Ch. 3. Turkish arms were very powerful, and Europe again trembled before the Moslem.

A. D. 1519.

Charles

V.

Such were the various states of Europe when the Reformation broke out. Maximilian was Emperor of Germany; and Charles V. had just inherited from his father, Philip the Fair, who had married a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the kingdom of Spain, in addition to the dominion of the Netherlands.

By the death of Maximilian, in 1519, the youthful sovereign of Spain and the Netherlands came into possession of the Austrian dominions; and the electors shortly after chose him Emperor of Germany.

He was born at Ghent, in the year 1500, and was educated with great care. He early displayed his love of government, and, at fifteen, was present at the deliberations of the cabinet. But he had no taste for learning, and exhibited but few marks of that genius which he afterwards evinced. He was much attached to his Flemish subjects, and during the first year of his reign gave great offence to the grandees of Spain and the nobles of Germany by his marked partiality for those men who had been his early companions. It is difficult to trace in the career of Charles V. any tives & powerful motives of conduct, separate from the desire of policy. aggrandizement. The interests of the church, with which his own were identified, and the true welfare of his subjects, were, at different times, sacrificed to his ambition. Had there been no powerful monarchs on the other thrones of Europe, his dreams might possibly have been realized. But at this period there happened to be a constellation of princes.

His mo

His

great

rival.

The greatest of these, and the chief rival through life of Charles, was Francis I. of France. He had even anticipated an election to the imperial crown, which would have made him more powerful than even Charles himself. The electors feared both, and chose Frederic of Saxony; but he declined the dangerous post. Charles, as Archduke of Austria, had such great and obvious claims, that they could not be dis

WARS BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS.

39

A. D. 1519

1523.

Their

regarded. He was therefore the fortunate candidate. But Ch. 3 his election was a great disappointment to Francis, and he could not conceal his mortification. Peace could not long subsist between two envious and to ambitious princes. Francis was nearly of the same age as Charles, had inherited despotic power, was free from financial embarrassments, and ruled over an united and loyal people. mutual He was therefore no contemptible enemy. In addition, he jealousy. strengthened himself by alliances with the Swiss and Venetians. Charles, on the other hand, sought the favour of the Pope and of Henry VIII. of England. The real causes of war were mutual jealousies, and passion for military glory. The assigned causes were, that Charles did not respect the claims of Francis as King of Naples; and, on the other hand, that Francis had seized the duchy of Milan, which was a fief of the empire, and also retained the duchy of Burgundy, the patrimonial inheritance of the Emperor.

Cha

of the

The political history of Europe, for nearly thirty years, is a record of wars between these powerful princes, of their racter mutual disasters, disappointments, and successes. Other wars between contests arose from independent causes, such as the revolt of Charles the Spanish grandees, of the peasants in Germany, and the and Francis. invasion of the empire by the Turks. During the reign of Charles occurred also the division of the princes of Germany, on grounds of religion, the foundation of a contest which, after his death, convulsed Germany for thirty years. But the Thirty Years' War was a religious war, a political consequence of the Reformation. The wars between Charles and Francis were purely wars of military ambition. Charles had greater territories and larger armies; but Francis had more money, and more absolute control over his forces; for Charles's power was checked in Spain by the free spirit of the Cortes, and in Germany, both by the independence of the princes, and by the embarrassing questions which arose out of the Refor

mation.

It would be tedious to recite the various struggles or

40

WARS BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS.

Ch. 3. Charles with his rival. Each of them gained, at different times, great successes, and each experienced, in turn, the 1525. most humiliating reverses. Francis was taken prisoner at the

A. D.

battle of Pavia, in 1525, and confined in a fortress at Madrid, Battleof until he promised to the victors the complete dismemberment Pavia. of France-an extorted promise, which he never meant to

keep. No sooner had he recovered his liberty, than he violated all his oaths, and Europe was again the scene of fresh hostilities. The passion of revenge was now added to that of ambition, and, as the Pope had favoured the cause of Francis, the generals of Charles invaded Italy. Rome was Sack of taken and sacked by the constable Bourbon, a French noble whom Francis had slighted, and cruelties and outrages were perpetrated by the imperial forces which never disgraced Alaric or Attila.

Rome.

Peace of

bray.

The first peace between these contending princes took place at Cambray, 1529, owing chiefly to the desire of Francis to obtain his children, whom he had surrendered as hostages. He agreed to pay two millions of crowns for their ransom, and to relinquish his pretensions to the Low Countries and Italy.

Charles, after the treaty of Cambray was signed, visited Cam- Italy with all the pomp of a conqueror. At Genoa he honoured Doria with many marks of distinction, and bestowed upon the republic new privileges. He settled all his difficulties with Milan, Venice, and Florence, and re-established the authority of the Medici. He was then crowned by the Pope, whom he had trampled on, as King of Lombardy and Emperor of the Romans, and hastened into Germany, which imperatively required his presence, both on account of dissensions among the princes, which the Reformation had caused, and the invasion of Austria by three hundred thousand Turks. He resolved to recover the old prerogatives of the Emperor of Germany, and to crush the opinions which were undermining his authority.

A diet of the Empire was accordingly summoned at Spires,

DIET OF SPIRES, AND PEACE OF NUREMBERG.

41

in order to take into consideration the state of religion, the Ch. 3. main cause of all the disturbances in Germany. It met on A. D. the 15th of March, 1529, and the greatest address was 1529. required to prevent a civil war. All that Charles could obtain from the assembled princes was the promise to prevent Diet of Spires. any further innovations. A decree to that effect was passed, against which, however, the followers of Luther protested, the most powerful of whom were the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Duke of Lunenburg, the Prince of Anhalt, and the deputies of fourteen imperial cities. This protest gave to them the name of Protestants-a name ever since retained.

burg.

Soon after the diet assembled at Augsburg, when the articles Diet of of faith, known as the Confession of Augsburg, were read. AugsIn consequence of the condemnation of this confession, the Protestant princes, as has been stated in the preceding chapter, entered into a league at Smalcalde (December 22, 1530) to support one another, and to defend their religion.

Circumstances, however, continually occurred to convince Charles that the extirpation of heresy by the sword was impossible in Germany, and the attempt impolitic, if he wished to unite the German provinces in a vigorous confederation. Accordingly, after many difficulties, and with great reluctance, terms of pacification were agreed upon at Nuremberg (1531), and ratified in the diet at Ratisbon shortly after, by which it was agreed that no person should be molested in his religion, and that the Protestants, on their part, should assist the Emperor in resisting the invasion of the Turks. The Germans, with their customary good faith, furnished all the assistance they promised; and one of the best armies ever raised in Germany, amounting to ninety thousand foot, and thirty thousand horse, took the field, commanded by the Emperor in person. But the campaign ended without any memorable event, both parties having erred from excessive caution.

Francis soon availed himself of the difficulties and dangers

Peace of

Nurem

berg.

42

A. D.

COUNCIL OF TRENT.

Ch. 3. of his rival, formed an alliance with the Turks, put forth his old claims, courted the favour of the German Protestants, and 1532 renewed hostilities. He also marched towards Italy, and took to possession of the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, whom the 1545. Emperor, at this juncture, was unable to assist, on account of his African expedition against the pirate Barbarossa.

Barbarossa.

This noted corsair had built up a great power in Tunis and Algiers, and committed shameful ravages on all Christian nations. Charles landed in Africa with thirty thousand men, took the fortress of Goletta, defeated the pirate's army, captured his capital, and restored the exiled Moorish king to his throne. In the midst of these victories Francis invaded Savoy. Charles was terribly indignant, and loaded his rival with such violent invectives, that Francis challenged him to single combat. The challenge was accepted, but the duel was never fought. Charles, in his turn, invaded France with a large army for that age-forty thousand foot and ten thousand horse; but the expedition was unfortunate. Francis acted on the defensive with admirable skill, and was fortunate in his general, Montmorency, who seemed possessed with the spirit Peace of of a Fabius. The Emperor at last was compelled to return Cressy. ingloriously, having lost the half of his army without having

gained a single important advantage. War did not, however, end with the retreat of Charles, but was continued, with great personal animosity, until mutual exhaustion led to a truce for ten years, concluded at Nice in 1538. This truce was soon broken; two years after, hostilities were renewed and continued till the peace of Cressy, in 1544.

Council In the mean time the Pope resolved to assemble the famous of Trent. Council of Trent, the legality of which the Protestants denied.

It met in December, 1545, and was the last general council. It met with a view of healing the dissensions of the church, and confirming the authority of the Pope. The princes of Europe hoped that important reforms would have been made; but nothing of consequence was done. The attention of the divines was directed to dogmas rather than