
 other security for it than the recess of the last diet, 
 which was to continue in force only until the meeting 
 of a council, wished earnestly to establish that im- 
 portant privilege upon some firmer basis, and to hold 
 it by a perpetual not a temporary title. But instead 
 of offering them any additional security, Ferdinand 
 opened the diet with observing, that there were two 
 points, which chiefly required consideration, the pro- 
 secution of the war against the Turks, and the state 
 of religion ; that the former was the most urgent, as 
 Solyman, after conquering the greatest part of Hun- 
 gary, was now ready to fall upon the Austrian pro- 
 vinces ; that the emperor, who, from the beginning 
 of his reign, had neglected no opportunity of annoy- 
 ing this formidable enemy, and with the hazard of 
 his own person had resisted his attacks, being animated 
 still with the same zeal, had now consented to stop 
 short in the career of his success against France, that, 
 in conjunction with his ancient rival, he might turn 
 his arms with greater vigour against the common ad- 
 versary of the Christian faith ; that it became all the 
 members of the empire to second those pious endeavours 
 of its head ; that, therefore, they ought, without de- 
 lay, to vote him such effectual aid, as not only their 
 duty but their interest called upon them to furnish ; 
 
 F. Paul, 104.
 
 442 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK that the controversies about religion were so intricate, 
 
 VI1 ' and of such difficult discussion, as to give no hope of 
 
 1545. ^ s b e i n g possible to bring them at present to any 
 
 Ferdinand fi na j j ssue . that by perseverance and repeated solicit- 
 
 the Ger- ations the emperor had at length prevailed on the 
 
 "know- PP e to ca ll a council, for which they had so often 
 
 ledge the w i s hed and petitioned : that the time appointed for 
 
 council. . i i i 
 
 its meeting was now come, and both parties ought to 
 wait for its decrees, and submit to them as the de- 
 cisions of the universal church. 
 
 The popish members of the diet received this de- 
 claration with great applause, and signified their entire 
 acquiescence in every particular which it contained. 
 The protestants expressed great surprise at proposi- 
 tions, which were so manifestly repugnant to the 
 recess of the former diet ; they insisted that the 
 questions with regard to religion, as first in dignity 
 and importance, ought to come first under deliber- 
 ation ; that, alarming as the progress of the Turks 
 was to all Germany, the securing the free exercise of 
 their religion touched them still more nearly, nor 
 could they prosecute a foreign war with spirit, while 
 solicitous and uncertain about their domestic tran- 
 quillity ; that if the latter were once rendered firm 
 and permanent, they would concur with their coun- 
 trymen in pushing the former, and yield to none of 
 them in activity or zeal. But if the danger from the 
 Turkish arms was indeed so imminent, as not to admit 
 of such a delay as would be occasioned by an im- 
 mediate examination of the controverted points in 
 religion, they required that a diet should be instantly 
 appointed, to which the final settlement of their reli- 
 gious disputes should be referred ; and that in the 
 mean time the decree of the former diet concerning 
 religion should be explained in a point which they 
 deemed essential. By the recess of Spires it was 
 provided, that they should enjoy unmolested the
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 443 
 
 public exercise of their religion, until the meeting of BOOK 
 a legal council ; but as the pope had now called a VIL 
 council, to which Ferdinand had required them to 15 < 5 - 
 submit, they began to suspect that their adversaries 
 might take advantage of an ambiguity in the terms of 
 the recess, and, pretending that the event therein 
 mentioned had now taken place, might pronounce 
 them to be no longer entitled to the same indulgence. 
 In order to guard against this interpretation, they 
 renewed their former remonstrances against a council 
 called to meet without the bounds of the empire, 
 summoned by the pope's authority, and in which he 
 assumed the right of presiding ; and declared that, 
 notwithstanding the convocation of any such illegal 
 assembly, they still held the recess of the late diet to 
 be in full force. 
 
 At other junctures, when the emperor thought it Emperor 
 of advantage to soothe and gain the protestants, he ^T^J,* 1 
 had devised expedients for giving them satisfaction 
 with regard to demands seemingly more extravagant ; 
 but his views at present being very different, Ferdi- 
 nand, by his command, adhered inflexibly to his first 
 propositions, and would make no concessions which 
 had the most remote tendency to throw discredit on 
 the council, or to weaken its authority. The protest- 
 ants, on their part, were no less inflexible ; and after 
 much time spent in fruitless endeavours to convince 
 each other, they came to no agreement. Nor did M y i5. 
 the presence of the emperor, who upon his recovery 
 arrived at Worms, contribute in any degree to render 
 the protestants more compliant. Fully convinced 
 that they were maintaining the cause of God and of 
 truth, they shewed themselves superior to the allure- 
 ments of interest, or the suggestions of fear ; and in 
 proportion as the emperor redoubled his solicitations, 
 or discovered his designs, their boldness seems to 
 have increased. At last they openly declared, that
 
 444 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK they would not even deign to vindicate their tenets 
 ' in presence of a council, assembled not to examine, 
 
 1545. k ut f. o conc l emn them ; and that they would pay no 
 testan P ts < dis- regard to an assembly held under the influence of a 
 claim ail pope, who had already precluded himself from all title 
 
 connection ,.,. . . 
 
 with the to act as a judge, by his having stigmatized their 
 Trent! opinions with the name of heresy, and denounced 
 against them the heaviest censures, which, in the 
 plenitude of his usurped power, he could inflict/ 
 Conduct of While the protestants, with such union as well as 
 sony e in f firmness, rejected all intercourse with the council, 
 this diet. an ^ refused their assent to the imperial demands in 
 respect to the Turkish war, Maurice of Saxony alone 
 shewed an inclination to gratify the emperor with 
 regard to both. Though he professed an inviolable 
 regard for the protestant religion, he assumed an ap- 
 pearance of moderation peculiar to himself, by which 
 he confirmed the favourable sentiments which the 
 emperor already entertained of him, and gradually 
 paved the way for executing the ambitious designs 
 which always occupied his active and enterprising 
 mind." His example, however, had little influence 
 upon such as agreed with him in their religious 
 opinions ; and Charles perceived that he could not 
 hope either to procure present aid from the protestants 
 against the Turks, or to quiet their fears and jea- 
 lousies on account of their religion. But, as his 
 schemes were not yet ripe for execution, nor his pre- 
 parations so far advanced that he could force the com- 
 pliance of the protestants, or punish their obstinacy, 
 Ang. 4. he artfully concealed his own intentions. That he 
 might augment their security, he appointed a diet to 
 be held at Ratisbon early next year, in order to adjust 
 what was now left undetermined ; and previous to it, 
 he agreed, that a certain number of divines of each 
 
 1 Sleid. 343, &c. Seek. iii. 543, &c. Thuan. Histor. lib. ii. p. 56. 
 u Seek. iii. 571.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 445 
 
 party should meet, in order to confer upon the points BOOK 
 in dispute/ 
 
 1545. 
 
 But, how far soever this appearance of a desire to 
 maintain the present tranquillity might have imposed tesunu be- 
 upon the protestants, the emperor was incapable of ^sp*th 
 such uniform and thorough dissimulation, as to hide em P eror - 
 altogether from their view the dangerous designs 
 which he was meditating against them. Herman, 
 Count de Wied, archbishop and elector of Cologne, 
 a prelate conspicuous for his virtue and primitive 
 simplicity of manners, though not more distinguished 
 for learning than the other descendants of noble 
 families, who in that age possessed most of the great 
 benefices in Germany, having become a proselyte to 
 the doctrines of the reformers, had begun, in the year 
 one thousand five hundred and forty-three, with the 
 assistance of Melancthon and Bucer, to abolish the 
 ancient superstition in his diocese, and to introduce 
 in its place the rites established among the pro- 
 testants. But the canons of his cathedral, who were 
 not possessed with the same spirit of innovation, and 
 who foresaw how fatal the levelling genius of the new 
 sect would prove to their dignity and wealth, opposed, 
 from the beginning, this unprecedented enterprise of 
 their archbishop, with all the zeal flowing from re- 
 verence for old institutions, heightened by concern 
 for their own interest. This opposition, which t 
 archbishop considered only as a new argument 
 demonstrate the necessity of a reformation, neither 
 shook his resolution, nor slackened his ardour 
 prosecuting his plan. The canons, perceiving 
 their endeavours to check his career to be ineffectual, 
 solemnly protested against his proceedings, am 
 pealed for redress to the pope and emperor, 
 former as his ecclesiastical, the latter as his , 
 superior. This appeal being laid before the emperor, 
 
 * Sleid. 351.
 
 446 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK during his residence in Worms, he took the canons 
 
 VII. 
 
 of Cologne under his immediate protection ; enjoined 
 
 l545 ' them to proceed with rigour against all who revolted 
 from the established church ; prohibited the arch- 
 bishop to make any innovation in his diocese ; and 
 summoned him to appear at Brussels within thirty 
 days, to answer the accusations which should be pre- 
 ferred against him. y 
 
 To this clear evidence of his hostile intentions 
 against the protestant party, Charles added other 
 proofs still more explicit. In his hereditary domi- 
 nions of the Low Countries, he persecuted all who 
 were suspected of Lutheranism with unrelenting 
 rigour. As soon as he arrived at Worms, he silenced 
 the protestant preachers in that city. He allowed an 
 Italian monk to inveigh against the Lutherans from 
 the pulpit of his chapel, and to call upon him, as he 
 regarded the favour of God, to exterminate that 
 pestilent heresy. He dispatched the embassy, which 
 has been already mentioned, to Constantinople, with 
 overtures of peace, that he might be free from any 
 apprehensions of danger or interruption from that 
 quarter. Nor did any of these steps, or their dan- 
 gerous tendency, escape the jealous observation of the 
 protestants, or fail to alarm their fears, and to excite 
 their solicitude for the safety of their sect. 
 Death of Meanwhile, Charles's good fortune, which predo- 
 1 r e rPi uke minated on all occasions over that of his rival Francis, 
 
 of Orleans. 
 
 extricated him out of a difficulty, from which, with 
 all his sagacity and address, he would have found it 
 Sept. s. no easy matter to have disentangled himself. Just 
 about the time when the Duke of Orleans should 
 have received Ferdinand's daughter in marriage, and 
 together with her the possession of the Milanese, he 
 died of a malignant fever. By this event, the emperor 
 was freed from the necessity of giving up a valuable 
 
 y Sleid. 310. 340. 351. Seek. iu. 443. 553.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 44,7 
 
 province into the hands of an enemy, or from the BOOK 
 indecency of violating a recent and solemn engage- VIL _ 
 ment, which must have occasioned an immediate 1545< 
 rupture with France. He affected, however, to ex- 
 press great sorrow for the untimely death of a young 
 prince, who was to have been so nearly allied to him; 
 but he carefully avoided entering into any fresh dis- 
 cussions concerning the Milanese ; and would not 
 listen to a proposal which came from Francis, of new- 
 modelling the treaty of Crespy, so as to make him 
 some reparation for the advantages which he had lost 
 by the demise of his son. In the more active and 
 vigorous part of Francis's reign, a declaration of war 
 would have been the certain and instantaneous con- 
 sequence of such a flat refusal to comply with a 
 demand seemingly so equitable ; but the declining 
 state of his own health, the exhausted condition of 
 his kingdom, together with the burden of the war 
 against England, obliged him, at present, to dis- 
 semble his resentment, and to put off thoughts of 
 revenge to some other juncture. In consequence of 
 this event, the unfortunate Duke of Savoy lost all 
 hope of obtaining the restitution of his territories ; 
 and the rights or claims relinquished by the treaty 
 of Crespy returned in full force to the crown of 
 France, to serve as pretexts for future wars. z 
 
 Upon the first intelligence of the Duke of Orleans's The pope 
 
 grant* the 
 
 death, the confederates of Smalkalde flattered them- dutchiof 
 selves that the essential alterations which appeared to pJ^J,^ 
 be unavoidable consequences of it could hardly fail of u>hi. 
 producing a rupture, which would prove the means 
 of their safety. But they were not more disappointed 
 with regard to this, than in their expectations from 
 an event which seemed to be the certain prelude of a 
 quarrel between the emperor and the pope. When 
 Paul, whose passion for aggrandizing his family in- 
 
 z Belcarii Comment. 769. Partita, Hist. Vend. ir. p. 1 77.
 
 448 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK creased as he advanced in years, and as he saw the 
 
 \7 |"T 
 
 . ' dignity and power which they derived immediately 
 1545. f r om him becoming more precarious, found that he 
 could not bring Charles to approve of his ambitious 
 schemes, he ventured to grant his son Peter Lewis 
 the investiture of Parma and Placentia, though at 
 the risk of incurring the displeasure of the emperor. 
 At a time when a great part of Europe inveighed 
 openly against the corrupt manners and exorbitant 
 power of ecclesiastics, and when a council was sum- 
 moned to reform the disorders in the church, this 
 indecent grant of such a principality, to a son, of 
 whose illegitimate birth the pope ought to have been 
 ashamed, and whose licentious morals all good men 
 detested, gave general offence. Some cardinals in 
 the imperial interest remonstrated against such an un- 
 becoming alienation of the patrimony of the church ; 
 the Spanish ambassador would not be present at the 
 solemnity of his infeoffinent ; and, upon pretext that 
 these cities were part of the Milanese state, the 
 emperor peremptorily refused to confirm the deed of 
 investiture. But both the emperor and pope being 
 intent upon one common object in Germany, they 
 sacrificed their particular passions to that public 
 cause, and suppressed the emotions of jealousy or re- 
 sentment which were rising on this occasion, that 
 they might jointly pursue what each deemed to be of 
 greater importance/ 
 
 Henry of About this time the peace of Germany was dis- 
 kSn ck turned by a violent but short irruption of Henry Duke 
 warinGer. of Brunswick. This prince, though still stripped of 
 
 many. 1 . . . . L 
 
 his dominions, which the emperor held in seques- 
 tration, until his differences with the confederates of 
 Smalkalde should be adjusted, possessed however so 
 much credit in Germany, that he undertook to raise 
 for the French king a considerable body of troops to 
 
 Paruta, Hist Venet. iv. 17S. Pallavic. 180.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 449 
 
 be employed in the war against England. The money BOOK 
 stipulated for this purpose was duly advanced by . V1L 
 Francis ; the troops were levied ; but Henry, instead 1545< 
 of leading them towards France, suddenly entered 
 his own dominions at their head, in hopes of recover- 
 ing possession of them before any army could be 
 assembled to oppose him. The confederates were not 
 more surprised at this unexpected attack, than the 
 King of France was astonished at a mean thievish 
 fraud, so unbecoming the character of a prince. But 
 the Landgrave of Hesse, with incredible expedition, 
 collected as many men as put a stop to the progress 
 of Henry's undisciplined forces, and being joined by 
 his son-in-law, Maurice, and by some troops belonging 
 to the Elector of Saxony, he gained such advantages 
 over Henry, who was rash and bold in forming his 
 schemes, but feeble and undetermined in executing 
 them, as obliged him to disband his army, and to sur- 
 render himself, together with his eldest son, prisoners 
 at discretion. He was kept in close confinement, 
 until a new reverse of affairs procured him liberty." 
 
 As this defeat of Henry's wild enterprise added ^isj* 
 new reputation to the arms of the protestants, the fo^j^ 
 establishment of the protestant religion in thepalatinate M 
 brought a great accession of strength to their party. 
 Frederick/ who succeeded his brother Lewis in that 
 electorate, had long been suspected of a secret pro- 
 pensity to the doctrines of the reformers, which, upon 
 his accession to the principality, he openly manifested. 
 But, as he expected that something effectual towards 
 a general and legal establishment of religion woul 
 be the fruit of so many diets, conferences, and ne- 
 gotiations, he did not, at first, attempt any public 
 innovation in his dominions. Finding all these issue J.n. 10. 
 in nothing, he thouajht himself called, at length, to 
 countenance by his 'authority the system whic! 
 
 " Slcid. 352. Seek. iii. 567. 
 Ch. VOL. II. G G
 
 450 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK approved of, and to gratify the wishes of his subjects, 
 who, by their intercourse with the protestant states, 
 
 l546 ' had almost universally imbibed their opinions. As 
 the warmth and impetuosity which accompanied the 
 spirit of reformation in its first efforts had somewhat 
 abated, this change was made with great order and 
 regularity ; the ancient rites were abolished, and new 
 forms introduced, without any acts of violence, or 
 symptom of discontent. Though Frederick adopted 
 the religious system of the protestants, he imitated 
 the example of Maurice, and did not accede to the 
 league of Smalkalde. 
 
 A few weeks before this revolution in the pala- 
 tmate the general council was opened with the ac- 
 Trent. customed solemnities at Trent. The eyes of the 
 catholic states were turned with much expectation 
 towards an assembly, which all had considered as 
 capable of applying an effectual remedy for the dis- 
 orders of the church when they first broke out, 
 though many were afraid that it was now too late to 
 hope for great benefit from it, when the malady, by 
 being suffered to increase during twenty-eight years, 
 had become inveterate, and grown to such extreme 
 violence. The pope, by his last bull of convocation, 
 had appointed the first meeting to be held in March. 
 But his views and those of the emperor, were so dif- 
 ferent, that almost the whole year was spent in 
 negotiations. Charles, who foresaw that the rigorous 
 decrees of the council against the protestants would 
 soon drive them, in self-defence as well as from re- 
 sentment, to some desperate extreme, laboured to put 
 off its meeting until his warlike preparations were so 
 far advanced, that he might be in a condition to 
 second its decisions by the force of his arms. The 
 pope, who had early sent to Trent the legates who 
 were to preside in his name, knowing to what con- 
 
 c Sleid. 356. Seek. iii. 616.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 4<51 
 
 tempt it would expose his authority, and what sus- BOOK 
 picions it would beget of his intentions, if the fathers vn 
 of the council should remain in a state of inactivity, 1546- 
 when the church was in such danger as to require 
 their immediate and vigorous interposition, insisted 
 either upon translating the council to some city in 
 Italy, or upon suspending altogether its proceedings 
 at that juncture, or upon authorizing it to begin its 
 deliberations immediately. The emperor rejected 
 the two former expedients as equally offensive to the 
 Germans of every denomination ; but, finding it im- 
 possible to elude the latter, he proposed that the 
 council should begin with reforming the disorders in 
 the church, before it proceeded to examine or define 
 articles of faith. This was the very thing which the 
 court of Rome dreaded most, and which had prompted 
 it to employ so many artifices in order to prevent the 
 meeting of such a dangerous judicatory. Paul, though 
 more compliant than some of his predecessors with 
 regard to calling a council, was no less jealous than 
 they had been of its jurisdiction, and saw what matter 
 of triumph such a method of proceeding would afford 
 the heretics. He apprehended consequences not only 
 humbling but fatal to the papal see, if the council 
 came to consider an inquest into abuses as their only 
 business ; or if inferior prelates were allowed to 
 gratify their own envy and peevishness, by prescrib- 
 ing rules to those who were exalted above them in 
 dignity and power. Without listening, therefore, to 
 this insidious proposal of the emperor, he instructed 
 his legates to open the council. 
 
 The first session was spent in matters of form. In J n - ' 
 
 lUprocwd- 
 
 a subsequent one, it was agreed that the framing a i ng . 
 confession of faith, wherein should be contained all 
 the articles which the church required its members 
 to believe, ought to be the first and principal business 
 of the council ; but that, at the same time, due atten- 
 
 G G 2
 
 4*5% THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK tion should be given to what was necessary towards 
 
 '__ the reformation of manners and discipline. From 
 
 1546. j. n j s rs j. symptom of the spirit with which the council 
 was animated, from the high tone of authority which 
 the legates who presided in it assumed, and from the 
 implicit deference with which most of the members 
 followed their directions, the protestants conjectured 
 with ease what decisions they might expect. It asto- 
 nished them, however, to see forty prelates (for no 
 greater number was yet assembled) assume authority 
 as representatives of the universal church, and proceed 
 to determine the most important points of doctrine 
 in its name. Sensible of this indecency, as well as of 
 the ridicule with which it might be attended, the 
 council advanced slowly in its,, deliberations, and all 
 its proceedings were for some time languishing and 
 feeble. d As soon as the confederates of Smalkalde 
 received information of the opening of the council, 
 they published a long manifesto, containing a renewal 
 of their protest against its meeting, together with the 
 reasons which induced them to decline its jurisdictions. 6 
 The pope and emperor, on their part, were so little 
 solicitous to quicken or add vigour to its operations, 
 as plainly discovered that some object of greater im- 
 portance occupied and interested them. 
 
 Apprehen- The protestants were not inattentive or uncon- 
 cerned spectators of the motions of the sovereign 
 pontiff and of Charles, and they entertained every 
 day more violent suspicions of their intentions, in 
 consequence of intelligence received from different 
 quarters of the machinations carrying on against them. 
 The King of England informed them, that the em- 
 peror, having long resolved to exterminate their opi- 
 nions, would not fail to employ this interval of tran- 
 quillity which he now enjoyed, as the most favourable 
 juncture for carrying his design into execution. The 
 
 < F. Paul, 12O, &c. Pallav. p. ISO, &c. e Seek. iii. 602, &C.
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 merchants of Augsburg, which was at that time a BOOK 
 city of extensive trade, received advice, by means of _ .XiL. 
 their correspondents in Italy, among whom were some I54 - 
 who secretly favoured the protestant cause r , that a 
 dangerous confederacy against it was forming between 
 the pope and emperor. In confirmation of this, they 
 heard from the Low Countries that Charles had issued 
 orders, though with every precaution which could 
 keep the measure concealed, for raising troops both 
 there and in other parts of his dominions. Such a 
 variety of information, corroborating all that their 
 own jealousy or observation led them to apprehend, 
 left the protestants little reason to doubt of the em- 
 peror's hostile intentions. Under this impression, Their dii- 
 the deputies of the confederates of Smalkalde assem- b 
 bled at Francfort, and, by communicating their intel- 
 ligence and sentiments to each other, reciprocally 
 heightened their sense of the impending danger. 
 But their union was not such as their situation re- 
 quired, or the preparations of their enemies rendered 
 necessary. Their league had now subsisted ten years. 
 Among so many members, whose territories were in- 
 termingled with each other, and who, according to 
 the custom of Germany, had created an infinite variety 
 of mutual rights and claims by intermarriages, alli- 
 ances, and contracts of different kinds, subjects of 
 jealousy and discord had unavoidably arisen. Some of 
 the confederates, being connected with the Duke of 
 Brunswick, were highly disgusted with the landgrave, 
 on account of the rigour with which he had treated 
 that rash and unfortunate prince. Others taxed the 
 Elector of Saxony and landgrave, the heads of the 
 league, with having involved the members in unne- 
 cessary and exorbitant expences by their profuseness or 
 want of economy. The views, likewise, and temper of 
 those two princes, who, by their superior power and au- 
 
 f Seek. iii. 579.
 
 4,54 THE REIGN OF THE 
 
 BOOK thority, influenced and directed the whole body, being 
 extremely different, rendered all its motions languid, 
 
 1546 - at a time when the utmost vigour and dispatch were 
 requisite. The landgrave, of a violent and enter- 
 prising temper, but not forgetful, amidst his zeal 
 for religion, of the usual maxims of human policy, 
 insisted that, as the danger which threatened them 
 was manifest and unavoidable, they should have re- 
 course to the most effectual expedient for securing 
 their own safety, by courting the protection of the 
 kings of France and England, or by joining in 
 alliance with the protestant cantons of Switzerland, 
 from whom they might expect such powerful and 
 present assistance as their situation demanded. The 
 elector, on the other hand, with the most upright 
 intentions of any* prince in that age, and with talents 
 which might have qualified him abundantly for the 
 administration of government in any tranquil period, 
 was possessed with such superstitious veneration for 
 all the parts of the Lutheran system, and such bigoted 
 attachment to all its tenets, as made him averse to 
 an union with those who differed from him in any 
 article of faith, and rendered him very incapable of 
 undertaking its defence in times of difficulty and 
 danger. He seemed to think that the concerns of 
 religion were to be regulated by principles and maxims 
 totally different from those which apply to the com- 
 mon affairs of life ; and being swayed too much by 
 the opinions of Luther, who was not only a stranger 
 to the rules of political conduct, but despised them, 
 he often discovered an uncomplying spirit, that 
 proved of the greatest detriment to the cause which 
 he wished to support. Influenced, on this occasion, 
 by the severe and rigid notions of that reformer, he 
 refused to enter into any confederacy with Francis, 
 because he was a persecutor of the truth ; or to 
 solicit the friendship of Henry, because he was no
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 less impious and profane than the pope himself; or BOOK 
 even to join in alliance with the Swiss, because they J!iL__ 
 differed from the Germans in several essential articles I546> 
 of faith. This dissension, about a point of such 
 consequence, produced its natural effects. Each 
 secretly censured and reproached the other. The 
 landgrave considered the elector as fettered by 
 narrow prejudices, unworthy of a prince called to 
 act a chief part in a scene of such importance. The 
 elector suspected the landgrave of loose principles 
 and ambitious views, which corresponded ill with the 
 sacred cause wherein they were engaged. But 
 though the elector's scruples prevented their timely 
 application for foreign aid ; and the jealousy or dis- 
 content of the other princes defeated a proposal for 
 renewing their original confederacy, the term during 
 which it was to continue in force being on the point 
 of expiring ; yet the sense of their common danger 
 induced them to agree with regard to other points, 
 particularly that they would never acknowledge the 
 assembly of Trent as a lawful council, nor suffer the 
 Archbishop of Cologne to be oppressed on account 
 of the steps which he had taken towards the reform- 
 ation of his diocese. 8 
 
 The landgrave, about this time, desirous of pene- Their ncgo. 
 trating to the bottom of the emperor's intentions, ^'IJ, ",*. 
 wrote to Granvelle, whom he knew to be thoroughly pr. 
 acquainted with all his master's schemes, informing 
 him of the several particulars which raised the suspi- 
 cions of the protestants, and begging an expljoit declar- 
 ation of what they had to fear or to hope. Granvelle, 
 in return, assured them, that the intelligence which 
 they had received of the emperor's military pre- 
 parations was exaggerated, and all their suspicions 
 destitute of foundation ; that though, in order to 
 guard his frontiers against any insult of the French 
 
 Seek. iii. 566. 570. 613. Sleid. 355.
 
 456 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 BOOK or English, he had commanded a small body of men 
 to be raised in the Low Countries, he was as solicitous 
 
 as ever to maintain tranquillity in Germany. 11 
 
 But the emperor's actions did not correspond with 
 these professions of his minister. For, instead of 
 appointing men of known moderation and a pacific 
 temper to appear in defence of the catholic doctrines 
 at the conference which had been agreed on, he made 
 choice of fierce bigots, attached to their own system 
 with a blind obstinacy, that rendered all hope of a 
 reconcilement desperate. Malvenda, a Spanish divine, 
 who took upon him the conduct of the debate on 
 the part of the catholics, managed it with all the 
 subtle dexterity of a scholastic metaphysician, more 
 studious to perplex his adversaries than to convince 
 them, and more intent on palliating error than on 
 discovering truth. The protestants, filled with in- 
 dignation, as well at his sophistry as at some regu- 
 lations which the emperor endeavoured to impose on 
 the disputants, broke off the conference abruptly, 
 being now fully convinced that, in all his late mea- 
 sures, the emperor could have no other view than to 
 amuse them, and to gain time for ripening his own 
 schemes.' 
 
 " Sleid. 356. ' Ibid. 358. Seek. 1. iii. 620. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
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