DIET OF AUGSBURG.

33

reformer was slain in 1531, and, with his death, expired the Ch. 2. hopes of his party. The restoration of the Roman Catholic religion immediately commenced in Switzerland.

Luther, wiser than Zwingle, inasmuch as he abstained from politics, continued his labours in Germany. And they were immense. The burdens of his country rested on his shoulders. He was the dictator of the reformed party, and his word was received as law. Moreover, the party continually increased, and in the support it received from some of the most powerful of the German princes became formidable, even in a political point of view. Nearly one half of Germany embraced the reformed faith.

A. D.

1530.

Augs

burg.

The illustrious Charles V. had now for some time been Emperor, and in the prosecution of his conquests had found it necessary to secure the support of united Germany, especially since Germany was now invaded by the Turks. In order to secure this support, he deemed it expedient to make concessions in religion to his Protestant subjects. At the diet of Diet of Augsburg (1530), where there was the most brilliant assemblage of princes which had been for a long time seen in Germany, the celebrated confession of the faith of the Protestants was read. It was written by Melancthon, in both Latin and German, on the basis of articles which Luther had prepared. The style was Melancthon's; the matter was Luther's.. It was comprised in twenty-eight articles, of which twenty-one pertained to the faith of the Protestants, -the name they assumed at the diet of Spires, in 1529, -and the remaining seven recounted the errors and abuses of Rome. It was subscribed by the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Duke of Lunenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Prince of Anhalt, and the deputies of the imperial cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen. But the Catholics had the ascendency in the diet, and the "Confession of Augsburg" was condemned. The Emperor did not, Confeshowever, venture on any decisive measures for the extirpa- Augstion of the "heresy." He threatened and published edicts, burg.

sion of

34

LEAGUE OF SMALCALDE.

Ch. 2. but his menaces had but little force.

A. D.

of Smal

calde.

Nevertheless, the Protestant princes assembled, first at Smalcalde, and after1530. wards at Frankfort, for an alliance of mutual defence. This was the first effective union of free princes and states against League their oppressors in modern Europe, and it laid the foundation of liberty of conscience. Hostilities, however, were deferred, since the Emperor was desirous of uniting Germany against the Turks. To accomplish this, he recalled the edicts of Worms and Augsburg against the Protestants, made important concessions, and promised them undisturbed enjoyment of their religion. This was a great triumph to the Protestants, and as great a shock to the papal power.

Disunion.

The Confession of Augsburg and the League of Smalcalde form an important era of Protestantism, since by these the reformed faith received its definite form, and was guaranteed. The work for which Luther had been raised up was now, in the main, accomplished. His great message had been delivered and heard.

His later life was perplexed and anxious. He had not anticipated those civil commotions which he now saw, sooner or later, were inevitable. With the increase of his party came the decline of spirituality. Political considerations also were, with many, more prominent than moral. Religion and politics mingled together, not soon to be separated in the progress of events. Moreover, the reformers differed upon many points among themselves. There was a lamentable want of harmony between the Germans and the Swiss. Luther had quarrelled with nearly every prominent person with whom he had been associated, except Melancthon, who yielded to him implicit obedience. But, above all, the Anabaptist disorders, which he detested, and which distracted the whole bishopric of Münster, oppressed and mortified him. Worn out with the cares, labours, and vexations, which always disturb the peace and alloy the happiness of heroes, and from which no greatness is exempt, he died at Eisleben,

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF LUTHER.

35

in 1545, while on a visit to his native place in order to Ch.2. reconcile dissensions between the Counts of Mansfeldt.

A. D.

His cha

Luther's name is still reverenced in Germany, and through- 1545. out all Protestant countries he is held in honour as an intrepid champion of the faith. Other men may have been more Death of distinguished by genius or by learning, but none ever evinced Luther. greater intrepidity, or combined nobler qualities of mind and racter. heart. He had his faults: he was irritable, dogmatic, and abusive in his controversial writings. He had little toleration for those who differed from him-the fault of the age; but he was genial, joyous, friendly, and disinterested. His labours were gigantic; his sincerity unimpeached; his piety enlightened; his zeal unquenchable. Circumstances and the new ideas of his age may have favoured him, but he made himself master of those circumstances and ideas, and, what is more, worked them out in harmony with Christianity. The Reformation would have happened had there been no Luther, though at a less favourable time; but of all the men of his age that the Reformation could least spare, Martin Luther stands pre-eminent.

REFERENCES.-The attention of the student is directed only to the most prominent of the many valuable works which treat of Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Among those which are both accessible and useful may be mentioned, Ranke's "History;" D'Aubigné's "History of the Reformation;" Michelet's "Life of Luther;" Audin's "Life of Luther," a Catholic work, written with great spirit, but not much liberality; Stebbing's "History of the Reformation;" Guizot's "Lectures on Civilization;" and Plank's "Essay on the Consequences of the Reformation."

Ch. 3.

A. D.

Ger

CHAPTER III.

THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.

WHEN Luther appeared upon the stage, the great monarchies of Europe had just arisen upon the ruins of those feudal 1510. states which survived the wreck of Charlemagne's empire. The Emperor of Germany, of all these monarchs, had the many greatest claim to antiquity and dignity. As hereditary sovereign of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and the Tyrol, he had absolute authority in his feudal provinces; while, as an elected Emperor, he had an indirect influence over Saxony, the Palatinate, the three archbishoprics of Trèves, Mentz, and Cologne, and some of the Burgundian territories.

France.

Spain.

England.

France was probably at this time the most powerful of the kingdoms; its capital was even then the finest city in Europe, and the resort of the learned and the wealthy from all parts of Christendom. All strangers extolled the splendour of the court, the wealth of the nobles, and the fame of the university. The power of the monarch was nearly absolute, and a considerable standing army was ready to obey his commands.

Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, was ruled by Ferdinand and Isabella, who, by their marriage, had united the crowns of Castile and Arragon. The conquest of Granada, and the discovery of America, had added greatly to the political importance of this country, and the foundation of its future greatness under Philip II. was now laid.

England, from its insular position, had not so much influence in European politics as the other powers to which allusion has been made, but it was, nevertheless, a flourishing and united kingdom. Henry VII., the founder of the house

CONDITION OF EUROPE.

37

A. D.

of Tudor, sat on the throne, and had been successful both in Ch. 3. suppressing the power of the feudal nobility, and in increasing the royal authority. England, however, had not yet made 1510. great advances in commerce or manufactures, and the people were still to some extent rude and ignorant. The clergy, as in other countries, were the most intelligent and wealthy portion of the population, and, consequently, the most influential, although disgraced by many vices.

Italy then, as now, was divided into many independent Italy. states, and distracted by civil and religious dissensions. The duchy of Milan was ruled by Ludovico Moro, son of the celebrated Francis Sforza. Naples, called a kingdom, had just been conquered by the French. Florence was under the sway of the Medici. Venice, whose commercial importance had already begun to decline, was controlled by an oligarchy of nobles. The chair of St. Peter was filled by Pope Alexander VI., a pontiff who has obtained an infamous immortality by his vices. The papacy was then in a very corrupt state, the popes themselves being much more eager to secure temporal authority than spiritual influence.

Den

Sweden.

The great northern kingdoms of Europe, which are now so considerable, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway,-did Russia, not, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, attract much mark, attention. They were for the most part plunged in barbarism, Norway the light of science or religion rarely penetrating among them. Their monarchs were cruel, their nobles rapacious, and their clergy ignorant and corrupt; while their peoples, insensible to their degradation, had little appreciation of the benefits of civilization. Peter and Gustavus Adolphus had not yet appeared. Nor were these northern nations destined to be immediately benefited by the impulse which the Reformation gave, with the exception of Sweden, which was more advanced than the rest.

The Greek empire became extinct when Constantinople was taken by the Turks, in 1453. On its ruins the Ottoman Ottopower was raised. At the close of the fifteenth century, the empire.

man